Cultures of Collaboration in Media Research

Abstract

My goal in this paper is to offer some provisional thoughts on the SSRC’s effort to build a “culture of collaboration” between academic researchers and the media reform/media justice communities. Broadly speaking, our program tried to make the field better at producing and utilizing research in the service of public‐interest policy agendas, and more generally in support of a more diverse and participatory public sphere. The centerpiece of this effort was the “Collaborative Grants in Media and Communications” project, through which we funded some 44 research partnerships between 2006 and 2008.

Keywords: media reform, FCC, media ownership, activism