2026 BEA Research Symposium: Communicating in an AI Driven World: The Impact of AI on Creators and Consumers of News and Entertainment

Submission Deadline: December 31, 2025
The BEA2026 submission site will be available in early August.

Artificial intelligence is changing the way the world interacts with machines and people, as well as how media organizations operate. As society grapples with the use of AI, those in the field of mass communication must consider the how the opportunities AI offers come with ethical ramifications. Professional organizations (RTDNA, PRSA, AAF, NAB) have adopted professional codes and guidelines for using AI in industry.

The 2026 BEA Research Symposium will examine AI research in mass communication. As AI is implemented, it is important to remember the human connection those working in the media industry bring to communicating information. Media professionals transmit information that is influenced by their broader understanding, shared background, and empathy. How can the media industry ethically adopt a technology that is disrupting how people seek, consume, and produce information?

The symposium welcomes qualitative and quantitative research from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives across social sciences. Potential contributions could focus on the topics below, but are not limited to:

• Human-AI interaction
• AI use and transparency in media
• AI and editing
• AI and fact checking
• AI and news credibility
• AI and misinformation
• Media professionals’ personality characteristics and their use of AI
• Audience personality characteristics and their acceptance of AI
• Public perception of the use of AI in news and entertainment
• Ethical considerations of the use of AI in news and entertainment

A FEW REMINDERS:

• 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 2026 BEA Research Symposium.
• In addition, papers may be considered for inclusion in Routledge’s Electronic Media Research Book Series tied to the symposium.
• The deadline for paper submissions is December 31, 2025. Authors should not submit work currently under review. They should not submit the paper to another outlet until after they have been notified the paper did not make the edited book.
• The Research Symposium paper competition is BLINDLY REVIEWED. Judges need to blindly review your papers.
• Authors will be notified about decisions by January 30, 2026.

About BEA’s annual convention: BEA2026, co-located with NAB Show, is a hybrid academic media convention with over 250 virtual and on-site sessions on media pedagogy, collaborative networking events, hands-on technology workshops, research and creative scholarship and the Festival of Media Arts.  BEA2026 will be an in-person convention with limited virtual participation opportunities for presenters and attendees.  

Questions? Visit www.beaweb.org or email Help@BEAweb.org.