- @mss7676 on Twitter
- Transnational Communication, International and Intercultural Communication, Transnationalization of Public Spheres, Comparative Communication Research, Media & Climate Change, Science Communication, and 36 moreInternational Communication, Media Sociology, Web 2.0, Public and Political Communication, Public Sphere, New Media, Digital Media, Political communication, Political Communication (Communication), Globalization, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Socio-cultural dimensions of climate change and adaptation, Media Theory, Quantitative Methods of Communication Research, Multivariate Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling, Time series analysis, Mass Communication, Climate Change, Environmental Communication, Communication, Comparative Research, Sociology of Emotion, International Comparative Media Research, Content Analysis, Public Understanding Of Science, Sociology of Science, Social Studies Of Science, science and technology studies (STS), Internet Studies, The Internet, Öffentlichkeit, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit, Public Communication. Political Communication, New Media and the Digital Public Sphere, and Online Public Sphereedit
- Professor of Science Communication and Director of Center for Higher Education & Science Studies (CHESS) at Universit... moreProfessor of Science Communication and Director of Center for Higher Education & Science Studies (CHESS) at University of Zurich. On Twitter as @mss7676.
Studied Sociology and Communications in Leipzig, Vienna and Cork. Fulbright Visiting Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communciation / Center for Global Communication Studies in 2012. Faculty member at Universities in Leipzig (2002-2004), Berlin (2004-2010) and Hamburg (2010-2013). Guest researcher at several institutions in the US in 2004.edit
Eine grundlegende Publikation der zeitgenössischen Fanforschung in der überarbeiteten Neuauflage. Fans sind ein weit verbreitetes und vielfältiges Phänomen: Menschen sind Fans von Fußballvereinen, Musikern, Filmstars, Automarken usw. Es... more
Eine grundlegende Publikation der zeitgenössischen Fanforschung in der überarbeiteten Neuauflage.
Fans sind ein weit verbreitetes und vielfältiges Phänomen: Menschen sind Fans von Fußballvereinen, Musikern, Filmstars, Automarken usw. Es gibt Fans in verschiedenen Altersgruppen und Schichten. Die hier versammelten Beiträge analysieren Fans hinsichtlich ihrer spezifischen Emotionalität, ihrer Kultur und Lebensführung, ihrer Sozialisation und Sozialstruktur, ihres Konsumverhaltens, ihrer Mediennutzung und ihrer politischen Partizipation. Thematisiert werden außerdem die internen Abgrenzungen in Fan-Szenen, Fragen der Migration und Globalisierung von Fans, Geschlechterkonstruktionen in Fan-Gemeinschaften sowie die Geschichte des Fantums.
Fans sind ein weit verbreitetes und vielfältiges Phänomen: Menschen sind Fans von Fußballvereinen, Musikern, Filmstars, Automarken usw. Es gibt Fans in verschiedenen Altersgruppen und Schichten. Die hier versammelten Beiträge analysieren Fans hinsichtlich ihrer spezifischen Emotionalität, ihrer Kultur und Lebensführung, ihrer Sozialisation und Sozialstruktur, ihres Konsumverhaltens, ihrer Mediennutzung und ihrer politischen Partizipation. Thematisiert werden außerdem die internen Abgrenzungen in Fan-Szenen, Fragen der Migration und Globalisierung von Fans, Geschlechterkonstruktionen in Fan-Gemeinschaften sowie die Geschichte des Fantums.
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Wissenschaftskommunikation ist zentral für moderne Wissensgesellschaften – und in den vergangenen Jahren immer vielfältiger geworden. Sie findet in der Wissenschaft auf Konferenzen oder in Fachpublikationen statt, in der Politik- und... more
Wissenschaftskommunikation ist zentral für moderne Wissensgesellschaften – und in den vergangenen Jahren immer vielfältiger geworden. Sie findet in der Wissenschaft auf Konferenzen oder in Fachpublikationen statt, in der Politik- und Unternehmensberatung, in Kampagnen, in Massenmedien und in Social Media. Die Kommunikationswissenschaft und andere Sozialwissenschaften haben sich in den letzten Jahren verstärkt mit dem Thema Wissenschaftskommunikation befasst. Der Band kartiert dieses Forschungsfeld, identifiziert zentrale Themen, theoretische Perspektiven und Fragestellungen und stellt den Wissensstand überblickshaft dar.
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New ‘digital-born players’ such as Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Vice are challenging traditional media in their provision of news in general, and about the environment in particular. They have invested heavily in a wide range of... more
New ‘digital-born players’ such as Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Vice are challenging traditional media in their provision of news in general, and about the environment in particular. They have invested heavily in a wide range of countries and languages in an attempt to reach young audiences, who increasingly use social media as their source of news.
Despite their success, these new players have hardly been studied. This book, written by lead author James Painter and researchers in five countries, takes the UN summit on climate change in December 2015 as a case study, and analyses how new players and legacy media in France, Germany, Spain, the UK, and the USA covered it.
It shows that new players are an important addition to climate change coverage. They reach new segments of the audience with a wide range of novel reporting styles, formats, and tone that marks them out from more established media.
The authors argue that this is particularly beneficial at a time when environmental reporting is being reduced in media organisations across the world.
Despite their success, these new players have hardly been studied. This book, written by lead author James Painter and researchers in five countries, takes the UN summit on climate change in December 2015 as a case study, and analyses how new players and legacy media in France, Germany, Spain, the UK, and the USA covered it.
It shows that new players are an important addition to climate change coverage. They reach new segments of the audience with a wide range of novel reporting styles, formats, and tone that marks them out from more established media.
The authors argue that this is particularly beneficial at a time when environmental reporting is being reduced in media organisations across the world.
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Die Kommunikation von Wissenschaft ist hochrelevant: Wissenschaftliches Wissen spielt in allen Gesellschaftsbereichen eine immer wichtigere Rolle, von individuellen Fragen zu Gesundheit, Ernährung oder Konsum bis hin zu Entscheidungen in... more
Die Kommunikation von Wissenschaft ist hochrelevant: Wissenschaftliches Wissen spielt in allen Gesellschaftsbereichen eine immer wichtigere Rolle, von individuellen Fragen zu Gesundheit, Ernährung oder Konsum bis hin zu Entscheidungen in Politik und Wirtschaft. Aber um dahin zu gelangen, muss das Wissen aus seinen Entstehungskontexten in die Gesellschaft kommuniziert werden. Dass es sich dabei um keine simple Übersetzung handelt, sondern wissenschaftliches Wissen in diesem Prozess umgeformt und kritisch hinterfragt wird, zeigen die Debatten über Klimawandel, Risiken der Atomenergie und Gentechnik oder Vor‐ und Nachteile der Nanotechnologie.
In den vergangenen Jahren haben sich die Orte, Formen und Inhalte der Wissenschaftskommunikation allerdings diversifiziert. Neben Wissenschaftsrubriken in der Presse und TV‐Wissenschaftsmagazine sind Wissenschaftsblogs, Social Network Sites oder Twitter getreten. Die Menge des verfügbaren wissenschaftlichen Wissens hat sich erhöht, aber auch die Intensität öffentlicher Debatten – und dies wirkt auch auf die Wissenschaft zurück.
Die hier versammelten Beiträge analysieren diesen facettenreichen Wandel der Wissenschaftskommunikation. Sie fokussieren dabei auf die Kommunikation innerhalb der Wissenschaft ebenso wie auf die Auseinandersetzung von Wissenschaftlern mit der breiteren Öffentlichkeit und auf öffentliche Debatten über Wissenschaftsthemen.
In den vergangenen Jahren haben sich die Orte, Formen und Inhalte der Wissenschaftskommunikation allerdings diversifiziert. Neben Wissenschaftsrubriken in der Presse und TV‐Wissenschaftsmagazine sind Wissenschaftsblogs, Social Network Sites oder Twitter getreten. Die Menge des verfügbaren wissenschaftlichen Wissens hat sich erhöht, aber auch die Intensität öffentlicher Debatten – und dies wirkt auch auf die Wissenschaft zurück.
Die hier versammelten Beiträge analysieren diesen facettenreichen Wandel der Wissenschaftskommunikation. Sie fokussieren dabei auf die Kommunikation innerhalb der Wissenschaft ebenso wie auf die Auseinandersetzung von Wissenschaftlern mit der breiteren Öffentlichkeit und auf öffentliche Debatten über Wissenschaftsthemen.
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[The Media Climate. Studies on climate change communication] 2012. 285 p. Including 10 illustrations and 15 tables. Paperback. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. ISBN: 978-3-531-17752-6 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-531-94217-9 For many people media... more
[The Media Climate. Studies on climate change communication]
2012. 285 p. Including 10 illustrations and 15 tables. Paperback.
Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
ISBN: 978-3-531-17752-6
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-531-94217-9
For many people media representations are the central source of information on global climate change. Mass media illustrate the relevance of the topic, break down global climate change to regional contexts and show short-term consequences of long-term change. Therefore, scientists, politicians, NGOs and companies seek gaining voice in mass media. Consequently, an increasing number of studies focuses on media constructions of climate change, its drivers and impacts. This volume examines the existing literature, presents the current knowledge and identifies research perspectives.
2012. 285 p. Including 10 illustrations and 15 tables. Paperback.
Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
ISBN: 978-3-531-17752-6
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-531-94217-9
For many people media representations are the central source of information on global climate change. Mass media illustrate the relevance of the topic, break down global climate change to regional contexts and show short-term consequences of long-term change. Therefore, scientists, politicians, NGOs and companies seek gaining voice in mass media. Consequently, an increasing number of studies focuses on media constructions of climate change, its drivers and impacts. This volume examines the existing literature, presents the current knowledge and identifies research perspectives.
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Was bewirken Gewaltdarstellungen in Medien? Welchen Einfluss haben Journalisten auf Wahlen? Verändert sich unsere Sprache durch das Internet? Wie wirkt Werbung? Was ist eine gute Fernsehserie? Antworten auf diese und weitere Fragen finden... more
Was bewirken Gewaltdarstellungen in Medien? Welchen Einfluss haben Journalisten auf Wahlen? Verändert sich unsere Sprache durch das Internet? Wie wirkt Werbung? Was ist eine gute Fernsehserie? Antworten auf diese und weitere Fragen finden Sie in diesem Heft. Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK) dokumentiert diese Fachgesellschaft ihre Forschungsleistungen und die Stärken und die Vielfalt ihrer Arbeit.
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Der Klimawandel ist eine der großen Herausforderungen heutiger Gesellschaften. Bei der Klimathematik hat sich die Mobilisierung von Bewegungen wie in kaum einem anderen Themenbereich in die Mitte der Gesellschaft und der Politik... more
Der Klimawandel ist eine der großen Herausforderungen heutiger Gesellschaften. Bei der Klimathematik hat sich die Mobilisierung von Bewegungen wie in kaum einem anderen Themenbereich in die Mitte der Gesellschaft und der Politik vorgearbeitet. Damit ist das Problem aber keineswegs gelöst, sondern mit der Anerkennung der Problematik ist die Auseinandersetzung um Verantwortlichkeiten und Lösungen erst voll entbrannt. Eine Schlüsselfrage ist dabei, wer die öffentliche Meinung für sich gewinnen kann, um seine Interpretationen des Problems und seine Lösungsstrategien durchzusetzen. Diverse Kampagnen und eine Reihe von prominenten Konflikten der Problemdeutung sind das Resultat dieser Situation.
Das Heft beleuchtet diese Auseinandersetzung und die Strategien zur Beeinflussung öffentlicher Meinung. Wie agieren Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Politik und NGOs? In welcher Weise versuchen sie, die Öffentlichkeit für ihre Deutungen und Lösungen zu gewinnen? Welche Rolle spielen die Medien? Und welche Entwicklungen lassen sich in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung, in der Mobilisierung der Öffentlichkeit (in einem weiten Sinne) für Klimafragen und lösungen erkennen?
