For those of you who are in/around Lahore: We have a new screening of AGON, on 12 February 2026, at 1.30pm, as part of the 11th MCAP-BNU International Media Conference 2026. The conference is at Beaconhouse National University (BNU), in Lahore, Pakistan. See mcap.top/conference-h...

Eiliyah, an 8-year-old MCAP spring school participant watched our film (Agon: Constructions of Democracy) yesterday, and today she gave me a little note, with her review. It's a review one can only dream of ... Deeply moving ... And all thanks to #MeDeMAP ...

Today, we had a screening of the film essay AGON at the MCAP doctoral spring school in Islamabad, followed by a lovely discussion ... More about the film at constructionsofdemocracy.eu #MeDeMAP and #CULCORC

The MCAP 2026 doctoral spring school has begun. Thus time we're in Islamabad ... And what other start is better than a poster workshop, having all the participants present their projects ...

Happy to announce the publication of our new article, Gendered constructions of migration in Europe. Written by/with a large #EUMEPLAT team, led by Panos, Sara and myself, it was just published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies. Open access at: doi.org/10.1177/1367.... Enjoy the read!

Our two respondents at the 28/1/26 seminar on the Czech citizen parliament on media and democracy: Josef Seethaler and Andreas Martin ... Thanks to all for a wonderful conversation ... #MeDeMAP #CULCORC

Our #CULCORC seminar on the Czech citizen parliament (part of the #MeDeMAP project) just started, providing a first analysis of the results of the project. Here Vaia Doudaki at work ... More at medemap.fsv.cuni.cz

Very happy to announce the publication of our little theoretical escapade into the fetish: "Theorising a Multidimensional Model for Analysing Data Fetishism: Reconciling Marxist and Freudian Approaches to the 'Split'", written together with Andrea Miconi. Available at: brill.com/downloadpdf/...

The flyers for our #CULCORC Seminar on The Czech Citizen Parliament: Analysing Media Change, Participation, and Democracy are being distributed as we speak. The seminar, in the framework of our #MeDeMAP project, is in Prague on 28 January 2026. All welcome! > culcorc.fsv.cuni.cz/outputs/semi...

At the #MeDeMAP conference in Roma, there was also a MeDeMAP panel, with several talks about the citizen parliament on media and democracy, but also on the audience interpretations of mediated democracy ... More at medemap.eu

#MeDeMAP moved from Brussels to Rome, for the (closing) conference Beyond the Audience, with Andrea Miconi and Josef Seethaler opening the two-day event ...

Afternoon programme for #MeDeMAP starting, with a debate on journalism and democracy at the VUB/ULB

Responses from the two MEPs Hannes Heide and Lena Schilling to the citizen parliamentarians' presentations, at #MeDeMAP

The Czech citizen representatives of our citizen parliament on media and democracy at work in the EP ... Brought to you by #MeDeMAP

#MeDeMAP at EP part two ...

#MeDeMAP panel on media policy at the European Parliament starting ...

As a follow-up to the #MeDeMAP Czech Citizen Parliament on Media and Democracy, we have produced a series of infographics about the resolutions accepted by the 20 parliamentarians. The first one gives an overview of all resolutions, and can be downloaded here: nicocarpentier.net/CP_Infograph...

Last call for the #MeDeMAP seminars on Media and Democracy, on 13 January 2026. If you want to join one of these seminars, feel free to register at www.medemap.eu?p=1738 (morning) and www.medemap.eu?p=1694 (afternoon).

We have just published the 2026 call with the PhD positions at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at Charles University (Prague), for its English-language PhD programme in Media and Communication Studies. You'll find them here: iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/admission....

Today, the European Parliament "Strongly condemn(ed) the arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Bahruz Samadov and Igbal Abilov on politically motivated charges". Thanks to all who worked so hard to bring these dreadful events to the EP's attention. Full text: www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docume...

The #MeDeMAP seminar "Regulating Media for Future Democracies: Political and People's Voices" will take place on 13 January 2026, from 9:30 to 11:30, in the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium. Registration is at bit.ly/FutureDemocr...

PNBonline just published a short piece on AGON: Constructions of Democracy, written by Pedro Pinto de Oliveira and Safira Campos. It's in Portuguese, and you can find it here: pnbonline.com.br/nico-carpent...

The European Journalism Observatory just published an article, by Štěpán Šanda, about the use of audiovisual/film essays in academia. In that article, our new film essay 'AGON: Constructions of Democracy' features as one of the examples. The article is here: cz.ejo-online.eu/7969/nova-me...

On 28 January 2026, from 3 to 5pm, #CULCORC is organising (in collaboration with the #MeDeMAP research project) the seminar "The Czech Citizen Parliament: Analysing Media Change, Participation, and Democracy". More at culcorc.fsv.cuni.cz/outputs/semi... All welcome!

The European research project #MeDeMAP will hold a seminar on the relationship between media, data and democracy on 13 January 2026 (from from 14:00 to 17:30). The seminar will take place at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in Belgium. Registration is now open at www.medemap.eu?p=1694

Today is the letter-writing marathon at Charles University, for the release of our PhD student Bahruz Samadov. Bahruz was wrongfully convicted of high treason and sentenced by an Azerbaijani court to a prison sentence of 15 years. More at www.researchcenterdesire.eu/bahruz-samad...

