2024 BEA Research Symposium: The Impact of Disinformation and Misinformation on a Democratic Society

Chair: Melissa Zimdars, Associate Professor, Communication and Media, Merrimack College | zimdarsm@merrimack.edu

Submission Deadline: December 18

Sixty-three percent of Americans believe disinformation, or deliberately false or misleading information, is a major problem in society. Indeed, disinformation has profound implications for the fabric of the United States because it destabilizes our perceptions of reality and erodes our trust both in our country’s institutions and with each other. People, organizations, and even government actors and entities all use disinformation to undermine the Democratic process. Given this backdrop, the goal of this symposium is to fully illuminate the role of disinformation and the circulation of misinformation in Democratic society.

The symposium welcomes qualitative and quantitative research from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives across the humanities and social sciences. Potential contributions can include, but are not limited to:

● Disinformation and threats to democracy
● Disinformation and political communication
● The relationship between dis/misinformation and news/journalism
● Dis/misinformation and entertainment media
● Social media or networks of mis/disinformation
● Dis/misinformation and media/platform governance
● The role of dis/misinformation in health issues or campaigns
● The role of disinformation in strategic communication

Submissions to this research symposium should be full research papers, which typically run between 5,000-7,000 words (including references, tables, and appendices). APA 7th edition should be used. Submissions will be peer-reviewed and if accepted, presented at the 2024 BEA Research Symposium. In addition, papers may be considered for inclusion in Routledge’s Electronic Media Research Book Series. The deadline for paper submissions is December 15, 2023.

The Research Symposium paper competition is BLINDLY REVIEWED. Do NOT include a cover page with author and contact information and remove ALL author information from internal pages. Judges need to blindly review your papers. Your paper information will be directly linked to your profile. Authors will be notified about decisions by January 15, 2024.

Research Submission Information:
1. Please indicate the author(s) status: (faculty, graduate student, undergraduate student.
2. You may submit different papers; however, conference organizers reserve the right to select papers to ensure greater representation in published proceedings.
3. Papers must be written using APA Style.
4. Papers accepted and presented are eligible for publication in the BEA Routledge book series edited by the Symposium Chair Melissa Zimdars, Merrimack College