Mit der Untersuchung von Kampagnen zu Klimafragen, die versuchen, die öffentliche Meinung zu mobilisieren, nimmt das Forschungsjournal exemplarisch eine große und dauerhaft aktuelle politische Auseinandersetzung in den Blick. Hier zeigen sich die ganz konkreten Konflikte, aber auch - aus einer allgemeineren Perspektive - die Strategien zur Gewinnung/Manipulation der öffentlichen Meinung. Damit ist die Auseinandersetzung um Klimawandel und Klimaschutz ein Beispiel für Strategien und Logiken öffentlicher Kampagnen in umstrittenen Politikfeldern.
Mit Beiträgen von Silke Beck, Markus Rhomberg, Axel Bojanowski, Markus Lehmkuhl, Roger Pielke jr., Werner Krauss, Inga Schlichting & Andreas Schmidt, Jochen Roose und Mike S. Schäfer.
Das Heft beleuchtet diese Auseinandersetzung und die Strategien zur Beeinflussung öffentlicher Meinung. Wie agieren Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Politik und NGOs? In welcher Weise versuchen sie, die Öffentlichkeit für ihre Deutungen und Lösungen zu gewinnen? Welche Rolle spielen die Medien? Und welche Entwicklungen lassen sich in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung, in der Mobilisierung der Öffentlichkeit (in einem weiten Sinne) für Klimafragen und lösungen erkennen?
Mit der Untersuchung von Kampagnen zu Klimafragen, die versuchen, die öffentliche Meinung zu mobilisieren, nimmt das Forschungsjournal exemplarisch eine große und dauerhaft aktuelle politische Auseinandersetzung in den Blick. Hier zeigen sich die ganz konkreten Konflikte, aber auch - aus einer allgemeineren Perspektive - die Strategien zur Gewinnung/Manipulation der öffentlichen Meinung. Damit ist die Auseinandersetzung um Klimawandel und Klimaschutz ein Beispiel für Strategien und Logiken öffentlicher Kampagnen in umstrittenen Politikfeldern.
Mit Beiträgen von Silke Beck, Markus Rhomberg, Axel Bojanowski, Markus Lehmkuhl, Roger Pielke jr., Werner Krauss, Inga Schlichting & Andreas Schmidt, Jochen Roose und Mike S. Schäfer.
Research Interests: Social Psychology, Human Geography, Environmental Science, Philosophy, Ethics, and 14 moreCommunication, Forestry, Social Sciences, Climate Change, Conservation, Climate Change Adaptation, Environmental Communication, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Public Sphere, Health, Climate Change Adaptation And Mitigation Strategies, Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change Politics, and Climate Change Debate
"Ohne die Berichterstattung der Massenmedien würden die meisten Menschen kaum etwas über terroristische Anschläge erfahren. Allerdings können Medien derartige Anschläge sehr unterschiedlich darstellen. Die Studie vergleicht die... more
"Ohne die Berichterstattung der Massenmedien würden die meisten Menschen kaum etwas über terroristische Anschläge erfahren. Allerdings können Medien derartige Anschläge sehr unterschiedlich darstellen. Die Studie vergleicht die Terrorismusberichterstattung von fünf Fernsehsendern aus unterschiedlichen Ländern und Weltregionen. Untersucht werden die Formate der Berichterstattung, die inhaltlichen Deutungen der Anschläge und die damit verbundenen Emotionsdarstellungen. Vorgefundene Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten werden u.a. mit Hilfe von Globalisierungstheorien und Theorien kultureller Unterschiede
interpretiert."
interpretiert."
Research Interests: Communication, Media Studies, Intercultural Communication, Globalization, Television Studies, and 12 moreTerrorism, Transnationalism, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political communication, Qualitative Research, Television Journalism, Comparative Research, Clash of Cvilizations, News, Samuel P Huntington - Clash of Civilizations theory, Media and emotion, and De-westernization
Wissenschaft ist ein zentrales Element moderner „Wissensgesellschaften“. Dies zeigt sich darin, dass Massenmedien über einige wissenschaftliche Themen intensiv berichten und darin, dass Soziologie und Kommunikationswissenschaft die... more
Wissenschaft ist ein zentrales Element moderner „Wissensgesellschaften“. Dies zeigt sich darin, dass Massenmedien über einige wissenschaftliche Themen intensiv berichten und darin, dass Soziologie und Kommunikationswissenschaft die Analyse der Wissenschaftsberichterstattung für sich entdeckt haben. Die dabei oftmals verwendeten theoretischen Modelle haben jedoch einige Schwächen.Mike S. Schäfer stellt zwei dieser Modelle dar – das „Medialisierungs-Paradigma“ und das Modell der Wissenskulturen – und überprüft sie anhand einer Inhaltsanalyse der Berichterstattung einflussreicher deutscher Printmedien. Für die Stammzellforschung, die Humangenomforschung und die Neutrinoforschung rekonstruiert er differenzierte Berichterstattungsverläufe. Dabei zeigt sich, dass nur jene wissenschaftlichen Themen Gegenstand intensiver Medienberichterstattung werden, die spezifische Kopplungen an ihre gesellschaftliche Umwelt aufweisen.
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Biowissenschaftliche Forschungen und deren Anwendung waren in den vergangenen Jahren häufig Gegenstand öffentlicher Auseinandersetzungen. Der Ausgang dieser Debatten hat die Entwicklung der Wissenschaft entscheidend beeinflusst. Die... more
Biowissenschaftliche Forschungen und deren Anwendung waren in den vergangenen Jahren häufig Gegenstand öffentlicher Auseinandersetzungen. Der Ausgang dieser Debatten hat die Entwicklung der Wissenschaft entscheidend beeinflusst. Die Untersuchung zeigt am Beispiel der öffentlichen Diskurse über die Sequenzierung des menschlichen Erbguts in Deutschland und den USA, wie es den Befürwortern dieser Forschung gelungen ist, eine öffentliche Hegemonie herzustellen: Die öffentliche Debatte wird in beiden Ländern dominiert von wissenschaftlichen Akteuren, die das Projekt der "Entschlüsselung" des menschlichen Erbguts in erster Linie positiv bewerten. Wissenschaftliche und medizinische Deutungen und die damit verbundenen Heilsversprechen dominieren den Diskurs und erzeugen die nötige Legitimation. Dieser Befund gilt gleichermaßen für Deutschland und die USA, aber auch für drei weitere Länder (Österreich, Großbritannien und Frankreich) und die Debatte im Internet, so dass man von der Herstellung einer transnationalen öffentlichen Hegemonie sprechen kann.
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Special Section of the International Journal of Communication; available Open Access under http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3899
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Selten ist so gut wie gegenwärtig zu beobachten, dass sich im Wissenschaftssystem Strukturen verändern, die uns alle betreffen. Sie betreffen die Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften, sie betreffen die Lebenswissenschaften, sie... more
Selten ist so gut wie gegenwärtig zu beobachten, dass sich im Wissenschaftssystem Strukturen verändern, die uns alle betreffen. Sie betreffen die Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften, sie betreffen die Lebenswissenschaften, sie betreffen aber auch die klassischen Geisteswissenschaften, die sich als Digital Humanities neu erfinden. Im Zuge der Digitalisierung hat sich auch das wissenschaftliche Publizieren verändert. Nationale Sonderwege werden ebenso infrage gestellt wie die Reputation der gedruckten Veröffentlichung. Und mit der digitalen Publikation stellen sich neue Fragen: die der Archivierung, des Zugangs und der Orientierung. Die vorliegende „Aviso“-Ausgabe mit einer „Debatte“ über Open Access, die Patrick Rössler und Mike S. Schäfer betreut haben, widmet sich dieser brandaktuellen Diskussion.
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Research Interests: Earth Sciences, Environmental Science, Geophysics, Philosophy of Science, Remote Sensing, and 13 moreClimate Change, Hydrology, History of Science, Meteorology, Computer Networks, Flood Mitigation, Social Studies Of Science, Databases, Flood Forecasting, Software, Lightning, Postnormal science, and Science and Technology Studies
Fans sind ein weit verbreitetes und vielfältiges Phänomen: Menschen sind Fans von Fußballvereinen, Musikern, Filmstars, Automarken, Buchfiguren und vielen anderen Dingen. Es gibt Fans in verschiedenen Altersgruppen und Schichten. Dieser... more
Fans sind ein weit verbreitetes und vielfältiges Phänomen: Menschen sind Fans von Fußballvereinen, Musikern, Filmstars, Automarken, Buchfiguren und vielen anderen Dingen. Es gibt Fans in verschiedenen Altersgruppen und Schichten. Dieser Band legt erstmals eine umfassende Soziologie der Fans vor. Die hier versammelten Beiträge wenden soziologische Theorieperspektiven und empirische Instrumentarien auf Fans und Fantum an. Sie analysieren Fans hinsichtlich ihrer spezifischen Emotionalität, ihrer Kultur und Lebensführung, ihrer Sozialisation und Sozialstruktur, ihres Konsumverhaltens, ihrer Mediennutzung und ihrer politischen Partizipation. Thematisiert werden außerdem die internen Abgrenzungen in Fan-Szenen, Fragen der Migration und Globalisierung von Fans, Geschlechterkonstruktionen in Fan-Gemeinschaften sowie die Geschichte des Fantums.
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Research on science communication in organizational contexts is scarce-even though many cases can be found where organizations from science and beyond communicate about science-related issues, or where organizational contexts have an... more
Research on science communication in organizational contexts is scarce-even though many cases can be found where organizations from science and beyond communicate about science-related issues, or where organizational contexts have an impact on the communication of individual scientists and scientific organizations. Therefore, it is time for an 'organizational turn' in science communication research, and for more scholarly emphasis on the specific cases that science-related communication in, from and about organizations presents. We believe such an approximation would benefit both science communication research and analyses of strategic and organizational communication. This special issue of the "Journal of Communication Management" is a step in this direction: It compiles commentaries from leading scholars in the respective fields as well as research articles coming from various disciplines and conceptual as well as methodological paradigms.
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Chapter in in Raabe, Johannes, Rudolf Stöber, Maria Theis‐Berglmair & Kristina Wied (Eds.): Medien und Kommunikation in der Wissensgesellschaft. Konstanz: UVK. 315‐325
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Chapter in Weingart, Peter & Patricia Schulz (Eds.): Wissen - Nachricht - Sensation. Zur Kommunikation zwischen Wissenschaft, Öffentlichkeit und Medien. Weilerswist: Velbrück. 71-101.
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Hochschulrankings haben Konjunktur. Regelmäßig werden internationale Rankings vorgelegt – etwa vom Fachmagazin Times Higher Education, von der Firma Quacquarelli Symonds oder von der Shanghai Jiao Tong Universität. Diese Ranglisten... more
Hochschulrankings haben Konjunktur. Regelmäßig werden internationale Rankings vorgelegt – etwa vom Fachmagazin Times Higher Education, von der Firma Quacquarelli Symonds oder von der Shanghai Jiao Tong Universität. Diese Ranglisten bestimmen nicht nur mit, wie Politiker, Studienanfänger und die Öffentlichkeit Universitäten wahrnehmen. Eine aktuelle Studie des IPMZ der Universität Zürich zeigt, dass Rankings auch zu vorteilhafter Medienberichterstattung für hoch rangierte Universitäten führen.
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Digital-born platforms report on environmental issues in an accessible way, mixing serious reporting with GIFs, visuals and even bathroom posters, to attract young audiences, new research finds.
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Was ist Wissenschaftskommunikation? Was gehört in dieses Feld? Was nicht? Mike Schäfer ist Professor für Wissenschaftskommunikation an der Universität Zürich. Er skizziert dieses Feld und wie es aus Sicht der Forschung aufgeteilt werden... more
Was ist Wissenschaftskommunikation? Was gehört in dieses Feld? Was nicht? Mike Schäfer ist Professor für Wissenschaftskommunikation an der Universität Zürich. Er skizziert dieses Feld und wie es aus Sicht der Forschung aufgeteilt werden könnte
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Surveys play a key role in researching public perceptions of and attitudes toward science. Accordingly, there is a breadth of often-used survey instruments available which have also been adopted for segmentation analyses. Even though many... more
Surveys play a key role in researching public perceptions of and attitudes toward science. Accordingly, there is a breadth of often-used survey instruments available which have also been adopted for segmentation analyses. Even though many of these segmentation solutions are similar in their aims, they often include a large numbers of variables, making it more difficult for other researchers to build on these solutions, as survey time is scarce. Therefore, we demonstrate how a large number of variables that were used for a comprehensive segmentation analysis can be reduced considerably without losing too much information. We develop and test a short survey instrument to segment populations according to their attitudes toward science. Results show that segmentation results can be replicated with over 90% accuracy by reducing the instrument from 20 to 10 variables. This reduction does not significantly affect the predictive power of segment attribution on three dependent variables, which suggests that many segmentation analyses could be similarly optimized, helping researchers save survey time and standardize segmentation analyses more.
