ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

Dr César Jiménez-Martínez

Dr César Jiménez-Martínez

Assistant Professor

Department of Media and Communications

orcid
Connect with me

Languages
English, Portuguese, Spanish
Key Expertise
Media and the Nation, Protests, Latin America, Visibility

About me

Dr César Jiménez-Martínez is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳.

His research examines the mediated visibility of personal and collective identities, focussing in particular on the construction, communication and contestation of the nation in and through promotional practices. His work has made significant contributions to debates on mediated nationhood, especially digital nationalism, as well as to discussions on nation branding, public diplomacy and soft power in the context of Latin America. Dr Jiménez-Martínez has highlighted inner contradictions and structural inequalities found in promotional practice, as well as how actors such as journalists, foreign correspondents and activists embrace, negotiate, or reject national brands, sometimes by adopting promotional tools themselves. More recently, he has started looking at how national identities are contested in and through the mediation of protests.

He is the author of Media and the Image of the Nation during Brazil's 2013 Protests, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020, and co-edited with Professor Terhi Rantanen Globalization and the Media, published by Routledge in 2019. His work has appeared in journals including The International Journal of Press/Politics, International Journal of Communication, International Communication Gazette, Nations and Nationalism, Geopolitics, and Place Branding and Public Diplomacy.

His research has received several awards, including the 2021 Anthony D. Smith Award to outstanding article published in Nations and Nationalism (for ‘Digital nationalism: Understanding the role of digital media in the rise of ‘new’ nationalism, co-authored with Sabina Mihelj), an Honourable Mention in the 2021 ICA Annual Conference for best paper in Public Diplomacy Interest Group (for ‘Soft power and media power: How foreign correspondents react to Brazil’s nation branding Initiatives’), a second place in the 2022 Jay Blumler Best Article Award of The International Journal of Press Politics (for 'The instrumental mediated visibility of violence: The 2013 protests in Brazil and the limitations of the protest paradigm'), and the 2023 Top Faculty Award Paper of the ICA Public Diplomacy Division (for ‘Threats, truths and strategies: The overlooked relationship between protests, nation branding and public diplomacy’, co-authored with Alina Dolea).

Dr Jiménez-Martínez is currently Vice-Chair of the Popular Media & Culture Division of the International Communication Association.

Prior to joining the department, Dr Jiménez-Martínez was lecturer at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, and postdoctoral researcher at Loughborough University. He received his PhD in Media and Communications from ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳, and holds a double MSc/MA in Global Communications from ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and the University of Southern California.

Before becoming an academic, he worked almost a decade as a journalist for newspapers and television stations in Latin America. He also worked for Ogilvy Public Relations on different projects related with Nation Branding for several public and private organisations.

Expertise Details

Media and the nation; Nation branding; Public diplomacy; Soft power; Protests and contestation; Promotional cultures; Branding; Latin America; Visibility

Research

Dr Jiménez-Martínez’s first book, Media and the Image of the Nation during Brazil's 2013 Protests, was among the first academic studies developing a developed a comprehensive analysis of the role of the media in the communication and contestation of nationhood in the current digital, global and content-intensive media environment, using as example the Brazilian demonstrations of June 2013. The protests conflicted with the positive ‘nation-brand’ that local authorities tried to project as hosts of the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic games in 2016. The book built on empirical data of around 800 articles and television reports from Brazil, the US and Western Europe, and a vast qualitative material from sixty-four original interviews with government officials, activists, and Brazilian and foreign journalists. It made empirical and conceptual contributions to literature on promotional cultures, nation branding, and nationalism. It was positively reviewed in journals and academic blogs such as the International Journal of Press/Politics, Nations and Nationalism, Visual Studies and the London School of Economics Review of Books, with commentators describing it as an ‘important’, ‘stimulating’ and ‘fascinating’ reading.

His work on protests and public diplomacy has been equally praised. The Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation’s blog dedicated a whole entry to the article ‘The Instrumental Mediated Visibility of Violence’, stating that it was a ‘helpful and thought-provoking’ work that advanced research on protest news coverage. Bruce Gregory, member of the Public Diplomacy Council in the United States, stated that his work on protests and soft power was among the ‘must-read’ publications for scholars and practitioners in public diplomacy.

Dr Jiménez-Martínez has received several awards, including the 2021 Anthony D. Smith Award to outstanding article published in Nations and Nationalism (for ‘Digital nationalism: Understanding the role of digital media in the rise of ‘new’ nationalism, co-authored with Sabina Mihelj), an Honourable Mention in the 2021 ICA Annual Conference for best paper in Public Diplomacy Interest Group (for ‘Soft power and media power: How foreign correspondents react to Brazil’s nation branding Initiatives’), a second place in the 2022 Jay Blumler Best Article Award of The International Journal of Press Politics (for 'The instrumental mediated visibility of violence: The 2013 protests in Brazil and the limitations of the protest paradigm'), and the 2023 Top Faculty Award Paper of the ICA Public Diplomacy Division (for ‘Threats, truths and strategies: The overlooked relationship between protests, nation branding and public diplomacy’, co-authored with Alina Dolea).

Publications