Dear Colleagues, Journalism and Media (ISSN 2673-5172) is currently running a Special Issue entitled “Creator Futures: Reorganizing Media and Journalism Work” with Dr. Errol Salamon from the University of Stirling as Guest Editor. Digital platforms have lowered barriers to entry for media production, enabling millions of independent creators to participate in entertainment, journalism, and cultural work across platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and X. As creators build careers and generate income across platforms, they are reshaping how media and news are produced, distributed, and monetized, extending and transforming established forms of media and journalism labour. Despite expanded access, creators continue to face structural barriers to sustainability, visibility, and career advancement. At the same time, traditional media and journalism organizations are struggling to adapt to platform-driven business models, technological change, and new revenue streams. While scholarship on creators and platform labour is growing, more research is needed to understand how creator labour is reorganizing media and journalism work across different institutional, professional, and geographical contexts. This Special Issue invites contributions that examine creator-driven futures of media and journalism work, addressing these transformations and tensions across industries, platforms, and regions. We invite submissions from the perspective of journalism, media and communication research or related disciplines that examine, but are not limited to, the following themes: * Industry Structures: How are creators reshaping the structural foundations of media and journalism industries, including business models, revenue streams, production workflows, and audience development strategies? * Institutions, Organizations, and Governance Actors: How are creators, platforms, film and television companies, broadcasters, policymakers, intermediary organizations (e.g., talent managers, multichannel networks, professional associations, unions, etc.), or activists shaping or responding to industry transformation? What new forms of platform governance, labour governance, collective representation, advocacy, or activism are emerging around creator, digital media, or journalism work? * Professionalism: What new skills and training are essential to support sustainable careers in content creation and media or journalism occupations? How are creators, media workers, or journalists reshaping professional norms, ethical standards, or hybrid occupational identities in digital media and journalism work? * Geographies: How do local, regional, and peripheral contexts shape creator careers, precarious work, and access to industry networks or intermediaries? What new pathways—or barriers—exist for creators, media workers, and journalists based in small cities, rural areas, or regions outside metropolitan cultural hubs? * Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: How do industry stakeholders harness the creative potential of creators while ensuring greater diversity, equality, inclusion in media or journalism work? What top–down industry-led or bottom–up creator-led interventions support equitable creator, media, or journalism work practices? For more information about this Special Issue, please visit the following page: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/journalmedia/special_issues/2Q7597D74K The submission deadline is August 31, 2026. Manuscripts may be submitted and considered at any time before the deadline and should not be under consideration elsewhere. You are also welcome to send a short abstract or tentative title in advance to Dr. Errol Salamon (errol.salamon@stir.ac.uk) or to the Editorial Office (tina.tosic@mdpi.com). If you are interested, please let us know. We would be more than happy to provide additional information and answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing from you. All the best, Errol Dr. Errol Salamon Senior Lecturer in Media Production Programme Director, MSc Media Management Co-Lead, Creative Industries Cluster, Institute for Advanced Studies Division of Communications, Media and Culture University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland, United Kingdom Office: A45 Pathfoot Building https://errolsalamon.com<https://errolsalamon.com/> @errolsalamon.bsky.social<https://bsky.app/profile/errolsalamon.bsky.social> @errolsalamon<https://twitter.com/errolsalamon> https://uk.linkedin.com/in/errol-salamon-76841b197 Recent Publications: Salamon, E., Bélair-Gagnon, V., & Crawford, M. (2026). Journalism and social media in creator economies: Evolving structures and labor. New Media & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251407336 Salamon, E. (2025). Communicating a local journalism crisis online: How media workers frame industry changes. Digital Journalism. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2024.2434917 Salamon, E. (2025). Peripheral creator labor: Navigating regional marginalization and resistance in social media entertainment. New Media & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241308520<https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241308520> Salamon, E., & Xie, H. (2025). Communicative intersectionality: Advocating for equality, diversity, and inclusion in media industries. Communication Theory, 35(3), 185–196. https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtaf008 Book: Gasher, M., Brin, C., Crowther, C., King, G., Salamon, E., & Thibault, S. (Eds.). (2016). Journalism in crisis: Bridging theory and practice for democratic media strategies in Canada. University of Toronto Press. https://utorontopress.com/9781442628885/journalism-in-crisis/ ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159