Paper short abstract:

In this paper I outline the tensions between the formalisation of 'media' and 'communication' in academic practice, and a wider academic project seemingly based on various interpretations of democratic ethics.

Paper long abstract:

Media practice cannot be properly understood separately from its various contexts . This can be taken as relevant in a number of ways: in terms of treating 'media' as an object separate from other practices, in terms of treating the study of media as a set of academic practices separate from a set of wider contexts, and in terms of treating communication as being separate from those engaging in it, often by not paying attention to how it is pre-supposed in academic practice. This third point follows on from and relates to the first two. In this paper I try and explain how, outlining the tensions between the formalisation of 'media' and 'communication' in academic practice, and a wider academic project seemingly based on various interpretations of democratic ethics.