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People differ. Not only do they vote for different parties, buy different products, have different hobbies and use different media. They also differ in their interest in, attitudes on, and behavior towards scientific and environmental... more
People differ. Not only do they vote for different parties, buy different products, have different hobbies and use different media. They also differ in their interest in, attitudes on, and behavior towards scientific and environmental issues. This has been shown for people’s general assessments of environmental issues (e.g. Eurobarometer, 2017) and of science and research (for an overview see Besley, 2013). It has also been demonstrated for people’s attitudes towards more specific topics such as global warming (for an overview see Nisbet & Myers, 2007), nuclear energy (e.g. Kristiansen, Bonfadelli, & Kovic, 2016), nanotechnology (e.g. Scheufele, Corley, Shih, Dalrymple, & Ho, 2009), or biotechnology (e.g. Bonfadelli, 2017). These differences are not randomly distributed across populations. Researchers from the social and behavioral sciences have identified the organizing logics that underlie this diversity, and identified factors which help explain the variation of people’s attitudes. They have shown, for example, that perceptual and behavioral differences with regards to scientific and environmental issues are related to people’s education, their age, gender, or socio-economic status, among other factors (see, e.g. Besley, 2013; Kawamoto, Nakayama, & Saijo, 2013; Nisbet & Myers, 2007; Research Councils UK, 2008).
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While considerable research has looked at how people use the Internet for sharing and engaging with various types of content from celebrity news to politics, very little of this work has considered how non-specialists interact with... more
While considerable research has looked at how people use the Internet for sharing and engaging with various types of content from celebrity news to politics, very little of this work has considered how non-specialists interact with science and research material on social media. This article reviews literature on public engagement with science to note that this area is ripe for research on social-media-based engagement in particular. Drawing on a survey of American young adults’ online experiences, we show that using social media for science and research is at least as likely if not more so as engagement with other topics from similarly serious to lighter domains. We also find that platform matters with young adults much more likely to engage with such content on Facebook rather than on Twitter. We end by proposing more focus on this domain in the area of science communication and work on social media.
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Driven by the proliferation of digital media, citizen science – the involvement of non-scientists in scientific research – represents one of the most important recent developments in science communication as it brings science and the... more
Driven by the proliferation of digital media, citizen science – the involvement of non-scientists in scientific research – represents one of the most important recent developments in science communication as it brings science and the public closer together. So far, however, citizen science projects have mostly attracted people that are highly educated, mostly male and already have very positive attitudes towards science. Based on nationally representative survey data (N = 1051), our study explores the potential of citizen science in Switzerland. Using regression analysis, we show that attitudes towards science are significant antecedents of respondents’ interest in participating in citizen science – but that gender and education are not. In addition, latent class analysis identifies five segments, representing over one-third of the Swiss population, who are interested in citizen science and could potentially be engaged: ‘Free-Timers’, ‘Senior Sciencephiles’, ‘Young Sciencephiles’, ‘Intrigued Adolescents’ and ‘Fully Employed Parents’. Additional description suggests that previously overlooked segments are best addressed online via YouTube or offline in zoos or botanical gardens. Overall, our analysis suggests that citizen science’s potential is far higher than previous projects were able to realize.
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The study examines the state of science communication research in the German-speaking countries. Based on a standardized content analysis of all extended abstracts submitted to the annual conferences of the German Communication... more
The study examines the state of science communication research in the German-speaking countries. Based on a standardized content analysis of all extended abstracts submitted to the annual conferences of the German Communication Association’s science communication division from 2014 to 2018 (N = 141), it describes the respective scholarly community, its research foci and objects. The results indicate that science communication has developed toward a well-established community and marks an institutionalization of the research field. Furthermore, the findings of the content analysis indicate that science communication research in the German-speaking countries shows parallels to international developments in terms of research foci, objects, and analytical models, but also differences regarding theories and methods.
Research Interests:
Scholars of science communication have identified population segments that differ in their perceptions of and attitudes toward science as well as in their patterns of science-related information and media use. So far, however, most of... more
Scholars of science communication have identified population segments that differ in their perceptions of and attitudes toward science as well as in their patterns of science-related information and media use. So far, however, most of these studies employed quantitative, standardized methods and their descriptions could not go into qualitative detail. This study fills this gap: It delivers an in-depth description of members of four audience segments that were identified in a prior, representative survey in Switzerland. Forty-one of these survey respondents, representing different segments, were asked to note their encounters with science in smartphone-based diaries, and diary entries were discussed in qualitative follow-up interviews. Results show that the segments differ in their criteria for identifying science, expectations toward science, and their reasons to use science communication.
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Research Interests:
Since the early 1990s, there has been a considerable increase in the number of scientific studies on science communication, and this increase has been accompanied by a diversification of the research field. This study focuses on one... more
Since the early 1990s, there has been a considerable increase in the number of scientific studies on science communication, and this increase has been accompanied by a diversification of the research field. This study focuses on one aspect of this development: it analyses how citation network structures within the field have developed over time, and whether science communication research shows signs of becoming a research field or a discipline in its own right. Employing a co-citation analysis of scholarly publications published between 1996 and 2015, it assesses to what extent a coherent communication network exists within science communication research. The results show a field with a diverse internal structure and clear internal changes over time which suggest an increasing emancipation of the field. Abstract Scholarly communication; Science communication: theory and models
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Über die mediale Darstellung der Geisteswissenschaften wird kontrovers diskutiert. Der Beitrag stellt die vorliegende kommunikations- und sozialwissen-schaft¬liche Forschungsliteratur zu diesem Thema überblicksweise zusammen. Auch wenn... more
Über die mediale Darstellung der Geisteswissenschaften wird kontrovers diskutiert. Der Beitrag stellt die vorliegende kommunikations- und sozialwissen-schaft¬liche Forschungsliteratur zu diesem Thema überblicksweise zusammen. Auch wenn diese Forschungsliteratur noch viele Lücken aufweist, lassen sich doch einige Befunde festhalten: Geistes¬wissenschaften sind in klassischen Formaten des Wissen¬schaftsjournalismus kaum vertreten. Sie haben aber jenseits dieser Formate eine beträchtliche mediale Präsenz in der Politik-, Kultur- und Wirtschaftsbericht¬erstattung von Medien und darüber hinaus. Dabei werden ihre Forscher oft anders dargestellt als die anderen Fächer: Sie sind seltener Präsentatoren eigener Forschung, sondern eher Kommentatoren gesellschaftlicher Fragen. Sie kommen zudem öfter in meinungsbetonten Beiträgen vor, die sie teils selbst verfassen.
The necessity and the extent of the media representations of the humanities is often debated. The article reviews the respective social-scientific and communications research. Even though this field has many gaps, several findings can be extracted from it: The humanities are underrepresented in classical science journalism. But they have a considerable presence in other parts of media reporting, e.g. in the politics, economy, culture sections and beyond. There, they are presented differently from other disciplines: They discuss their own research less often, and provide orientation on societal development more often. And they appear more often in opinion pieces which they have partly authored themselves.
The necessity and the extent of the media representations of the humanities is often debated. The article reviews the respective social-scientific and communications research. Even though this field has many gaps, several findings can be extracted from it: The humanities are underrepresented in classical science journalism. But they have a considerable presence in other parts of media reporting, e.g. in the politics, economy, culture sections and beyond. There, they are presented differently from other disciplines: They discuss their own research less often, and provide orientation on societal development more often. And they appear more often in opinion pieces which they have partly authored themselves.
Research Interests:
Few studies have assessed whether populations can be divided into segments with different perceptions of science. We provide such an analysis and assess whether these segments exhibit specific patterns of media and information use. Based... more
Few studies have assessed whether populations can be divided into segments with different perceptions of science. We provide such an analysis and assess whether these segments exhibit specific patterns of media and information use. Based on representative survey data from Switzerland, we use latent class analysis to reconstruct four segments: the " Sciencephiles, " with strong interest for science, extensive knowledge, and a pronounced belief in its potential, who use a variety of sources intensively; the " Critically Interested, " also with strong interest and support for science but with less trust in it, who use similar sources but are more cautious toward them; the " Passive Supporters " with moderate levels of interest, trust, and knowledge and tempered perceptions of science, who use fewer sources; and the " Disengaged, " who are not interested in science, do not know much about it, harbor critical views toward it, and encounter it—if at all—mostly through television.
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Many citizens and decision‐makers get information about science mainly, or even exclusively, from news and online media. Accordingly, social science has devoted considerable attention to the analysis of science news coverage. A review of... more
Many citizens and decision‐makers get information about science mainly, or even exclusively, from news and online media. Accordingly, social science has devoted considerable attention to the analysis of science news coverage. A review of this literature reveals a number of ongoing, substantial transformations: In line with the crisis of legacy media, the rise of online communication and the extension of PR by many societal stakeholders, science communication is changing. Science journalism has come under pressure in publishing houses, and science journalists' working conditions have worsened. The amount of science news coverage is stagnating, albeit after a rise that lasted several decades, and seems to navigate towards either a more polarized, controversial reporting about politicized issues such as gene editing, or towards a less critical " churnalism " which is stronger influenced by PR efforts than before. The implications of these changes for science communication and societal decisions regarding science communication are considered.
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Hochschulen haben in den letzten Jahren eine Phase intensiver Veränderungen erlebt. Unter anderem hat der Druck zugenommen, sich gegenüber der Öffentlichkeit zu legitimieren. Ein Weg, auf diesen Druck zu reagieren, ist öffentliche... more
Hochschulen haben in den letzten Jahren eine Phase intensiver Veränderungen erlebt. Unter anderem hat der Druck zugenommen, sich gegenüber der Öffentlichkeit zu legitimieren. Ein Weg, auf diesen Druck zu reagieren, ist öffentliche Kommunikation. Online-Kommunikationskanäle bieten Hochschulen die Möglichkeit, nicht nur
journalistische Medien zu adressieren, sondern eigene Themen zu setzen und in neuer Weise zu kommunizieren. Wir untersuchen daher die Online-Kommunikation aller 190 promotionsberechtigen Hochschulen im Jahr 2014 in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Mittels standardisierter Inhaltsanalyse wurden die Webseiten der Hochschulen,
darauf veröffentlichte Beiträge sowie ihre Facebook- und Twitter-Auftritte analysiert. Im Hinblick auf die codierten Dimensionen Selbstthematisierung, Adressierung der Medien, Hypertextualität, Multimedialität und Interaktivität lassen sich mittels Clusteranalyse fünf
Typen von Hochschulen identifizieren: Social Media-Spezialisten, Allrounder, Verweigerer, Traditionelle und Mainstream-Hochschulen. Social Media-Spezialisten und Allrounder nutzen die Möglichkeiten der Online-Kommunikation intensiv und kommunizieren häufig über hochschuleigene Themen. Verweigerer betreiben nur zurückhaltend Online-Kommunikation. Die verschiedenen Hochschultypen zeigen darüber hinaus Unterschiede in strukturellen Merkmalen. Vor allem große Hochschulen mit vielen Studierenden engagieren sich stärker in der Online-Kommunikation und betreiben eine stärkere Selbstthematisierung.
journalistische Medien zu adressieren, sondern eigene Themen zu setzen und in neuer Weise zu kommunizieren. Wir untersuchen daher die Online-Kommunikation aller 190 promotionsberechtigen Hochschulen im Jahr 2014 in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Mittels standardisierter Inhaltsanalyse wurden die Webseiten der Hochschulen,
darauf veröffentlichte Beiträge sowie ihre Facebook- und Twitter-Auftritte analysiert. Im Hinblick auf die codierten Dimensionen Selbstthematisierung, Adressierung der Medien, Hypertextualität, Multimedialität und Interaktivität lassen sich mittels Clusteranalyse fünf
Typen von Hochschulen identifizieren: Social Media-Spezialisten, Allrounder, Verweigerer, Traditionelle und Mainstream-Hochschulen. Social Media-Spezialisten und Allrounder nutzen die Möglichkeiten der Online-Kommunikation intensiv und kommunizieren häufig über hochschuleigene Themen. Verweigerer betreiben nur zurückhaltend Online-Kommunikation. Die verschiedenen Hochschultypen zeigen darüber hinaus Unterschiede in strukturellen Merkmalen. Vor allem große Hochschulen mit vielen Studierenden engagieren sich stärker in der Online-Kommunikation und betreiben eine stärkere Selbstthematisierung.
