The Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024: Winners and Nominees
Three publications were nominated for this year’s edition of the international Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award. The Award was granted to Opinia publiczna online (Eng. Public Opinion Online; Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, 2023) – a recent book by Ewa Nowak-Teter (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland). A special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024 was awarded to Piotr Pytlakowski for his book Strefa niepamięci (Eng. The Zone of No Memory; Warszawa: Agora, 2023).
On April 4, 2024, the Selection Committee reviewed books submitted for this year’s edition of the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award – an award supporting significant publications in media systems, media policies, media ethics, and public service media. Scholarly contributions to the research and practice of media and democracy in 2023 and 2024 were submitted by members of the Leadership team of the International Association of Public Service Media Researchers (IAPMR), Editors, and Associate Editors of “Central European Journal of Communication” (CEJC), previous Award winners and the Selection Committee.
Through evaluation of three highly interwoven criteria: 1) methodological correctness, 2) contribution to media knowledge and 3) impact on democratic society,
the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award in 2024 was granted to:
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Ewa Nowak-Teter (2023). Opinia publiczna online (Eng. Public Opinion Online). Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS. For comprehensive and multidimensional coverage of the public opinion in the real world and the virtual sphere, which translated into the identification of key problems of its functioning in democratic systems - issues that are important for policy makers and experts due to the increasing social conflicts and the growing trend toward polarization. |
Ewa Nowak-Teter is a political scientist, professor in the Department of Mediatization at the Institute of Social Communication and Media Sciences at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. She is also the Editor-in-chief of the scientific journal "Mediatization Studies" and the Chair of the Mediatization research section of the Polish Communication Association. Her research interests include mediatization of public and private spheres, media logics, public opinion online and political communication. In 2021, she was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit for her work in the advancement of science.
The following publications were also nominated for the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award in 2024:
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1) Tiziano Bonini & Emiliano Treré (2024). Algorithms of Resistance. The Everyday Fight against Platform Power. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Nominated for the originality of its theme and message, consisting of showing - contrary to the dominant narrative - the empowerment and agency of individuals in the struggle for democracy and justice. |
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2) Gergely Gosztonyi (2023). Censorship from Plato to Social Media. The Complexity of Social Media’s Content Regulation and Moderation Practices. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46529-1. Nominated for its timeless analysis of various cases of censorship and constructive solutions to regulate the Internet, supporting the idea of a democratic society. |
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Moreover, the Selection Committee acknowledged Strefa niepamięci (Eng. The Zone of No Memory), a book written by Piotr Pytlakowski, with a special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024. The publication was acknowledged for the striking image of the mechanisms of evil, which do not change, but only gain new attributions.
This high-class reportage about the human conscience and the drama of our humanity, which presence we experience every day, is a documentation of a very important part of our history and present day.
The Committee noted that the success of last year's special award shows that it is necessary to continue rewarding journalistic publications that resonate with the idea of the competition and at the same time go beyond the academic framework.
On behalf of the Committee and all the stakeholders, we warmly congratulate the Winners and the Nominees!
Dagmara Sidyk-Furman and Michał Głowacki