IX Edition (2026)

The Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2026: Winner and Nominees

Five publications addressing the relationship between media and democracy have been nominated for this year’s edition of the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award. The Award has been granted to Professor Natalie Fenton (Goldsmiths, University of London) for her monograph Democratic Delusions: How the Media Hollows Out Democracy and What We Can Do About It (Polity, 2025). A special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2026 has been granted to Sylwia Czubkowska for her book Bóg techy. Jak wielkie firmy technologiczne przejmują władzę nad Polską i światem (Eng. God Tech: How Big Tech Companies Are Taking Over Poland and the World; Wydawnictwo Znak, 2025).

On March 30, 2026, the Selection Committee reviewed books submitted for this year’s edition of the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award – an award supporting significant publications in media systems, media policies, media ethics, and public service media. Scholarly contributions to the research and practice of media and democracy were submitted by members of the Leadership team of the International Association of Public Service Media Researchers (IAPMR), Editors and Associate Editors of the "Central European Journal of Communication" (CEJC), previous Award winners and the Selection Committee.

The Committee evaluated the submissions according to three criteria:

1. originality and methodological rigor, 
2. contribution to media and democracy scholarship, 
3. potential impact on media policy and public debate. 

The Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award in 2026 was granted to:

Natalie Fenton for the monograph Democratic delusions: How the media hollows out democracy and what we can do about it (Polity, 2025). for the interdisciplinary and critical analysis of the relationship between media systems and contemporary democracy; the publication challenges dominant assumptions about the role of media in democratic societies and proposes alternative models of media organization and ownership, including the concept of Media Commons, pointing to directions for institutional reform and media policy.

Natalie Fenton is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy. Her research focuses on the relationship between media, democracy, and social change, with particular emphasis on media policy, journalism, and media system reform. She is the author of numerous publications in this field and a co-founder of the Media Reform Coalition. 

The following publications were also nominated for the 2026 Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award:

	Péter Bajomi-Lázár & Dalma Boldog (2026). Journalism ethics in Eastern Europe. Anthem Press. for an in-depth and original analysis of ethical challenges in journalism in Eastern European countries in the context of media system transformation; the publication combines theoretical reflection with a comparative perspective, highlighting the importance of ethical standards for democracy and the protection of fundamental rights.
	Nico Carpentier & Jeffrey Wimmer (2025). Democracy and media in Europe: A discursive-material approach. Taylor & Francis. for its original theoretical contribution to research on the relationship between media and democracy through the integration of discursive and material perspectives; the publication offers a coherent analytical framework for examining the role of communication infrastructures in shaping pluralism, participation, and democratic resilience.
	Filip Trbojević, Peter Berglez, Dina Vozab, Mart Ots & Zrinjka Peruško (2025). Quality of journalism and media freedom in Europe: The fsQCA approach. Central European Journal of Communication, 18(1(39)), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.18.1(39).686 for a comparative analysis of the relationship between journalistic quality and media freedom in Europe using the fsQCA method; the publication identifies key structural conditions supporting media freedom and points to new directions for research on media policy and journalistic professionalism.
	Marína Urbániková, Klára Smejkal, Iveta Jansová & Lenka Waschková Císařová (2026). Reimagining public service media: Navigating change and exploring public consensus in the Czech Republic. Routledge. for an empirical study of the role of public service media from the perspective of different stakeholder groups and an attempt to redefine their public value; the publication makes an important contribution to the debate on the future of public service media and their role in democratic societies.

Moreover, the Selection Committee granted a special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2026 to Sylwia Czubkowska for her book Bóg techy. Jak wielkie firmy technologiczne przejmują władzę nad Polską i światem (Eng. God Tech: How Big Tech Companies Are Taking Over Poland and the World; Wydawnictwo Znak, 2025), recognized for its insightful analysis of the influence of global technology corporations on the economy, politics, and democratic processes. The publication highlights mechanisms of power concentration in the hands of digital monopolies and their consequences for user privacy, transparency of public life, and the functioning of democracy.

Sylwia Czubkowska is an experienced economic and technology journalist who has worked with outlets such as Gazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, and Przekrój. She co-hosts the Techstorie podcast on TOK FM and is the creator of the Spider’sWeb+ magazine. She is the author of books including Chińczycy trzymają nas mocno (2022) and Bóg techy (2025), and has received numerous nominations and awards in major journalism competitions.

The Award Ceremony took place on May 18, 2026, during the international academic conference Deliberative Format of Election Campaigns: Interventions and Institutionalisation, held at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Warsaw (Karowa 18, room 18).

On behalf of the Committee and all the stakeholders, we warmly congratulate the Winners and the Nominees!

Dagmara Sidyk-Furman and Michał Głowacki