The dynamics of contemporary media have created a fast-paced field, in which academic studies are often challenged, both methodologically and theoretically, to keep pace with current developments in media, technology and society. In our view, the question of cooperation is a crucial issue surrounding these dynamics. Digital networked media in particular can be viewed as cooperative platforms, enabling people to work together, share experiences and information about their lives, and interact with each other. This is, however, not a new phenomenon: the media have always been vital for connecting individuals, groups or whole societies. Likewise, cooperation is a fundamental feature of all human endeavors. The journal Media in Action aims to explore how to connect the two observations that (1) contemporary digital media are prima facie media of cooperation and (2) media and cooperation have been tightly enmeshed long before the digital age. This question lies at the core of this interdisciplinary journal on cooperative media.