There is an unmistakable gap between intellectual models of mass media institutions and practices, and the ways that practitioners experience the media. All too often, media theorists lack personal experiences of their topics of study, and university departments separate theory and practice in their internal organisation. This issue explores the relationship between media theories and mass media practices across three thematic workshops.

'Minding the Gap: Reflections on Media Practice and Theory', a training day for postgraduate and early career researcher-practitioners jointly organised by MeCCSA Postgraduate Network, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (University of Oxford) and the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research (London), was held at the Reuters Institute on the 12th May 2007. It explored the various 'gaps' between practitioners' experiences of the media industries and academic theories of media institutions and
practices. 24 contributors from around the UK and Europe discussed broadcasting, print, film, and online media across three thematic workshops covering: practice in methodology, theory in practice and personal testimonies recounting the challenges - personal, ethnical, political and practical - facing 'double practitioners'.

MeCCSA Postgraduate Network and the Stanhope Centre present a selection of papers given on the day. They can be downloaded here in PDF format and are grouped together by panel.

This journal features some but not all of the presentations given at the conference as some authors felt it was premature as yet to put their work into the public domain. It should be noted that these are works-in-progress and should be read as such.

Compiled and edited by Cathy Baldwin (Oxford), Dr Charlotte Crofts (UWE), Line Thomsen (Aarhus, Denmark) and Venkata Vemuri (UWE)

All work is copyrighted © to MeCCSA Postgraduate Network and the Stanhope Centre and cannot be reproduced without the express permission of the individual authors. Email contact details are provided with the papers. All comments should be directed to the authors rather than the Executive Committee of the Postgraduate Network or the staff of the Stanhope Centre.