Zagreb 2026

Topic

Managing Media with and for Young People: Creators, Organisations and Audiences

Date & location

Date
12-13 November 2026

Location
Zagreb, Croatia

Hosted by
Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Program

Topics and Questions

We kindly invite contributions that study youth and media management in these three interconnected perspectives. Guiding questions include (but are not limited to):

1) Media employees (not only journalists)

• How do young professionals develop managerial roles and capabilities in media?
• How to manage young employees in media organisations?
• How can media organisations motivate Gen Z to work in media professional environments?
• How to balance work and life among Gen Z (resilience, well-being, mental health, etc).

2) Media audiences

• How do established media organisations change (in terms of strategy, products, brands, communication, distribution, etc.), to address young audiences?
• How are young audiences researched (measured), segmented, engaged, retained, and converted into members, subscribers, customers, or communities?
• How do platformisation and algorithms influence managerial decisions in youth-oriented media?
• Are there any tensions (organisational and ethical) regarding young audiences?

3) Content creators

• How do content creators manage their own media brands, production, partnerships, communities, and revenues?
• How do platformisation and algorithms impact managerial decisions in content creator-led media?
• How do content creators balance profits and ethics (from advertising to fake news)?
• How do youth as audiences engage with media content created by influencers?
• How do content creators consider their role within the media industry?

We welcome submissions addressing:

• Generational change, succession, and organisational culture in media organisations
• Career paths, skills, labour conditions, and managerial development of young media workers
• Transformation of legacy media brands, formats, and distribution for younger markets
• Public-service and local media strategies for serving young audiences
• Strategy and innovation in media products designed for younger audiences
• Revenue diversification, monetisation, sponsorship, and platform dependence in media addressing young people
• Community management, loyalty, and participation among young audiences
• Audience research, segmentation, analytics, and insight generation concerning young people
• News avoidance, relevance, trust, and their implications for media strategy
• The use of automation and AI as managerial tools in production, distribution, analytics, or personalisation
• Creator-led media businesses and creators as owner-managers
• Personal branding, portfolio management, and professionalisation of content creators
• Production management, workflow design, outsourcing, and collaboration in creator enterprises
• Ethics in content creation

Goals of the Event

Our two-day event will consist of round tables with media practitioners and especially workshops. The idea of the latter one is to strengthen youth-related research within media management by connecting organisational and strategic perspectives that are often discussed separately. It will bring together researchers to compare concepts, methods, cases, and professional experience. We would like to identify emerging research problems and develop a clearer understanding of how youth is reshaping media work, media organisations, media products, creator businesses, and audience management. Hopefully, it will also be a kick-off for new research topics and plans, like papers and grant applications.

The event will be structured around three workshops. While submitting, you will be asked to choose one topic on which you will work with your colleagues:

Workshop A – Young People as Employees and Employers?

This workshop focuses on young people as media employees, team leaders, and decision-makers. It welcomes submissions on youth career development, their managerial and leadership skills, organisational culture, intergenerational relations, work conditions in traditional and emerging media organisations.

Workshop B – Managing Media for Young Audiences

This workshop refers to the ways how media organisations develop their strategies, products, brands, distribution, and business models when addressing young audiences. You may also choose it when you are interested in how young audiences are measured, segmented and engaged.

Workshop C – Content Creators as Media Owner-Managers

You will focus on the topic of “creators as media managers”. The focus is on editorial work, production planning, brand and community management, platform strategy, partnerships, professionalisation, ethics, monetisation, and the tension between creative identity and business development.

Why Participate?

Apart from international cooperation, networking, studying relevant topics during a unique academic gathering, we also offer publication opportunities for selected papers resulting from #emmahub.

They include:

• Special issue of “Journal of Media Business Studies” (only for emmahub participants)
• Special section in the “Medijske studije – Media Studies” (only for emmahub participants)

The proposed publications will focus on the managerial implications of young people’s changing roles in the modern media ecosystem. Further information regarding the submission process, timeline, and editorial guidelines will be announced after the workshop.

Who Should Participate?

The #emmahub welcomes contributions from:

• Scholars in media management, media economics, journalism studies, communication, and digital media
• Media managers and professionals from established and emerging media organisations
• Content creators, creator managers, producers, and platform-based entrepreneurs
• Founders of digital-native, local, niche, and community media
• Audience, product, marketing, strategy, and innovation specialists
• Doctoral and early-career researchers

To apply, please submit

• a 300–500-word abstract outlining the proposed contribution. It should include goals, research questions, a brief description of the methodology, estimated outcomes and contribution to theory and practice of media studies, and a minimum of five references.
• Your short biography (100 words), including affiliation and contact information.
• Information about the workshop (A, B, or C) you would like to participate in.

We are happy to let you know that #emmahub is a fee-free event. However, an active emma membership is required to participate. Please follow this link: Register – emma – European Media Management Association.

Contact

Please submit your abstract or send questions to:

Nensi Blažević, pred.dr. sc. socio.

nensi.blazevic@fpzg.hr

Faculty of Political Science

University of Zagreb

Program

Important dates

More information

Contact
Nensi Blažević, nensi.blazevic@fpzg.hr

Twitter hashtag
#emmahub