Abstract
The pace and complexity of change in contemporary media seem to call for engagement and dialogue in ways that established routines and practices of scholarly journal publication do not always allow. Media, Culture & Society aims to address this challenge by launching a new section called Crosscurrents, a space for timely and direct engagement with current issues and events that involve or implicate media content, production, circulation, and use. Through commentaries, essays, and research reports, Crosscurrents will serve as an arena for debate, critique, and reflection on current and emerging questions, trends, themes, and concepts in media and communications research.
In keeping with the re-launch of themed issues of Media, Culture & Society (‘Back to the Future’, 35.1), Crosscurrents will also develop themed sections. These themed issues will feature one or two articles on a pressing topic, followed by commentaries and responses that broaden the discussion of the topic at hand. It seems fitting, then, to launch the first issue of Crosscurrents with a focus on the status of ‘media studies’ or ‘media and communication studies’ as a field of study.