How does media shape ways of being in the world? This collection explores media imaginaries as a tool for reflection. 

Media imaginaries are shapeshifters. The term refers to the cultural and infrastructural work of texts and artifacts, audience engagement and experiences, and commercial and civic organizations. The authors in this volume empirically and conceptually examine media imaginaries in all their diversity, providing space for dialogue on themes of political-social imaginaries, cultural-technological imaginaries, and reflecting imaginaries.

The volume explores how media affects both real and imagined experiences, examining the interplay of media practice, culture, and imagination across past, present, and future contexts. It highlights the impact of AI-enabled content and media ecologies on everyday life globally, offering fresh insights for media and cultural studies. 

Annette Hill is professor of media and communications at Jönköping University, Sweden. Joke Hermes holds the Erik de Vries Chair at the University of Amsterdam. She is also professor of inclusion and creative industries at Inholland University, Netherlands. Simon Dawes is a senior lecturer at Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. 

Introduction Annette Hill, Joke Hermes, Simon Dawes: Media Imaginaries: An Introduction   PART 1: SOCIAL-POLITICAL IMAGINARIES 1. The Liberal Media Imaginary Simon Dawes 2. Imagining the Democratic Role of News: A Comparative Study of UK and German News Websites during COVID-19 Imke Henkel and Tim Markham 3. ‘Everybody Frames’: Uncovering the Media Imaginaries Beneath Divergent News Repertoires Maria Bakardjieva and Jian Chung Lee 4. ‘Meme-aginaries’ of Political Violence: Analysing Audience Engagement with Memetic Imaginaries of Northern Ireland Martin Lundqvist   PART 2: CULTURAL-TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGINARIES 5. Imagining, Layering and Streaming Infrastructures Annette Hill, Niloufar Hajirahimikalhroudi, and Long Nguyen 6. The AI Popular Music Imaginary: Issues of Copyright, Agential Creativity, and Anthropocentric Creativity in YouTube Discourse Melissa Avdeeff 7. Like Unfulfilling Work: Swedish Parents, Everyday Life and the Media Imaginary around Screen Time Magnus Johansson 8. Researching ‘Imaginaries’ in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies: Emerging Methodological Reflections Rebecca Bramall and Mercè Oliva   PART 3: REFLECTING IMAGINARIES 9. Reaction Media Imaginaries Michael Rubsamen and Joanna Doona  10. Probing Our Memory Ecology Christian Mortensen 11. The Decolonial Imaginaries: Work of Indigenous Futurisms Ian Reilly 12. Queering Media Suggestion from Mass Hysteria to AI Deception: Inventing Imaginaries for More Just and Equitable Media Futures Lisa Blackman   Index