Good to see the faculty of social sciences @cuni support for Bahruz Samadov

Feel welcome to join the 2 December 2025 letter-writing marathon in support of the Charles university PhD student Bahruz Samadov, convicted for his critical stances towards the regime in his native Azerbaijan. For more information, see fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/lett...

The IAMCR 2026 call for papers is out. This year's theme is "Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation". More at iamcr.org/galway2026

The full video of the #MeDeMAP Round Table on "Imagining New Relations for Media and Democracy: Beyond Defeatism" is now available at bit.ly/MediaDemocra.... It took place on 8 October 25, at the Universidade Lusófona, in Lisbon. Warm thanks to CICANT.

Today, we had a great round table about "Democracy and media in Europe" in Uppsala, Sweden. Warm thanks to Göran Svensson, Johan Lindell and Matilda Tudor for joining the round table (and for all the new ideas), and to Peter Jakobsson for organising and chairing the event. Always great to be back ;)

The second #MeDeMAP save-the-date: In the morning of 13 January 2026, we will have two round tables and a film screening, in Brussels. The round tables are on the EMFA and on the results of the citizen parliaments. More information, including a pre-registration email, is at www.medemap.eu?p=1634

A first #MeDeMAP save-the-date. In the afternoon of 13 January 2026, we will organise a debate about the (future of) democracy and journalism, and a workshop on the MeDeMAP database/map, one of the major outcomes of this research project. More soon at medemap.eu and medemap.fsv.cuni.cz ...

For those in/around Uppsala, Sweden, on 13 November: we'll have another round table discussion on the Democracy and Media in Europe book. All welcome. See also www.uu.se/en/departmen...

This week at #CULCORC, we ran a PhD course on Discourse Studies and Method: Using Discourse-Theoretical Analysis and Discursive-Material Analysis. Today, the last day, we couldn't resist the opportunity for a group photo. It was a pleasure to work with all of you, and I wish you the very best :)

The report of my short visit to the Academy of Film and Creative Technology (AFCT) at XJTLU just got published, and it really captured the atmosphere of that visit (thanks to Yunyi and Wenzhen Li for the report). It shows that I had fun ;) See: www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/news/2025...

Today, we had a lovely seminar on the Czech citizen parliament on media and democracy (a part of our #MeDeMAP project). Special thanks to the Institute of Policy Studies of the National University of Singapore, and in particular Nicholas Thomas, for organising it and to Vaia Doudaki for joining me.

Today was the première of the film essay 'Agon: Constructions of Democracy' in Kino Ponrepo in Prague, followed by a round table with the directors and DoP. Most enjoyable. With my warn thanks to my colleagues and the entire cast. More about the film essay at www.constructionsofdemocracy.eu

There are still a few seats left for the première of AGON: Constructions of Democracy, on October 23, 2025, in Kino NFA Ponrepo, in Prague. You can register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... For more information about the film essay, see constructionsofdemocracy.eu

Amnesty International Belgium delivered 10,787 signatures to the Azerbaijani Embassy demanding the release of activists, academics, and journalists imprisoned there. Bahruz Samadov, a PhD student at Charles University, is one of them. Special thanks to AI for keeping his cruel destiny on the agenda.

On 8 October we had another round table on democracy and media in Europe, this time in collaboration with CICANT, in Lisbon. The report is here: cicant.ulusofona.pt/agenda-news/...

#MeDeMAP round table on democracy and media about to start in Lisbon. Special thanks for the CICANT folks for making this possible.

The print copies of the "Communication, Media, Cultural Industry" book arrived in Prague. An impressive and fitting tribute and goodbye to the dear Fausto Colombo. I was happy to have a modest contribution there, with Vaia Doudaki and Kirill Filimonov. Ciao, Fausto

Happy to see another book review on our Democracy and Media in Europe book, this time in the European Journal of Communication. Thanks to Tingting Hu and Xinyi Wu for their gracious comments (and for correctly pointing to the need to move beyond Europe). See doi.org/10.1177/0267...

CULCORC produced a one-page note on some of the outcomes of the #MeDeMAP research project. With thanks to Karolína Šimková and Jeffrey Wimmer. You can download the note here: www.medemap.eu/wp-content/u...

We'll have another #MeDeMAP roundtable on media and democracy in Europe, this time in Uppsala, Sweden, on 13 November 2025. Special thanks to Peter Jakobsson and the UU dept. of Informatics and Media for their support. All welcome ;)

Planned and published articles and books posters at the #MeDeMAP meeting, on media and democracy. Always good to take stock at a research consortium meeting, and take time to celebrate

The #culcorc team at work at the #MeDeMAP consortium meeting in St. Pölten (Austria), with the first results of the analysis of the Czech citizen parliament on media and democracy.

The sixth and last #MeDeMAP consortium meeting has begun. Three days of discussions about media en democracy in the Austrian city of St. Pölten, with a great team.

Last week, Amnesty International released another Urgent Action Alert for Bahruz Samadov and Igbal Abilov, two academics sentenced in Azerbaijan to 15 and 18 years resp., for high treason: www.amnesty.org/en/documents... For more information on Bahruz see www.researchcenterdesire.eu/bahruz-samad...