Welcome to the second issue of PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication, an online academic journal edited and comprised of work by a global community of graduate media and communications emerging scholars. In this issue we decided to forgo a thematic approach in favor of an open call for papers, resulting in a small but diverse number of articles which all share a strong dedication to the centrality of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in the study of social phenomena. The issue opens with an article by our guest author Lauren Movius. Movius explores the challenges that ‘cultural globalisation’ presents to traditional theories borne out of the traditions of political economy and cultural studies in which media imperialism is a major theme. Movius argues that current processes of globalisation no longer fit neatly within the two binary positions that present globalisation as a factor in fostering a democratic public sphere, or as homogenising force that debases democracy. She points out that rather than imperialism, commercialism is a more prevalent factor in globalisation, and that globalisation is intertwined with developments in media and communications.