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Science communication and science journalism are important in today’s knowledge-based societies. However, little is known about science journalists, especially those in Switzerland. Therefore, this study investigates the professional... more
Science communication and science journalism are important in today’s knowledge-based societies.
However, little is known about science journalists, especially those in Switzerland. Therefore, this study
investigates the professional situation and self-conception of Swiss science journalists. The results from
a survey of 78 Swiss science journalists show that they resemble their international colleagues in regard
to sociodemographic characteristics and professional self-conceptions. In comparison to their colleagues
from other countries, Swiss science journalists work under privileged circumstances and, accordingly,
are comparatively satisfied with their professional situation. Nevertheless, they also perceive changes
indicative of an upcoming crisis of journalism.
However, little is known about science journalists, especially those in Switzerland. Therefore, this study
investigates the professional situation and self-conception of Swiss science journalists. The results from
a survey of 78 Swiss science journalists show that they resemble their international colleagues in regard
to sociodemographic characteristics and professional self-conceptions. In comparison to their colleagues
from other countries, Swiss science journalists work under privileged circumstances and, accordingly,
are comparatively satisfied with their professional situation. Nevertheless, they also perceive changes
indicative of an upcoming crisis of journalism.
Research Interests:
Trust in science is, to a considerable extent, the outcome of communication. News and online media in particular are important mediators of trust in science. So far, however, conceptual works on mediated trust in science are lacking.... more
Trust in science is, to a considerable extent, the outcome of communication. News and online media in particular are important mediators of trust in science. So far, however, conceptual works on mediated trust in science are lacking. Taking a cue from Weingart & Guenther, this commentary proposes a concept of mediated trust in science and for its measurement, and shows where it could be used in the science of science communication. Abstract Science and media, Science communication: theory and models Keywords
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Crowdfunding has emerged as an additional source for financing research in recent years. The study at hand identifies and tests explanatory factors influencing the success of scientific crowdfunding projects by drawing on news value... more
Crowdfunding has emerged as an additional source for financing research in recent years. The study at hand identifies and tests explanatory factors influencing the success of scientific crowdfunding projects by drawing on news value theory, the " reputation signaling " approach, and economic theories of online payment. A standardized content analysis of 371 projects on English-and German-language platforms reveals that each theory provides factors influencing crowdfunding success. It shows that projects presented on science-only crowdfunding platforms have a higher success rate. At the same time, projects are more likely to be successful if their presentation includes visualizations and humor, the lower their targeted funding is, the less personal data potential donors have to relinquish and the more interaction between researchers and donors is possible. This suggests that after donors decide to visit a scientific crowdfunding platform, factors unrelated to science matter more for subsequent funding decisions, raising questions about the potential and implications of crowdfunding science.
Research Interests: Social Sciences, Science Communication, Science Education, Public Understanding Of Science, Crowdsourcing, and 12 moreOnline Communication, Reputation, Crowdfunding, News Values, Public Engagement with Science and Technology, Science outreach, Signaling, Online reputation, Online Payments, Science Funding, Donation based crowdfunding, and News value theory
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Essay im "Journal" der Universität Zürich zur Zukunft der Wissenschaftskommunikation.
UZH Journal 3/2015. S. 48-49
UZH Journal 3/2015. S. 48-49
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Media of various kinds have always played a role in science, where they have been used to conduct, document and communicate research. The role and the impact of these media – from laboratory instruments and the use of internet... more
Media of various kinds have always played a role in science, where they have been used to conduct, document and communicate research. The role and the impact of these media – from laboratory instruments and the use of internet communication to the influence of mass media on scientific work – can be seen as a “mediatization” of science. This review presents an overview of the relevant scholarship. It distinguishes three kinds of media communication that can be found within science (communication with mass media, interpersonal communication and the use of media as scientific instruments) and three facets of mediatization (an extension of scientific capabilities, an amalgamation or substitution of established scientific activities with new ones, and an accommodation of science towards the media logic). It shows that a considerable number of studies have analyzed the mediatization of science. It has been demonstrated, for example, that scientists are rather open towards the mass media, that online media have extended scientific collaboration temporally and spatially, and that media play a crucial role within scientific laboratories. In turn, the review also demonstrates a large number of gaps in current scholarship, and highlights relevant and potentially fertile fields for future research.
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Science communication is said to have changed in the past decades. It is widely assumed that science is no longer merely transported and translated by the mass media to a passive audience, but “medialized”: Many authors believe that... more
Science communication is said to have changed in the past decades. It is widely assumed that science is no longer merely transported and translated by the mass media to a passive audience, but “medialized”: Many authors believe that scientific issues are discussed extensively in the mass media nowadays, that these discussions are plural in its participants and in the arguments used, and that the issues at stake are evaluated controversially. It is still unclear, however, if this change applies to all science topics or only to some. The article at hand argues that science issues from different epistemic cultures can be expected to be “medialized” to different extents, and analyzes mass media coverage on stem cell research, human genome research, and neutrino research to underline this claim. The findings show that the described change only applies to some issues, and that further differentiation of the concept of “medialization” is necessary.
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The presentation of science in the mass media is one of the most important questions facing social scientists who analyse science. Accordingly, media coverage of science has been a constant focal point in the respective literature, and a... more
The presentation of science in the mass media is one of the most important questions facing social scientists who analyse science. Accordingly, media coverage of science has been a constant focal point in the respective literature, and a flurry of such publications has appeared in the past few years. Yet the activity and growth of the respective research have not been accompanied by systematic overviews. This article aims to provide such an overview by means of a meta-analysis: it analyses existing studies systematically and provides an empirical overview of the literature. The analysis shows that while the research field grew significantly in the past few years and employs a variety of research strategies and methods, it has been biased in three ways: mainly natural sciences (and namely biosciences and medicine), Western countries, and print media have been analysed.
* © 2010 SAGE Publications. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC.
* © 2010 SAGE Publications. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC.
Research Interests:
The public sphere and particularly the mass media have become increasingly important for the legitimation of science. Many publications on the issue explicitly or implicitly deal with the question of how science should be treated in the... more
The public sphere and particularly the mass media have become increasingly important for the legitimation of science. Many publications on the issue explicitly or implicitly deal with the question of how science should be treated in the mass media, putting forward normative models of an ideal “scientific public sphere.” In this article, we first present two ideal types of normative models identified in the literature: the “science-dominated scientific public sphere” and the “contextualized scientific public sphere.” Whereas the first model calls for scientific dominance in mass media debates, the second model argues that science should be contextualized also with non-scientific actors and arguments. The second part of the article outlines how these two models translate into specific demands for mass media debates and proposes how to measure whether concrete cases of science coverage correspond with one of the normative models. We confront the two normative models with the example of media coverage on human genome research in Germany and in the United States in the third part of the article. Our findings show that the mass media debate on this issue is dominated by bio-scientists, affirmative positions, and scientific and medical frames in both countries. Hence, human genome research as an empirical case corresponds to the demands of the scientific dominance model, while failing to meet the demands for more contextualized mass media coverage.
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A significant amount of science coverage can be found nowadays in the mass media and is the main source of information about science for many. Accordingly, the relation between science and the media has been intensively analyzed within... more
A significant amount of science coverage can be found nowadays in the mass media and is the main source of information about science for many. Accordingly, the relation between science and the media has been intensively analyzed within the social scientific community. It is difficult to keep track of this research, however, as a flurry of studies has been published on the issue. This article provides such an overview. First, it lays out the main theoretical models of science communication, that is, the ‘public understanding of science’ and the ‘mediatization’ model. Second, it describes existing empirical research. In this section, it demonstrates how science’s agenda-building has improved, how science journalists working routines are described, how different scientific disciplines are presented in the mass media and what effects these media representations (might) have on the audience. Third, the article points out future fields of research.
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in: Schäfer, Mike S., Silje Kristiansen & Heinz Bonfadelli (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftskommunikation im Wandel [Changes in Science Communication]. Köln: Herbert von Halem. 10-42.
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The article employs the mediatization concept to analyze the relationship of science and the mass media. It draws on theoretical considerations from the sociology of science to distinguish and empirically investigate two dimensions of... more
The article employs the mediatization concept to analyze the relationship of science and the mass media. It draws on theoretical considerations from the sociology of science to distinguish and empirically investigate two dimensions of mediatization: changes in media coverage of science on the one hand and the repercussions of this coverage on science on the other hand. Results of content analyses and focused expert interviews show that mediatization phenomena can indeed be observed in the case of science, but they are limited to certain disciplines, to certain phases (mediatization phases differ from routine phases in which the media tend to acknowledge scientific criteria, routines, and knowledge), and to a small number of media visible scientists. We conclude that media-induced structural change in science, though present, is less pronounced than mediatization of other parts of society. Compared to spheres such as politics and sports, science's media resistance is rather high.
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In the social scientific literature on the media coverage of science, the concept of "mediatization" has become crucial in recent years. However, the concept exhibits several weaknesses, which are dealt with in this article: First,... more
In the social scientific literature on the media coverage of science, the concept of "mediatization" has become crucial in recent years. However, the concept exhibits several weaknesses, which are dealt with in this article: First, mediatization remains conceptually hazy. Therefore, it is argued here that mediatization implies a three-dimensional change in the media coverage of science, i.e. that it is assumed to be growing increasingly more extensive, pluralized, and controversial. Second, it is unclear whether mediatization applies to all or only to some – and if so, to which – science topics. An empirical comparison of coverage on different science topics reveals that only some of them seem to be mediatized, whereas others are only partially or not at all mediatized. Third, mediatization does not explain why some science topics become mediatized and others do not. The article presents two models – agenda building and media constructivism – which may be able to answer this question.
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The essay compares German and Irish media coverage of human genome research in the year 2000, using qualitative and quantitative frame analysis of a print media corpus. Drawing from a media-theoretical account of science communication,... more
The essay compares German and Irish media coverage of human genome research in the year 2000, using qualitative and quantitative frame analysis of a print media corpus. Drawing from a media-theoretical account of science communication, the study examines four analytic dimensions: (1) the influence of global and national sources of discourse; (2) the nature of elaboration on important themes; (3) the extent of societal participation in discourse production; (4) the cultural conditions in which the discourse resonates. The analysis shows that a global discursive package, emphasizing claims of scientific achievement and medical progress, dominates media coverage in both countries. However, German coverage is more extensive and elaborate, and includes a wider range of participants. Irish coverage more often incorporates the global package without further elaboration. These findings indicate that the global package is ’localized’ differently due to national patterns of interests, German participation in human genome research, traditions of media coverage, and the domestic resonance of the issue.
