An hibernal update

Welcome to Issue No. 2 of 2023.

In this issue, you will find a diverse selection of scholarly articles emanating from different places across our Asia-Pacific region as well as from Africa. This issue opens with a methodological piece that considers if a new research paradigm is needed to study the creative industries. It then shifts into a ‘representational’ mode, with one comparative piece examining media power in the construction of the aged-care debate in Australian and Malaysia, followed by a fascinating discussion of autism in Vietnamese digital news media.

Discussion on COVID-19 continues in this issue with an article critiquing strategic tweets and stories from Chinese authorities during the pandemic. We also have an interesting qualitative study on the use of extension agents in connecting rural people to food security programs in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. The issue concludes with two papers focusing on two different aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand: biodiversity conservation and post-gay identities. The former explores the communication of the Predator Free 2050 Strategy by the Department of Conservation, while the latter undertakes a narrative analysis of homomasculinity among gay and queer men in Aotearoa New Zealand. I am certain you will enjoy most, if not all, of the papers in this issue.

Speaking of Aotearoa New Zealand, the 2023 Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) will take place in Wellington, the nation’s capital. The conference theme is ‘Ka mua, ka muri: Bridging communication pasts and futures’. As most of our readers know, Communication Research and Practice is an ANZCA journal and we would usually reserve a special issue dedicated to papers presented at the conference. There is nothing like being in-attendance and in-person, so do consider joining us in November 2023.

More information can be obtained from the conference website (www.anzca2023.com), which notes on the homepage:

The Māori whakataukī (proverb) ‘Ka mua, ka muri’ centres a Māori perspective on time where the past is in front of us and can be observed and interpreted as we walk back into an uncertain future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that subjectivity is increasingly experienced within a global entanglement of digitalisation, post-truth politics, ecological crisis and the ongoing rise of the far right. Within this conjuncture, digital technologies and social media help to both foster and combat mis- and disinformation campaigns, communicate public health measures to disparate publics, and provide constant updates about the state of the world. While restrictions on space and movement isolated some, they provoked others to think laterally about the issues of our time. The pandemic has forced us to ask old questions in a new context, particularly about the role that communication has to play in new wars for truth and knowledge.

Using the ‘Ka mua, ka muri’ whakataukī as a prompt, ANZCA 2023 will reflect on how challenges in recent years can inform our thinking about communication in the future. Attendees are encouraged to interpret the theme as they understand it.

Finally, I am writing this editorial on the eve of the hibernal solstice – better known as the winter solstice, which marks the shortest daytime of the year – in the southern hemisphere. It is around this time that the first teaching semester concludes at our universities and when many of us would remark, with bewilderment, how quickly the year has gone by.

From where I sit, the year has flown by very quickly indeed. This issue marks a full year since I took on the role of Editor-in-Chief, and it has been an amazing adventure! I have had the privilege of working with so many authors and reviewers, along with members of our Editorial Board, Editorial Advisory Group and members of ANZCA, as well as with the production editor and team at Taylor and Francis. I would like to say thank you to everyone for your support.

To conclude on a pleasing note, I am happy to advise that Communication Research and Practice is a journal growing from strength to strength. In terms of readership and access to the journal, the metrics have edged up significantly during the first quarter of this year, with 17,848 downloads (compared to 14,929 during the same period in 2022). Downloads typically lead to increased citations, and the flow-on effect into other key indicators (such as submissions, and indeed, both acceptance and rejection rates, etc.) would increase. Suffice to say that your support has not been, is not and will not be, in vain.