On 19 October 2026, CPOI Reads hosted an online webinar, Space and Place in Global Media Industries, exploring the newly published anthology Locating Media Industries: Spaces, Places, Platforms (Routledge, 2026).
The event brought together the collection’s co-editor and contributors, Professor Paul McDonald (King’s College London), Dr Luisela Alvaray (De Paul University) and Professor Timothy Havens (University of Iowa), in conversation with CPOI Member Dr Anne O’ Brien, Associate Professor in Media Studies at Maynooth University,
The discussion examined how media industries shaped and were shaped by spaces and places, from global production networks and local media cultures to the growing influence of streaming platforms. The speakers reflected on their contributions to the anthology and explored the spatial dynamics of media industries, the location of soft power in ‘Hollywood East’, and the production of content for global platforms in Latin America.
The webinar formed part of the CPOI Reads series organised by Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland, with support from UCD’s School of Art History and Cultural Policy. It was also part of the Screening Mobility project, supported by the UK-Ireland Collaboration in the Creative Economy Research Networking Award through the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Research Ireland. The project examines migration and mobility across the screen industries in Ireland and the UK.
Watch the event recording:
Speakers:
Professor Paul McDonald is Professor of Media Industries at King’s College London. His most recent publications include editing The Routledge Companion to Media Industries (2022) and co-editing Locating Media Industries: Spaces, Places, Platforms (2026, Routledge), Media Industries and Cities: Perspectives, Geopolitics and Transformations (2026, Routledge), Global Film Policies (2026, Routledge) and Digital Media Distribution: Portals, Platforms, Pipelines (2021, New York University Press). He is the author of George Clooney (2019, British Film Institute), Hollywood Stardom (2013, Wiley-Blackwell), Video and DVD Industries (2007, British Film Institute), and The Star System: Hollywood’s Production of Popular Identities (2000, Wallflower). He is a co-editor of Hollywood and the Law (2015, British Film Institute) and The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry (2008, Blackwell). Aside from his personal research, he’s undertaken a number of initiatives to advance the critical analysis of media industries within the academic research community, including co-editing the International Screen Industries book series (2000-24) from the British Film Institute, founding specialised media industries research networks within the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS), establishing the Media Industries conferences (2018, 2024, 2027), and co-directing the conference Locating Media Industries: Cities, Spaces, Places (2023). Paul is a founding member of the Editorial Collective for the open access journal Media Industries.
Dr Luisela Alvaray is Associate Professor at DePaul University. She specializes in Latin American and transnational cinema and media, cultural studies, documentary film, and film historiography. Her research has been published in journals such as Cinema Journal, Transnational Screens, Studies in Hispanic Cinemas, Cultural Dynamics and Film & History. She has contributed to several edited volumes, including Locating Media Industries: Spaces, Places and Platforms, The Routledge Companion to Latin-American Cinemas, Latin American Melodrama, and Global Cinema Networks. Her recent work explores the intersections of regional film cultures and global media flows, with a focus on Latin American storytelling in the digital and streaming era.
Professor Timothy Havens has published seven books and more than 30 essays on television studies, media globalization, race and media, platform studies, and the critical analysis of media industries. His most recent publication is Media Industries in the Digital Age: How Media Businesses Work Today with Amanda D. Lotz (Polity, 2024).
Chair:
Dr Anne O’ Brien is Associate Professor of Media Studies at Maynooth University. Her books explore Women, Inequality and Media Work (Routledge, 2019); Media Graduates at Work (Arnold and Kerrigan, Palgrave, 2021) and Media Work, Mothers and Motherhood (Liddy, Routledge, 2021). She has published articles on gender inequality and representation, on women workers and motherhood in creative industries and on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies for journals such as Media Culture and Society; Television and New Media; Gender, Work and Organisation, and Feminist Media Studies. Her engaged and funded research with NGOs is on gender and sports, gender-based violence and mental health of media workers.