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Universitäten müssen sich zunehmend einem öffentlichen Wettbewerb um Sichtbarkeit und Reputation stellen. Dieser wird maßgeblich über Massenmedien ausgetragen. Allerdings sind Universitäten als komplexe, heterogene Institutionen nur... more
Universitäten müssen sich zunehmend einem öffentlichen Wettbewerb um Sichtbarkeit und Reputation stellen. Dieser wird maßgeblich über Massenmedien ausgetragen. Allerdings sind Universitäten als komplexe, heterogene Institutionen nur schwer beschreibbar. Universitätsrankings setzen an dieser Stelle an: Sie reduzieren den komplexen Gegenstand auf Ranglisten und wenige Maßzahlen. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, ob die Veröffentlichung von Ranking-Ergebnissen dazu führt, dass Massenmedien in ihrer Berichterstattung den im Ranking erfolgreichen Universitäten mehr Reputation zuschreiben. Auf Basis einer Inhaltsanalyse deutscher Leit-Printmedien rund um die jährlichen Publikationen der „Shanghai-Rankings“ von 2004 bis 2013 lässt sich zeigen, dass ein Ranking-Effekt auf die Berichterstattung existiert: Nach der Veröffentlichung der Ranking-Ergebnisse wurden dort platzierte Universitäten reputierlicher dargestellt als vor der Veröffentlichung. Dieser Ranking-Effekt ist bei besser platzierten Universitäten stärker als bei niedriger rangierten Hochschulen. Allerdings nimmt er im Zeitverlauf nicht zu.
Increasingly, universities find themselves in a competition about public visibility and reputation in which media portrayals play a crucial role. But universities are complex, heterogeneous institutions which are difficult to compare. University rankings offer a seemingly simple solution for this problem: They reduce the complexity inherent to institutions of higher education to a small number of measures and easy-to-understand ranking tables – which may be particularly attractive for media as they conform to news values and media preferences. Therefore, we analyze whether the annual publications of the “Shanghai Ranking” influence media coverage about the included German universities. Based on a content analysis of broadsheet print media, our data show that a ranking effect exists: After the publication of the Ranking results, included universities are presented as more reputable in the media. This effect is particularly strong among better ranked universities. It does not, however, increase over a 10-year time period.
Increasingly, universities find themselves in a competition about public visibility and reputation in which media portrayals play a crucial role. But universities are complex, heterogeneous institutions which are difficult to compare. University rankings offer a seemingly simple solution for this problem: They reduce the complexity inherent to institutions of higher education to a small number of measures and easy-to-understand ranking tables – which may be particularly attractive for media as they conform to news values and media preferences. Therefore, we analyze whether the annual publications of the “Shanghai Ranking” influence media coverage about the included German universities. Based on a content analysis of broadsheet print media, our data show that a ranking effect exists: After the publication of the Ranking results, included universities are presented as more reputable in the media. This effect is particularly strong among better ranked universities. It does not, however, increase over a 10-year time period.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sociology and Psychology
Climate journalism gathers, evaluates, selects, and presents information about climate change, its characteristics, causes, and impacts, as well as ways to mitigate it, and distributes them via technical media to general and specialist... more
Climate journalism gathers, evaluates, selects, and presents information about climate change, its characteristics, causes, and impacts, as well as ways to mitigate it, and distributes them via technical media to general and specialist audiences. It is an important source of information about climate change for many people. Currently, however, the media ecosystem surrounding climate journalism is changing, with economic conditions becoming more strenuous, more communicators joining the debate, and social media changing the affordances of communication. This advanced review synthesizes scholarship on the status quo and the changes taking place in climate journalism in the Global North and the Global South. While it demonstrates that the scholarship has distinct gaps and biases, it does distill several robust findings. First, it shows that the organizational embedding of climate journalism is changing, with specialist reporters becoming scarce and working under more strenuous conditions and with the emergence of online-born news media and niche sites specializing in climate journalism. It also suggests that few specialist climate journalists exist in the Global South. Second, it demonstrates that the range of roles available to climate journalists has diversified, with a shift from "gatekeeping" to "curating" roles. Third, it indicates that climate journalists' relationships with their sources have changed. Elite sources have been, and still are, important, but their composition has shifted from scientists to a broader range of stakeholders. Correspondingly, there seems to be a strong and rising influence of stakeholder PR on climate journalism.
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Dossier "Wahrnehmung des Klimawandels"
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Climate change is a global problem, and according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, it is currently the “greatest challenge facing humanity.” But it is a long-term, slow developing, and often invisible phenomenon so most people do not... more
Climate change is a global problem, and according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, it is currently the “greatest challenge facing humanity.” But it is a long-term, slow developing, and often invisible phenomenon so most people do not experience it first hand. Research has shown that news outlets are people’s main source of information on climate change. But how much attention do media professionals pay to the topic?
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Chapter 15 (p. 222-227) in Hulme, Mike (Ed.): Contemporary Climate Change Debates - A Student Primer.
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The “common but differentiated responsibility” of developed and developing countries to mitigate climate change is a core principle of international climate politics—but there is disagreement about what this “differentiated... more
The “common but differentiated responsibility” of developed and developing countries to mitigate climate change is a core principle of international climate politics—but there is disagreement about what this “differentiated responsibility” amounts to. We investigate how newspapers in developed countries (Australia, Germany, United States) and emerging economies (Brazil, India) covered this debate during the UN climate summits in 2004, 2009, and 2014. Newspapers in both types of countries attributed more responsibility to developed than to developing countries. In line with social identity theory, however, media in developed countries attributed less causal responsibility (blame) to other developed countries than media in emerging economies. The latter countries’ media, in turn, attributed less responsibility to other developing countries than media in developed countries. At the same time, in line with the “differentiated responsibility”, media in developed countries attributed more responsibility to their own countries than media in emerging economies.
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News media play an important role for public awareness and perception of climate change – and thus citizens’ behavior. Few studies focus on media coverage in poor and developing countries such as India – the third-largest polluter and an... more
News media play an important role for public awareness and perception of climate change – and thus citizens’ behavior. Few studies focus on media coverage in poor and developing countries such as India – the third-largest polluter and an important player in global climate change policies. Further, even these few studies on Indian media coverage span short time periods, focus on specific events, and evaluate pre-defined themes. Applying LDA topic modeling on 18,224 climate change articles published between 1997 and 2016 in two Indian newspapers, we find that climate change coverage in India has increased substantially in the last 20 years. We categorized the coverage into 28 different topics related to four overarching themes: “Climate Change Impacts”, “Climate Science”, “Climate Politics”, and “Climate Change and Society”. Climate change has gained more media attention since 2007 in general with a particular increase in focus on the theme “Climate Change Impacts”. Implications about shifting media discourses and its potential to educate people and change policies are discussed.
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Implementing global climate change policies on the national and sub-national level requires the support of many domestic societal and economic actors. This support partially depends on the perceived legitimacy of climate policies, which... more
Implementing global climate change policies on the national and sub-national level requires the support of many domestic societal and economic actors. This support partially depends on the perceived legitimacy of climate policies, which is sustained by legitimation discourses in domestic media. The following article analyzes legitimation discourses on climate change politics in newspapers of five countries for three Conferences of the Parties in 2004, 2009, and 2014 (n = 369 legitimation statements). According to our data, it is mainly the legitimacy of international climate policies which is evaluated in national fora, and usually with a negative outcome. However, there is a noticeable shift in the arguments used, moving from efficiency as the dominating evaluation criterion to questions of fairness in the distribution of costs and gains.
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A focus on international comparisons of media coverage of climate change is important because of its inherently transnational character and because of the role the media play in shaping the context within which different publics are made... more
A focus on international comparisons of media coverage of climate change is important because of its inherently transnational character and because of the role the media play in shaping the context within which different publics are made aware of climate change. However, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the differences between countries. The few studies that have been published show that, on the one hand, a number of important cross-national parallels exist in climate change coverage with regards to the amount of media coverage on climate change, the basic frame sets and the increasing focus on socio-political instead of scientific aspects of the issue. On the other hand, persistent differences prevail in the amount of space given to sceptical voices, the volume of coverage, and the dominant frames used to interpret climate change. Using these three (and other) metrics we would aim to draw out what we know about the main differences between Anglophone countries, continental European countries and countries in the ‘Global South’. In an increasingly fragmented media landscape in many countries, new digital-only players, such as Huffington Post, Vice and BuzzFeed, are making inroads into the dominance of legacy media with a strong emphasis on coverage of the environment and a growing presence in a variety of languages and countries.
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Zahlreiche Studien zeigen, dass Berichte zum Klimawandel weltweit in den Medien relativ ähnlich bebildert werden. Häufigste Motive sind Extremwetterereignisse oder Politiker, etwa auf UN-Gipfeln. Weniger Forschungsergebnisse liegen... more
Zahlreiche Studien zeigen, dass Berichte zum Klimawandel weltweit in den Medien relativ ähnlich bebildert werden. Häufigste Motive sind Extremwetterereignisse oder Politiker, etwa auf UN-Gipfeln. Weniger Forschungsergebnisse liegen darüber vor, wie die Motive auf das Publikum wirken. Demnach erregen Bilder von Klimawandel-Folgen (z.B. schmelzendes Eis, Überschwemmungen) zwar große Aufmerksamkeit und haben eine emotional starke Wirkung – erzeugen allerdings eher Ohnmachtsgefühle. Bilder von Personen («Talking Heads») sind weitgehend wirkungslos. Im Gegensatz zu diesen beiden Motivtypen wirken alltagsnahe Bilder konkreter Handlungsoptionen (z.B. Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien, klimaschonende Mobilität) zwar motivierend und vermitteln ein Gefühl von Selbstwirksamkeit – allerdings erregen sie wenig Aufmerksamkeit und werden wohl deshalb von Medien selten eingesetzt. Möglicherweise lässt sich der Zielkonflikt durch Motivkombinationen auflösen.
Pictures in Climate Change Communication – An overview of the current state of social research
Media coverage on climate change is often contains pictures – and studies have shown that this imagery is relatively similar all over the world. Most common are pictures of climate change impacts (e.g. extreme weather events) or politicians (often at UN climate summits). Compared to content analyses, however, less is known about the effects of different types of images on audiences. Some findings can be extracted from the literature, however: Pictures of climate change impacts (e.g. floods) attract attention and trigger emotions – but invoke feelings of power-and helplessness. Pictures of politicians («talking heads») do not engage at all. In contrast, pictures of concrete options for action (e.g. renewable energy sources, low-emission mobility) create a feeling of self-efficacy and have a strongly motivating effect – but draw little attention and are therefore rarely used by the media. To combine motives may be a solution for these conflicting goals.
Pictures in Climate Change Communication – An overview of the current state of social research
Media coverage on climate change is often contains pictures – and studies have shown that this imagery is relatively similar all over the world. Most common are pictures of climate change impacts (e.g. extreme weather events) or politicians (often at UN climate summits). Compared to content analyses, however, less is known about the effects of different types of images on audiences. Some findings can be extracted from the literature, however: Pictures of climate change impacts (e.g. floods) attract attention and trigger emotions – but invoke feelings of power-and helplessness. Pictures of politicians («talking heads») do not engage at all. In contrast, pictures of concrete options for action (e.g. renewable energy sources, low-emission mobility) create a feeling of self-efficacy and have a strongly motivating effect – but draw little attention and are therefore rarely used by the media. To combine motives may be a solution for these conflicting goals.
Research Interests:
Zusammenfassung Die kommunikationswissenschaftliche Öffentlichkeitsfor-schung hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren verstärkt mit transnationalisierten Formen von Öffentlichkeit beschäftigt. Allerdings gehen nur wenige empirische Arbeiten... more
Zusammenfassung Die kommunikationswissenschaftliche Öffentlichkeitsfor-schung hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren verstärkt mit transnationalisierten Formen von Öffentlichkeit beschäftigt. Allerdings gehen nur wenige empirische Arbeiten über die (mögliche) Entstehung einer europäischen Öffentlichkeit hinaus. Daher analysieren wir anhand der medienöffentlichen Debatten in 15 Ländern über die Klimapolitik – ein Thema, das oft als möglicher Kristallisationspunkt für die Entstehung transnationaler oder gar " globaler " Öffentlichkeiten dargestellt wird – inwieweit die Akteursensembles in der Berichterstattung von Qualitätstages-zeitungen, Regional-und Boulevardzeitungen transnationalisiert sind und welche Reichweite eine etwaige Transnationalisierung aufweist. Die Analyse zeigt eine beträchtliche Transnationalisierung, die teils über eine Europäisierung hinausgeht. Allerdings ist die Berichterstattung je nach Untersuchungsdimension unterschied-lich transnationalisiert: Transnationalisierte Bezüge zeigen sich eher in " schwacher " als in " starker " Form: Ausländische oder supranationale Akteure werden häufiger in der Berichterstattung erwähnt, als dass sie selbst zu Wort kommen. Zudem ist die
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Media Studies, Climate Change, Climate change policy, Environmental Communication, and 8 moreContent Analysis, Public Sphere, Öffentlichkeit, Climate Change Communication, Klimapolitik, International Comparative Media Research, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit, and Klimawandel
In China today, the idea of " soft power " has become important in various realms of society. We analyze the nexus between climate change and soft power with specific emphasis on China. First, we will discuss the concept of soft power,... more
In China today, the idea of " soft power " has become important in various realms of society. We analyze the nexus between climate change and soft power with specific emphasis on China. First, we will discuss the concept of soft power, its role in the Chinese context, and the reasons why China has had difficulties to gain soft power up to now. Second, we lay out how international climate change politics are an important arena in which soft power can be won and how the issue has gained importance in China. In a third step, we discuss how the current political environment, in which the US government has changed its stance on climate change and international climate politics, impacts China. Our thesis is that the current political situation represents a " window of opportunity " for China to expand its soft power substantially both in degree and scope. In line with this thesis, so far, China has reacted swiftly after the election of US president Donald Trump and aims to present itself as the future climate leader.
