Editorial: young scholars at the 2010 European Communication Conference

This YECREA special issue of PLATFORM presents a collections of articles based on papers presented at the 2010 European Communication Conference (ECC 2010). The articles address the role of the media - traditional mass media, mainstream online (digital) media, and computer games - in contemporary society and can be divided into two main themes: (1) collective identity and identification; and (2) facilitating democratic involvement. From different theoretical and empirical points of view, the articles point to the interrelationships between the media, cultural identifications and democratic involvement. The articles explore the ways in which practices around the media, whether traditional mass media, mainstream online media or computer games, can come to influence and are influenced by cultural affinities and local contexts.