May 4-5, 2026

Jönköping University, Sweden

Deadline: December 7, 2026

Organisers: Annette Hill (MKV, Jönköping University) and Hario Priambodho (MKV, Lund University)

Secrets and lies. The meanings of secrets in media, culture and society are multifold. There are mysteries, the things we keep hidden from knowledge or view, such as crime podcasts or the classic whodunnit genre of television and film. It’s an age of conspiratorial thinking and opaque and clandestine activities in media and democracy are of undeniable concern, especially in light of the pressure points on media and democracy. Trade secrets protect media and communication companies, from the blackboxing of algorithmic machinery, to the strict prohibition of disclosure about labour conditions. Stealthy media can include spycraft, top secret documents and technologies, or covert practices for business, political and elite actors and organisations.

Secrets also offer spaces for manoeuvre. The move to protect anonymity of journalistic sources is crucial in fights for freedom of expression. In the opposite direction, to uncover secrets and promulgate a right to know is a critical move in strengthening media transparency and trust. Freedom of information requests are an essential means for the public to hold power to account. And yet, demands for transparency can themselves be political, selective and productive of new forms of power or opacity.

Secrets are linked with obtaining knowledge, such as discernment of machine generated content, developing tactics against media secrecy and adapting practices in the face of oppression. There are secret rituals and community routines and practices that are part of fan cultures, subcultures, or esoteric societies. And secrets are a part of everyday life, linked with performance of identities and intrigue within social relations.

This international symposium unlocks the meanings of media secrets and asks what’s mysterious, covert or hidden in media? The combination of panels, keynotes, and roundtable discussions will address critical perspectives, theoretical development, and methodological reflections on how we can better understand what are often taken for granted both with the media and through the media. Key questions include: What is the role of media and culture in keeping and revealing secrets in society? How may we deepen understanding of social phenomenon by digging beneath the surface of media and culture?

We invite researchers to explore and uncover media secrets through the following possible pathways:

• Genre, representations, or hidden meanings in pop culture, film, and television
  
• Media gatekeeping practices that sequester the availability of information or content
  
• Secret acts of resistance or activism in or through the media
  
• Keeping certain representations hidden or hiding the will of the people
  
• The obfuscation of scientific facts and truths
  
• Secret engagements and experiences of media and cultural events
  
• Defining and problematizing privacy and what should be kept secret
  
• Blackboxed algorithmic systems and platform infrastructures
  
• Media practices, representations, or societal significance of secret societies, organizations, or groups
  
• Selective narratives in journalistic practices
  
• Discreet business or organizational media and communication practices
  

International invited speakers include Julia Brockley (Intellect Press), Göran Bolin (Södertörn University, Sweden), Simon Dawes (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France), Natalie Foster (Routledge), Christine Geraghty (Glasgow University), Joke Hermes (InHolland University, the Netherlands), Annette Hill (Jönköping University, Sweden), Dylan Mulvin (LSE, UK), Hario Priambodho (Lund University, Sweden), and Robert Willim (Lund University, Sweden).

Please submit an abstract of 300 words in English by December 7th 2026 to Hario Priambodho (hario.priambodho@iko.lu.se). For further information please consult our website https://ju.se/mediasecretsinternationalsymposium

There is a registration fee of 2950 SEK. The fee covers conference catering and an evening meal on day one of the event.