Research Interests: International Relations, Climate Change, Climate change policy, Environmental Communication, Social Media, and 10 moreEnvironmental Policy and Governance, China, China studies, Contemporary China, Soft Power, China's foreign policy, Global Warming, Soft Power and International Relations, Chinese Soft Power, and Soft Power and Public Diplomacy
Climate change is often seen as a remote, complex or 'unobtrusive' topic by the general public – a topic about which many people acquire information mainly from media reporting. However, media landscapes are changing rapidly, particularly... more
Climate change is often seen as a remote, complex or 'unobtrusive' topic by the general public – a topic about which many people acquire information mainly from media reporting. However, media landscapes are changing rapidly, particularly with the growth of the internet and social media. A number of new media organisations are challenging traditional media and have gained significant audiences for their environment content. We analyse the coverage by three of these – Huffington Post, Vice and BuzzFeed – of the COP21 summit in Paris at the end of 2015, and compare it with that of traditional media. We show that while the general spectrum of themes is similar across media outlets, there are differences in the volume of the coverage and in the emphasis that is laid on different themes by some, but not all, of the new players compared to traditional media.
Research Interests:
Framing—selecting certain aspects of a given issue and making them more salient in communication in order to " frame " the issue in a specific way—is a key concept in the study of communication. At the same time, it has been used very... more
Framing—selecting certain aspects of a given issue and making them more salient in communication in order to " frame " the issue in a specific way—is a key concept in the study of communication. At the same time, it has been used very differently in scholarship, leading some to declare it a " fractured paradigm, " or an idea whose usefulness has expired. In studies of climate change communication, frame analyses have been used numerous times and in various ways, from formal framing approaches (e.g., episodic vs. thematic framing) to topical frames (both generic and issue-specific). Using methodological approaches of frame analysis from content analysis over discourse analysis and qualitative studies to experimental research, this research has brought valuable insights into media portrayals of climate change in different countries and their effects on audiences—even though it still has limitations that should be remedied in future research.
Research Interests: Communication, Visual Studies, Media Studies, Science Communication, Climate Change, and 12 moreResearch Methodology, Climate change policy, Mass Communication, Political communication, Social Media, Media Framing, Climate Change Impacts, Global Warming, Framing, Framing and agenda setting research, Journalism And Mass communication, and VISUAL FRAMING
Abstract: The article presents a best-practice guide for researchers interested in analyzing media communication about climate change (MCCC). It has been written by six researchers with extensive experience of studying how the climate... more
Abstract: The article presents a best-practice guide for researchers interested in analyzing media communication about climate change (MCCC). It has been written by six researchers with extensive experience of studying how the climate issue is covered by media from various perspectives, be they scientific, democratic, or ideological. The suggested “best practices” concern (a) how to design MCCC research; (b) various ways to investigate MCCC in terms of modalities such as issue-attention, framing, or visualization; and (c) comparative approaches. The intention is to share knowledge about what seems to “work” or “not work” in the case of MCCC, as well as to stimulate discussion about how research on MCCC should develop in the future.
Research Interests:
appeared in Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication. New York: Oxford University Press. (DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.448). Online:... more
appeared in Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication. New York: Oxford University Press. (DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.448). Online: http://climatescience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228620-e-448?rskey=NbcREa&result=2
Climate change communication has a long history in Germany, where the so-called " climate catastrophe " has received widespread public attention from the 1980s onwards. The article reviews climate change communication and the respective research in the country over the last decades. First, it provides a socio-political history of climate change communication in Germany. It shows how scientists were successful in setting the issue on the public and policy agendas early on, how politicians and the media emphasized the climate change threat, how corporations abstained from interventions into the debate and how skeptical voices, as a result, remained marginalized. Second, the article reviews scholarship on climate change communication in Germany. It shows how research on the issue has expanded since the mid-2000s, highlights major strands and results, as well as open questions and ongoing debates.
Climate change communication has a long history in Germany, where the so-called " climate catastrophe " has received widespread public attention from the 1980s onwards. The article reviews climate change communication and the respective research in the country over the last decades. First, it provides a socio-political history of climate change communication in Germany. It shows how scientists were successful in setting the issue on the public and policy agendas early on, how politicians and the media emphasized the climate change threat, how corporations abstained from interventions into the debate and how skeptical voices, as a result, remained marginalized. Second, the article reviews scholarship on climate change communication in Germany. It shows how research on the issue has expanded since the mid-2000s, highlights major strands and results, as well as open questions and ongoing debates.
Research Interests:
Prevalent in mass media worldwide, climate change imagery appears to be similar across countries. Replicating a study from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, we analyze whether these images are perceived in similar ways... more
Prevalent in mass media worldwide, climate change imagery appears to be similar across countries. Replicating a study from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, we analyze whether these images are perceived in similar ways cross-nationally by studying Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. A total of 75 respondents sorted images with respect to their perceptions of salience and self-efficacy (Q method). They associated images of climate change impacts most strongly with salience, while they related imagery of renewable energies and mobility to self-efficacy. These findings suggest that perceptions of climate change visuals are largely consistent cross-culturally. They indicate that imagery that is frequently used in media is rarely associated with feelings of salience or self-efficacy.
Research Interests:
People’s attitudes toward climate change differ, and these differences may correspond to distinct patterns of media use and information seeking. However, studies extending analyses of attitude types and their specific media diets to... more
People’s attitudes toward climate change differ, and these differences may correspond to distinct patterns
of media use and information seeking. However, studies extending analyses of attitude types and their
specific media diets to countries beyond the United States are lacking. We use a secondary analysis of
survey data from Germany to identify attitudes toward climate change among the German public and
specify those segments of the population based on their media use and information seeking. Similar to
the Global Warming’s Six Americas study, we find distinct attitudes (Global Warming’s Five Germanys)
that differ in climate change–related perceptions as well as in media use and communicative behavior.
These findings can help tailor communication campaigns regarding climate change to specific audiences.
of media use and information seeking. However, studies extending analyses of attitude types and their
specific media diets to countries beyond the United States are lacking. We use a secondary analysis of
survey data from Germany to identify attitudes toward climate change among the German public and
specify those segments of the population based on their media use and information seeking. Similar to
the Global Warming’s Six Americas study, we find distinct attitudes (Global Warming’s Five Germanys)
that differ in climate change–related perceptions as well as in media use and communicative behavior.
These findings can help tailor communication campaigns regarding climate change to specific audiences.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The article identifies the drivers of media attention for climate change in three countries: Australia, Germany and India. It calculates the monthly amount of climate change-related coverage in two leading newspapers for each country in... more
The article identifies the drivers of media attention for climate change in three countries: Australia, Germany and India. It calculates the monthly amount of climate change-related coverage in two leading newspapers for each country in relation to all articles published in the respective newspapers over a 15-year time span (1996–2010). Based on an explanatory model derived from agenda setting theory, punctuated equilibrium theory and multiple streams theory, it uses time series regression analysis to assess the influence of weather and climate characteristics as well as various social events and feedbacks on issue attention. The results show that weather and climate characteristics are no important drivers for issue attention in two of the three countries, and that societal activity, particularly international climate summits and the agenda building efforts from international non-governmental organizations, has stronger impacts on issue attention.
Research Interests:
A flurry of studies in recent years has analyzed the role of media in climate change communication. This article provides a systematic, large-scale, and up-to-date overview of the objects and characteristics of this research field through... more
A flurry of studies in recent years has analyzed the role of media in climate change communication. This article provides a systematic, large-scale, and up-to-date overview of the objects and characteristics of this research field through a meta-analysis. It identifies 133 relevant studies and analyzes them empirically. The results show that research activity has risen strongly over time, and that the analytical spectrum has expanded to include an increasing number of countries, more types of media including online and social media, and different methodological approaches. The analysis also demonstrates, however, that scholarship in the field still concentrates strongly on Western countries and print media.
Published in Environmental Communication 8/2 (Special Issue "Media research on climate change: Where have we been and where are we heading?"): 142-160. 2014.
Published in Environmental Communication 8/2 (Special Issue "Media research on climate change: Where have we been and where are we heading?"): 142-160. 2014.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Collective action on climate change is easier when the involved actors share an understanding of climate justice, that is, if they agree on the morally right way of dealing with the issue. Such understandings have been shown to vary,... more
Collective action on climate change is easier when the involved actors share an understanding of climate justice, that is, if they agree on the morally right way of dealing with the issue. Such understandings have been shown to vary, however. Based on German, Indian and US media coverage, we develop a typology of different constructions of climate justice. The five patterns we identify differ considerably across several dimensions, including the valuation of certain goods and rights, the definition of moral in-groups, and the basic principles for climate governance. These patterns can be found in all three countries, but their importance varies between them. The US
debate is especially conflictive, with some actors emphasizing freedom from state intervention and others demanding provident political action. Although the positions in Germany and India are less divergent, there is also no agreement on how to address climate change in a just way in these
countries. In particular, the conflict between global and intergenerational justice demands – reflecting the nature of climate change – and the enduring relevance of traditional conceptions focusing on contemporary and national communities are intricate.
debate is especially conflictive, with some actors emphasizing freedom from state intervention and others demanding provident political action. Although the positions in Germany and India are less divergent, there is also no agreement on how to address climate change in a just way in these
countries. In particular, the conflict between global and intergenerational justice demands – reflecting the nature of climate change – and the enduring relevance of traditional conceptions focusing on contemporary and national communities are intricate.
Research Interests:
Security implications of climate change have been highlighted by various political and advisory bodies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in recent years. It is unclear, however, whether such a ‘securitization’ of climate... more
Security implications of climate change have been highlighted by various political and advisory bodies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in recent years. It is unclear, however, whether such a ‘securitization’ of climate change can also be found beyond institutionalized politics in the public realm, and beyond Western countries. This article addresses these questions by investigating mass media coverage in nine countries over a period of 15 years. Based on an analysis of more than 101,000 newspaper articles, it shows an increasing discussion of climate change in security terms, with diverging trends in the analysed countries. While Western, industrialized countries such as the USA, the UK or Australia display an increasing securitization of climate change, the amount of securitizing language has decreased in India and South Africa. Moreover, different countries refer to different security dimensions – with regard both to the subjects whose security is of concern (national security, human security) and to the type of resources that are discussed in security terms (energy security, water security, food security). While Western countries strongly focus on national security and energy security, emerging economies place greater emphasis on food and, less pronounced, on water security.
Research Interests: Climate Change, International Security, Climate change policy, Environmental Communication, Securitization, and 7 moreHuman Security, Copenhagen School/Securitization, Mass media, Climate Change and National and International Security, Climate Change and Security, Climate Change Communication, and Securitization Theory
Is there an emerging transnational public sphere? In the context of general globalization trends, this question has gained importance in the communication sciences in recent years. In particular, transnational public spheres have been... more
Is there an emerging transnational public sphere? In the context of general globalization trends, this question has gained importance in the communication sciences in recent years. In particular, transnational public spheres have been expected around global issues such as climate change. We therefore analyze whether climate change coverage from leading print media in 2327 countries worldwide shows signs of transnationalization. We look for a potential Europeanization, ‘Westernization’ or globalization in terms of issue attention levels, issue attention peaks and temporal trends. The analysis shows both transnational and transnationalizing issue-attention. However, such tendencies are limited to European and North American countries. There is no evidence for the existence or emergence of a global public sphere in our data.
