Ewa Nowak-Teter Wins the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024
„Opinia publiczna online” (Eng. Public Opinion Online; Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, 2023) – a recent book by Ewa Nowak-Teter received the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024. A special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024 was awarded to Piotr Pytlakowski for his book „Strefa niepamięci” (Eng. The Zone of No Memory; Warszawa: Agora, 2023).
The Selection Committee awards the recent book by Ewa Nowak-Teter for a comprehensive and multidimensional coverage of the public opinion in the real world and the virtual sphere, which translated into the identification of key problems of its functioning in democratic systems - issues that are important for policy makers and experts due to the increasing social conflicts and the growing trend toward polarization.
Photo 1. Book cover of Nowak-Teter E. (2023). "Opinia publiczna online" (Eng. Public Opinion Online).Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.
Ewa Nowak-Teter is a political scientist, professor in the Department of Mediatization at the Institute of Social Communication and Media Sciences at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. She is also the Editor-in-chief of the scientific journal "Mediatization Studies" and the Chair of the Mediatization research section of the Polish Communication Association. Her research interests include mediatization of public and private spheres, media logics, public opinion online and political communication. In 2021, she was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit for her work in the advancement of science.
Photo 2. Professor Ewa Nowak-Teter. Source: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin.
Moreover, the Selection Committee awards the excellence of “Strefa niepamięci” (Eng. The Zone of No Memory), a book written by Piotr Pytlakowski, with a special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024. The publication was acknowledged for the striking image of the mechanisms of evil, which do not change, but only gain new attributions. This high-class reportage about the human conscience and the drama of our humanity, which presence we experience every day, is a documentation of a very important part of our history and present day.
Photo 3. Book cover of Pytlakowski P. (2023). „Strefa niepamięci” (Eng. The Zone of No Memory). Warszawa: Agora.
The Committee also notes that the success of last year's special award shows that it is necessary to continue rewarding journalistic publications that resonate with the idea of the competition and at the same time go beyond the academic framework.
The Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award recognizes original methodologies and the societal impact of scholarly publications in media systems, media policies, media ethics, and public service media in Central and Eastern Europe, and beyond. A full list of this year’s nominees can be found here.
Dagmara Sidyk-Furman and Michał Głowacki