First of all, let me thank those colleagues who put my name forward as a potential editor for our wonderful new journal, and then to those colleagues who voted me into the post.  This journal has been a long time coming and now that it is arrived, at least on paper if not quite yet in actuality, I am excited at the prospect of making CC&C the first choice destination for scholars working across the discipline and who are using a range of critical analytical frameworks. I am confident that, with the help of my editorial board, the journal will quickly become established as an important outlet for the dissemination of high quality, topical, and relevant critical and interpretive scholarship in the broad fields of media, communication, and cultural studies. I am honored to be given the opportunity to serve ICA by becoming the inaugural editor of CC&C and hope to live up to the faith put in me by my colleagues.

Why will I be a good inaugural editor for our new journal? I am a twin and my sister and I have been part of longitudinal study on osteoporosis and lifestyle at St Thomas’ hospital, London, for the past 5 years. Whilst on the face of it, a study that samples 5,000 pairs of twins should produce compelling and convincing data, the problem is that if the research design is faulty, then no matter how large the sample, the resulting data will be unreliable; so it is with this particular study. The reason I make this point is that when I work with my postgraduate students on research methods, there is always a knee-jerk reaction against qualititative research approaches on the grounds of small numbers and a reluctance to accept the value and importance of individual testimony, of personal stories, of in-depth fieldwork which privileges the individual over the mass. Essentially, the debate centers on what "counts" as research, what is knowledge, what is truth, and what is real. These questions crystallize and exemplify the qualitative vs. quantitative problematic. So, having spent a not insignificant amount of time over the span of my academic career so far, arguing (but not being defensive!) about the value of qualitative and interpretive research methods and approaches, the opportunity to work with colleagues in developing a new qualitative communications journal and in particular, one which emerges under the auspices of both ICA and Blackwell, is incredibly exciting.

What I hope for Communication, Culture & Critique is a journal whose contributors are working at the cutting edge of their particular subfields, undertaking research that nudges the boundaries of what we think we know. A journal promoting scholarship that can contribute to a better understanding of our increasingly complicated world. Whilst the driving force behind the establishment of CC&C has been the perception (rightly or wrongly) that the other ICA journals do not always provide a welcoming home for qualitative, interpretive, or critical scholarship, I do not intend to continue that schism by rejecting sound critical scholarship which nonetheless has quantitative elements. However, I would imagine that the majority of work published in CC&C will be broadly qualitative and/or interpretive in orientation and methodology. 

Communication, Culture & Critique will thus provide an international forum for research and commentary that examines the role of communication in today's world. It welcomes high quality research and analyses from diverse theoretical and methodological approaches—from all fields of communication, media, and cultural studies—that is critically informed, methodologically imaginative, and careful in its exposition and argument. Foci for enquiry can include all kinds of text- and print-based media, as well as broadcast, still and moving images, and electronic modes of communication including the internet, games, and mobile telephony. Typical journal content will include research articles, theory-focused essays, commentaries on evolving and topical issues, research notes, book reviews, and other scholarly contributions. Any and all approaches, analyses and perspectives are welcome including, but not limited to: cultural criticism and analysis, media and communications critique, feminist approaches, queer theory, postcolonial theory, and interpersonal and group communication analyses.

I expect to publish well-argued, rigorous, and thoughtful work that poses as many questions as it answers. Communication, Culture & Critique will provide a lively forum for debate, dialogue, and doubt. In the coming years, the board will develop special themed issues and encourage interdisciplinary and cross-cultural work which uses innovative approaches and methods to shine new light on some of the urgent issues facing our planet. Bringing a critical lens to the social, cultural, and political dimensions of our media-saturated world is a crucial task that the academy must perform if we are to be of any use to the societies in which we work and play. We must recognize the salience of geography on communication flow, the importance of gender and ethnicity on lived experience, the relationship of poverty to the knowledge society, and the historical antecedents of contemporary events if our work is to have any real meaning for or influence in the lives of real people in the real world.

This is my vision for Communication, Culture & Critique; I hope that in the coming years, I can make even part of it a reality. If I can get the big thing done - issue 1 of volume 1 published in spring 2008 - then I’m hopeful that a small thing like making the journal a fantastic success will be the easy bit. But then, I always was a glass half-full kind of person....salut!

Karen Ross

Inaugural Editor

Communication, Culture & Critique