Research Interests:
Media communication—and the coverage of mass media in particular—is an important source for people’s awareness of, and knowledge about, anthropogenic climate change. Accordingly, many scholars have analyzed the emergence, characteristics,... more
Media communication—and the coverage of mass media in particular—is an important source for people’s awareness of, and knowledge about, anthropogenic climate change. Accordingly, many scholars have analyzed the emergence, characteristics, uses and effects of mediated communication about climate change in recent years. This article reviews the respective field, presents its major findings and outlines future directions for research.
in Wright, James D. (Ed.): International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Vol 3. Oxford: Elsevier. 853–859.
in Wright, James D. (Ed.): International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Vol 3. Oxford: Elsevier. 853–859.
Research Interests:
Many studies have shown a general decline of public concern about climate change or vice versa a rise in public climate-change skepticism, in particular in the U.S. and other Anglo-Saxon countries. There is a vivid debate on whether this... more
Many studies have shown a general decline of public concern about climate change or vice versa a rise in public climate-change skepticism, in particular in the U.S. and other Anglo-Saxon countries. There is a vivid debate on whether this is a global phenomenon, on which factors explain the decline, and on the broader societal implications of these trends in the context of the transformation toward a low-carbon society. We add to this literature by presenting the results of a recent general population survey in Germany in which we looked for systematic linkages between public climate-change skepticism on one hand, and energy preferences and political participation on the other. Germany is an interesting testbed as it is currently involved in a large-scale restructuring of its system of energy supply toward renewable energy sources (the “Energiewende”). Our results indicate that climate-change skepticism has not diffused widely in Germany, but that it correlates with less support of renewable energy sources. However, skepticism correlates negatively with political participation, and there is no strong political outlet for public climate-change skepticism in Germany. Alternative potential barriers for the successful implementation of the “Energiewende” are also discussed.
Highlights
• Public climate change skepticism has not become a mainstream phenomenon in Germany.
• Skepticism correlates with low environmental awareness and low risk awareness.
• Skepticism correlates with less support for renewables and being less critical of nuclear energy.
• Public skepticism of climate change correlates with low political participation.
Highlights
• Public climate change skepticism has not become a mainstream phenomenon in Germany.
• Skepticism correlates with low environmental awareness and low risk awareness.
• Skepticism correlates with less support for renewables and being less critical of nuclear energy.
• Public skepticism of climate change correlates with low political participation.
Research Interests:
The study of climate change communication has become an important research field. As stakeholders such as scientists, politicians, corporations, or NGOs increasingly turn to the Internet and social media for providing information and... more
The study of climate change communication has become an important research field. As stakeholders such as scientists, politicians, corporations, or NGOs increasingly turn to the Internet and social media for providing information and mobilizing support, and as an increasing number of people use these media, online communication on climate change and climate politics has become a relevant topic. This article reviews the available scholarly literature on the role of online and social media in climate communication. It analyzes how stakeholders use online communication strategically, showing, for example, that climate scientists and scientific institutions do not seem to be major players in online debates about climate change and climate politics. Furthermore, it highlights the characteristics of online climate communication, outlining, for example, that although (or because) many stakeholders participate online, this does not lead to robust scientific information or better debates. Eventually, the review assesses what is known about the uses and effects of online climate communication, showing that impacts on the broader public seem to be limited so far. Research desiderata are identified in the end, and directions for further studies are shown.
Research Interests: Social Psychology, Human Geography, Environmental Science, Philosophy, Ethics, and 23 moreCommunication, Forestry, Social Sciences, Science Communication, Climate Change, Social Networking, Conservation, Climate Change Adaptation, Virtual Communities, Mass Communication, Environmental Communication, Computer-Mediated Communication, Political communication, Social Media, Health, Biodiversity Conservation, Mass Communication and New Media, Political Identity, Online Media, Political Ecology, Governance, Climate Change Politics, Climate Change Issues, Good Governance and Media and CHT, Media theory and Research, and Mobile and Location-Based Media
The relation between science and the media has recently been termed a medialization of science. The respective literature argues that interaction of scientists with the media and journalists as well as scientists’ adaptation to media... more
The relation between science and the media has recently been termed a medialization of science. The respective literature argues that interaction of scientists with the media and journalists as well as scientists’ adaptation to media criteria has increased. This article analyzes whether German climate scientists are indeed “medialized.” The results of a survey among 1,130 scientists suggest that medialization phenomena exist in climate science but that they differ significantly among different subgroups. While media interactions are more common for high-ranking scientists, an adaptation to media criteria is more typical for scientists with less experience.
Research Interests: Earth Sciences, Environmental Science, Geophysics, Communication, Remote Sensing, and 16 moreClimate Change, Hydrology, Meteorology, Computer Networks, Mass Communication, Survey Methodology, Survey Research, Flood Mitigation, Databases, Flood Forecasting, Mass media, Software, Mediatization (Communication Studies), Medialization, Lightning, and Science and Technology Studies
Research Interests:
“Hacktivism”? Online media and social media as instruments of climate communication by civil society actors (FJ SB 2/2012, pp. 70-79) Climate change and climate policy are not immediately perceptible by many people; they learn about... more
“Hacktivism”? Online media and social media as instruments of climate communication by civil society actors (FJ SB 2/2012, pp. 70-79)
Climate change and climate policy are not immediately perceptible by many people; they learn about these topics through the media. Online media and social media take an increasingly important part in this. Especially for NGOs, who often lack in resources, the cost-effectiveness and variety of communication possibilities offered by online and social media makes them central instruments for mobilising public opinion. The article provides an overview of the internet strategies of climate-focused NGOs. It distinguishes between three patterns of communication: information strategies through which environmental and climate NGOs present themselves, their goals and activities; activation strategies geared towards moving sympathisers to support and decision-makers to change their stance; and networking strategies by which NGOs link to one another or with activists at grassroots level. It becomes clear that climate NGOs employ a vast palette of different strategies, but many restrain themselves to mere information strategies, thereby neglecting more persuasive and mobilising methods of online communication, for example in social media.
Climate change and climate policy are not immediately perceptible by many people; they learn about these topics through the media. Online media and social media take an increasingly important part in this. Especially for NGOs, who often lack in resources, the cost-effectiveness and variety of communication possibilities offered by online and social media makes them central instruments for mobilising public opinion. The article provides an overview of the internet strategies of climate-focused NGOs. It distinguishes between three patterns of communication: information strategies through which environmental and climate NGOs present themselves, their goals and activities; activation strategies geared towards moving sympathisers to support and decision-makers to change their stance; and networking strategies by which NGOs link to one another or with activists at grassroots level. It becomes clear that climate NGOs employ a vast palette of different strategies, but many restrain themselves to mere information strategies, thereby neglecting more persuasive and mobilising methods of online communication, for example in social media.
Research Interests: Communication, Social Sciences, Climate Change, Participatory Research, Social Networking, and 29 moreVirtual Communities, Mass Communication, Computer-Mediated Communication, Institutional Change, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Political communication, Social Media, Protest, Environmental Sustainability, International Environmental Law, NGOs (Anthropology), Food Security, Civil Society, Issue Networks, Political Identity, Public relations, Corporate Communication, Social media, online communication, Online Media, Development policy, Urban Issues, Selective Exposure, Online networks, Mobilization, Media theory and Research, Mobile and Location-Based Media, Political Disagreement, Position Issues, Natural Resource Economy, Climate Change (Agro Sociology), and Savannas Sciences
Research Interests:
Gibt es eine Transnationalisierung von Öffentlichkeit? Vor dem Hintergrund allgemei-ner Globalisierungstrends hat diese Frage in den vergangenen Jahren in der Kommunikationswissenschaft an Bedeutung gewonnen. Insbesondere rund um... more
Gibt es eine Transnationalisierung von Öffentlichkeit? Vor dem Hintergrund allgemei-ner Globalisierungstrends hat diese Frage in den vergangenen Jahren in der Kommunikationswissenschaft an Bedeutung gewonnen. Insbesondere rund um weltweite Problemlagen wie den Klimawandel wird eine solche Transnationalisierung erwartet. Wir analysieren, ob sich in Leit-Printmedien aus 23 Ländern eine Transnatio-nalisierung der medialen Aufmerksamkeit für das Thema Klimawandel zeigen lässt: Finden sich in den Auf-merksamkeitsniveaus und -verläufen Anzeichen für eine Europäisierung, eine „Westernization“ oder eine Globalisierung? Die Analyse zeigt eine transnationalisierte und sich weiterhin transnationalisierende Medien-aufmerksamkeit, die allerdings nicht alle untersuchten Länder umfasst, sondern vornehmlich den europäisch-nordamerikanischen Raum betrifft. Dagegen finden wir keine Hinweise auf eine globale Öffentlichkeit oder deren Entstehung.
Schlagwörter: Klimawandel – Öffentlichkeit – Globalisierung – Europäisierung - Transnationale Kommuni-kation - Inhaltsanalyse – Issue Attention – (De-)Westernization
Abstract: Is there an emerging transnational public sphere? In the context of general globalization trends, this question has gained importance in communication sciences in past years. Particularly, transnational public spheres are expected around global issues such as climate change. We analyze, therefore, whether climate change coverage from leading print media in 23 countries worldwide shows signs of transnationalization: We look for a potential Europeanization, „Westernization“ or globalization in terms of issue attention levels, issue attention peaks and temporal trends. The analysis shows both transnational and transnationalizing issue-attention. However, such tendencies are limited to European and North American countries. There is no evi-dence for the existence or emergence of a global public sphere in our data.
Keywords: Climate Change – Public Sphere – Globalization – Europeanization - Transnational Communication – Content Analysis – Issue Attention – (De-)Westernization
Schlagwörter: Klimawandel – Öffentlichkeit – Globalisierung – Europäisierung - Transnationale Kommuni-kation - Inhaltsanalyse – Issue Attention – (De-)Westernization
Abstract: Is there an emerging transnational public sphere? In the context of general globalization trends, this question has gained importance in communication sciences in past years. Particularly, transnational public spheres are expected around global issues such as climate change. We analyze, therefore, whether climate change coverage from leading print media in 23 countries worldwide shows signs of transnationalization: We look for a potential Europeanization, „Westernization“ or globalization in terms of issue attention levels, issue attention peaks and temporal trends. The analysis shows both transnational and transnationalizing issue-attention. However, such tendencies are limited to European and North American countries. There is no evi-dence for the existence or emergence of a global public sphere in our data.
Keywords: Climate Change – Public Sphere – Globalization – Europeanization - Transnational Communication – Content Analysis – Issue Attention – (De-)Westernization
Research Interests:
Public communication is changing-a change manifested in a crisis of legacy me-dia's business models, in the proliferation of new channels of communication, or in increasingly individualized media repertoires, among other things. Often,... more
Public communication is changing-a change manifested in a crisis of legacy me-dia's business models, in the proliferation of new channels of communication, or in increasingly individualized media repertoires, among other things. Often, these changes are associated with sociotechnical innovations, i.e. with novel ideas, methods and applications emerging from the interaction of technical infrastructures and technologies with human action (cf. Flichy 2008; Ropohl 1979). It was suggested, for example, that users' ability to configure their own information sources and content in mobile and social media led to the creation of echo chambers (Sunstein 2002), that algorithmic curation on search engines and social networks resulted in filter bubbles (Pariser 2011) or that social bots led to an over-representation of certain public positions (e.g. Ferrara et al. 2016) and a higher prevalence of mis-and disinformation in public debates (e.g. Shao et al. 2017). In this essay, we criticize the reaction of communication science to these developments and its role in the corresponding scientific and public discussions.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Biowissenschaften, Humangenomforschung und die Definition der conditio humana
Research Interests:
Wer mit anderen öffentlich kommunizieren will, bedient sich der Medien. Um sich in Fernsehen, Hörfunk und Zeitungen Gehör zu verschaffen, haben viele gesellschaftliche Akteure, etwa Politiker oder Lobbyisten, ihre Kommunikation... more
Wer mit anderen öffentlich kommunizieren will, bedient sich der Medien. Um sich in Fernsehen, Hörfunk und Zeitungen Gehör zu verschaffen, haben viele gesellschaftliche Akteure, etwa Politiker oder Lobbyisten, ihre Kommunikation professionalisiert. Wollen sich jedoch Vertreter sozialer Bewegungen wie Bürgerinitiativen und Vereine oder der einfache Bürger am öffentlichen Diskurs beteiligen, scheitern sie häufig an den Selektionsmechanismen der „alten“ Medien. Kann hier das Internet ein freies Forum bieten?
