Section Head Election 2016 - Candidate statements

Political Communication Research Section

The Political Communication Research Section of IAMCR will be holding elections during the section's business meeting at the upcoming conference in Leicester. We invite candidacies for the positions of chair and vice-chair of the section.

Responsibilities include all phases of conference programming for the group as well as participation in association-wide decision-making, both during face to face meetings before and sometimes after the annual conference and, between conferences, online. Within that remit, there is room for a great deal of creativity in conceptualizing, organizing, and populating sessions; engaging in substantive and programmatic collaborations with other sections; stimulating collaborative research; working with emerging scholars; and so on.

The Modus Operandi of the section (as posted on the website) states that the maximum number of terms of office is two. As things stand, the section's current Chairs María José Canel and Christina Holtz-Bacha and the Vice-Chairs Bengt Johansson and Julio Juárez Gamíz, who are all completing their first term in their positions, will be running again.

Nominations and self-nominations are welcome. Interested candidates should send their name, institutional position and a statement (maximum 500 words) to Christina Holtz-Bacha <christina.holtz-bacha[at]fau.de> with a copy to IAMCR General Secretary Maria Michalis <M.Michalis[at]westminster.ac.uk> and to the IAMCR secretariat <membership[at]iamc.org>.

The deadline for submitting candidacies is July 13, 2016.

Candidates and statements

For Chair:

For Vice-chair:

Statements

Christina Holtz-Bacha, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg , Germany

I am a Professor in Communication at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). Prior to my current position I have taught at the universities of Munich, Bochum and Mainz. I was a visiting scholar at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (1986), a Research Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Harvard University (1999) and a guest researcher at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2011). I have served as co-chair/chair of the Political Communication Division of ICA (2000-2004) and as program chair of the APSA Political Communication Section (2006). I am a co-editor of the German journal Publizistik and a member of the editorial boards of several international journals. Among the most recent publications are Election posters around the globe (in press, Springer, co-edited with Bengt Johansson), Twitter and elections around the world. Campaigning in 140 characters or less (2016, Routledge, co-edited with Richard Davis & Marion Just); Europawahlkampf 2014 [European election 2014] (2015, VS Springer).

María-José Canel, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

I am Professor in Political Communication at the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain). I have published nationally and internationally on government communication and related matters (media relations, media effects, intangible assets in the public sector, cross-national comparisons). I have published books (recent titles are: Comparing political communication across time and space: New studies in an emerging field – Palgrave, coedited with Katrin Voltmer; Government Communications. Cases and Challenges –Bloomsbury, with Karen Sanders), and around 100 book chapters and articles in leading journals in the field. Member of the Editorial Board of The Wiley- Blackwell International Encyclopaedia of Communication. Founder President of ACOP (Political Communication Association), I have served as chair of the Political Communication section of ECREA (2012-2014) and as vice-chair (2010-2012 and 2014-2016).

Bengt Johansson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

I am professor in Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), University of Gothenburg, Sweden. My research is mainly focused on different aspects of political communication such as political advertising, media election coverage and media effects. I also have a strong interest in crisis communication and moral and ethical aspects of media usage. I have been Head of Department and am currently chair of the steering committee of the SOM-institute, which is a research infrastructure at the University of Gothenburg (som.gu.se).  Among the most recent publications are Election posters around the globe (in press, Springer, co-edited with Christina Holtz-Bacha), The Complexity of Public Relations Work PR Managers in the Public and Private Sector in Sweden (Nordicom Review 2015, 36 (1) pp. 125-139 with Larsåke Larsson), Negotiating politicians' responsibilities in news interviews (Published online: 21 Aug 2015, with Mats Ekström, Monika Djerf-Pierre and Nicklas Håkansson).

Julio Juárez-Gámiz, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico

I am a research associate at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research for Sciences and Humanities (CEIICH) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). I hold a Level 1 membership of the National System of Researchers. I did a BA in Psychology at UNAM and an MA and PhD in Political Communication at the University of Sheffield, England. I have lectured on topics ranging from political marketing, electoral law, journalism, media and mass communication theories at different Mexican and English Universities. Since 2005 I have been coordinating research projects on elections, media coverage and political communications funded by the National Electoral Institute, the United Nations Development Program and the Secretary of State. Among my recent publications are the books The other digital gap: the information and knowledge society in Mexico edited by UNAM (2015) and the book chapter The lousy avalanche: Political advertising in Mexico (2016) in the book The Routledge Handbook on Political Advertising edited by Christina Holtz-Bacha and Marion R. Just. At UNAM I have organized international Seminars on Political Psychology and Political Advertising and am also a frequent media analyst in different local television and radio shows. Since May 2015 I serve as advisor to the President of the General Council of the National Electoral Institute in Mexico on topics related to communication policies and media relations.

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