Profile
Pieter Maeseele (1981) is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Antwerp (Belgium), where he is vice-chair of the research group Antwerp Media in Society Centre (AMSoC) at the Department of Communication Studies. He is affiliated to the research group Centre for Research on Environment and Social Change (CRESC - UA) and was previously affiliated to Centre for Cinema and Media Studies (CIMS - UGent). He previously held positions at Ghent University and Erasmus University College Brussels. He holds a BA in Political and Social Sciences (2001) and MAs in Communication Studies (2003) and Economics and Business Administration (2006), and received his doctor's degree in Communication Studies at Ghent University in April 2009.
His research and teaching are situated on the nexus between media studies and political communication, with a focus on the relationship between media and democracy. He examines the role and performance of different formats, genres and styles of journalism and popular culture in terms of facilitating democratic debate, diversity and pluralism.
This is being investigated on the basis of the following lines of research:
- Professional journalism by 'legacy media' (present and past)
- Independent, digital news start-ups (or 'alternative' media)
- News satire and comedy
- Long-form television drama
Drawing from post-foundational political philosophy and agonistic democratic theory, this scholarly agenda seeks to understand the entanglement of discourse, power and democratic politics in mediated discourse on particular social issues. He has published widely on climate change, new (bio)technologies, online privacy, human rights, austerity reform and protest, new social and political movements, fair trade, media capture and populism.
This work is characterized by two commitments. First, a commitment to bridging theory and practice. An extensive engagement with contemporary debates in political philosophy and democratic theory is combined with rigorous social-scientific research into the practices and products of journalism and popular culture. Second, a commitment to social justice and transformative, emancipatory social change.