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As social media sites have become significant arenas for political debate in recent years, this paper investigates the political debate that took place on Twitter in the wake of the Swiss referendum on the Nuclear Withdrawal Initiative,... more
As social media sites have become significant arenas for political debate in recent years, this paper investigates the political debate that took place on Twitter in the wake of the Swiss referendum on the Nuclear Withdrawal Initiative, which was conducted in November 2016. Using Twitter data of 3000 users, we could identify 7 distinct communities that varied in terms of their size, position, and contribution to the debate. The most dominant communities in the debate were the Conservative Mainstream and the Green-Left communities. Moreover, our findings show that communities supporting and opposing the initiative differ with regard to the wording they use in their tweets. Finally, our results reveal an active exchange both within and, even more importantly, between the communities, which indicates a rather pluralistic and internally connected debate. Thus, our findings clearly contrast with those of prior studies concerning political debates on social media that identified pronounced echo chambers.
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Normative theorists of the public sphere, such as Jürgen Habermas, have been very critical of the ‘old’ mass media, which were seen as unable to promote free and plural societal communication. The advent of the internet, in contrast, gave... more
Normative theorists of the public sphere, such as Jürgen Habermas, have been very critical of the ‘old’ mass media, which were seen as unable to promote free and plural societal communication. The advent of the internet, in contrast, gave rise to hopes that it would make previously marginalized actors and arguments more visible to a broader public. To assess these claims, this article compares the internet and mass media communication. It distinguishes three levels of both the offline and the online public sphere, which differ in their structural prerequisites, in their openness for participation and in their influence on the wider society. Using this model, the article compares the levels that are most strongly structured and most influential for the wider society: the mass media and communication as organized by search engines. Using human genome research and analysing Germany and the USA, the study looks at which actors, evaluations and frames are present in the print mass media and on websites, and finds that internet communication does not differ significantly from the offline debate in the print media.
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The emergence and existence of a digital public sphere has been an issue of intense theo-retical debate and numerous empirical studies. Scholars have tried to establish whether and to what extent an online equivalent, or substitute, for... more
The emergence and existence of a digital public sphere has been an issue of intense theo-retical debate and numerous empirical studies. Scholars have tried to establish whether and to what extent an online equivalent, or substitute, for the seemingly deficient ‘old’ public sphere has developed. They have analyzed whether participation in online and so-cial media is open and visible to all, how communication is structured in terms of content, reciprocity and style, and what effects such debates have on participants as well as deci-sion-makers. Overall, they have shown that the digital public sphere tends to successfully make diverse actors and their positions visible, and at least sometimes influences other fora and collectively binding decision-making. Studies have also shown that although digital public spheres exhibit a range of communicative styles, they only rarely conform to ideas of rationality and civility as advocated by participatory, deliberative theory.
Published in Mazzoleni, Gianpietro (2015, Ed.): The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication. London: Wiley Blackwell. Pp. 322-328.
Published in Mazzoleni, Gianpietro (2015, Ed.): The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication. London: Wiley Blackwell. Pp. 322-328.
Research Interests: Internet Studies, Digital Media, Public Deliberation, Political communication, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, and 14 morePublic Sphere, Online Journalism, Public sphere (Communication), The Internet, Public Sphere, Civil Society, Deliberation and Journalism Studies, Online deliberation, Öffentlichkeit, Public and private spheres, Democracy & citizen participation in the public sphere, Public Communication. Political Communication, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit, New Media and the Digital Public Sphere, Online Public Sphere, and Filter Bubble
The importance of the internet has increased significantly in recent years. The easy access of this »new« medium sparked many hopes for a democratization of the public sphere and of public debate: Many authors argued that the internet... more
The importance of the internet has increased significantly in recent years. The easy access of this »new« medium sparked many hopes for a democratization of the public sphere and of public debate: Many authors argued that the internet will make actors and interpretations of topics visible to those parts of the broader public who are usually marginalized in »old« mass media. In an empirical analysis, we compared print media coverage and internet communication to assess these claims. For the case of human genome research — i.e. a bioscientific topic that reseived extensive media attention in Germany —, we analyzed which actors were given public standing and which frames came to the fore. In contrast to the claims mentioned above, our findings indicate that the debate in the internet does not differ to a significant extent from the offline debate in print media. We could not find a more egalitarian, democratic communication in the internet.
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The advent of online media, and particularly social media, has led to scholarly debates about their implications. Authoritarian countries are interesting in this respect because social media might facilitate open and critical debates that... more
The advent of online media, and particularly social media, has led to scholarly debates about their implications. Authoritarian countries are interesting in this respect because social media might facilitate open and critical debates that are not possible in traditional media. China is arguably the most relevant and interesting case in this respect, because it limits the influx of non-domestic social media communication, has established its own microcosm of social media and tries to closely monitor and control it and censor problematic content. While such censorship is very effective in some instances, however, it fails to shut down all open debates completely. We analyse the pre-eminent Chinese social media platform – Sina Weibo – and present a typology of different kinds of public spheres that exist on this platform in which open and critical debates can occur under specific circumstances: Thematic public spheres include phenomena of common concern, such as environmental pollution or food safety; short-term public spheres emerge after unexpected events; encoded public spheres are deliberate attempts of users to circumvent censorship; local public spheres focus on sub-national phenomena and problems; non-domestic political public spheres exist on political topics from other countries but are often referenced back to China; mobile public spheres exist because many people use Weibo on their smartphones and also have access to deleted content there and meta public spheres are debates about censorship itself.
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Research Interests: Sociology and Psychology
Two of the most highly developed analytical approaches to public and mass media debates are discourse analyses in the tradition of Michel Foucault and the theory of the public sphere that has been developed at the Wissenschaftszentrum... more
Two of the most highly developed analytical approaches to public and mass media debates are discourse analyses in the tradition of Michel Foucault and the theory of the public sphere that has been developed at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB). Both approaches emphasize relevant and complementary aspects of societal communication, but so far, there has been no attempt to combine the two. This is the aim of this article: First, it is shown that both approaches are based on similar assumptions. Second, the concept of “discourse coalitions” is employed in order to bridge discourse analyses and the WZB model. Third, I propose to reconstruct discourse coalitions statistically using multiple correspondence analysis. Fourth, two examples will be considered in order to demonstrate discourse coalitions in a concrete mass media debate. In the cases of human genome research and stem cell research,three discourse coalitions can be shown, each having a different weight and therefore, a different discursive “power” in the coverage.
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Social media, and Twitter in particular, have become important sources for journalists in times of crises. User-generated content (UGC) can provide journalists with on-site information and material they otherwise would not have access to.... more
Social media, and Twitter in particular, have become important sources for journalists in times of crises. User-generated content (UGC) can provide journalists with on-site information and material they otherwise would not have access to. But how they source and verify UGC has not yet been systematically analyzed. This study analyzes sourcing and verification practices on Twitter during the Brussels attacks in March 2016. Based on quantitative content analysis, we identified (1) the journalists and news organizations sourcing during the attacks, (2) classified different forms of sourcing and verification requests, and (3) analyzed the sourced UGC. Results show that sourcing on Twitter has become a global phenomenon. During the first hours of the attack, journalists rely on UGC. Their sourcing and verification practices vary widely and often lack basic verification procedures, which leads to a discussion about the ethical implications of sourcing practices.
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The article analyzes to what extent news reporting on terrorist attacks globalized, regionalized, or country specific. We compare coverage on four terrorist incidents in the main news shows of the US edition of CNN, of Al Jazeera's Arabic... more
The article analyzes to what extent news reporting on terrorist attacks globalized, regionalized, or country specific. We compare coverage on four terrorist incidents in the main news shows of the US edition of CNN, of Al Jazeera's Arabic language service, of the British BBC, and of the German ARD. The analysis shows cross-national similarities in several dimensions: the analyzed media devote nearly identical amounts of attention to the four events, employ similar stylistic devices to describe them, and evaluate them similarly. At the same time, there are notable differences. These differences are not found between Western channels and Al Jazeera – as proponents of a 'clash of civilizations' might expect – but between CNN and Al Jazeera on the one hand, and the BBC and ARD on the other. The former interpret the attacks as an expression of a global ''war on terror'', whereas the latter see them as criminal attacks by a few individuals against the human civilization itself.
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In this paper, we ask if news reporting on terrorism is globalised (i.e. similar across all countries), regionalised (i.e. similar in only some countries) or country-specific. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, we... more
In this paper, we ask if news reporting on terrorism is globalised (i.e. similar across all countries), regionalised (i.e. similar in only some countries) or country-specific. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, we compare the coverage of four terrorist attacks in the main news programmes of the US edition of CNN, Al Jazeera’s Arabic language service, the British BBC and the German public broadcasting service ARD. The results reveal that reports on terrorism show many cross-national commonalities. Hence, it is possible to speak of a far-reaching global standardisation of news reporting. All stations give the events nearly identical importance, and the stylistic devices used to describe the attacks are very similar as well. The evaluation of the perpetrators’ actions and the attitude towards the victims is also similar across all four channels. The attacks are uniformly condemned, and the victims are depicted as innocent civilians. However, there are also differences between the various tv stations, in particular concerning their expression of a “clash of civilizations”. Fundamental differences were found between CNN and Al Jazeera; i.e. those stations who serve countries or regions that are intensively involved in certain geopolitical conflict. Further differences were found between the BBC and ARD. While the BBC interprets the attacks as an expression of a global ‘war on terror’, the ARD depicts them as criminal attacks by a few individuals against civilization itself. In discussing these empirical results, we make reference to different theories of media-politics.
Key words: terrorism – television – news coverage – globalization – Al Jazeera
Key words: terrorism – television – news coverage – globalization – Al Jazeera
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The article analyses attitudes of European citizens towards gender equality. It describes how the EU script on gender relations emphasizes gender equality. Subsequently, the article analyses the extent to which citizens of different... more
The article analyses attitudes of European citizens towards gender equality. It describes how the EU script on gender relations emphasizes gender equality. Subsequently, the article analyses the extent to which citizens of different European countries agree with this idea, based on Eurobarometer data.The analyses show a strong overall support for gender equality in the economic, political, and educational realms, but also differences between countries. In explaining these differences, we go beyond other studies not only by concentrating on endogenous characteristics of the analysed countries, but also by taking into account their levels of modernization, institutionalized gender regimes, and religious composition. Moreover, following neo-institutionalist theory, we include an exogenous variable — the influence of the EU — in multi-level analyses and can show that, in addition to all endogenous variables, it also has an effect on attitudes towards gender relations.
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Chapter in: Girtler, Roland (Ed.). Echte Bauern. Wien, Köln und Weimar: Böhlau, 250-255.
Research Interests: Sociology and Agriculture
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Along with the media landscape, the patterns of opinion leadership have changed profoundly. The concept of opinion leadership, which was established in the 1940s and has been used in numerous studies since, has been challenged by the... more
Along with the media landscape, the patterns of opinion leadership have changed profoundly. The concept of opinion leadership, which was established in the 1940s and has been used in numerous studies since, has been challenged by the intermingling of old and new media. This special section of the International Journal of Communication analyzes what kinds of opinion leadership can be found in contemporary media environments and to what extent extensions or adaptations of the original concept might be necessary. The special section presents three empirical studies focusing on different facets of opinion leadership—on the opinion leaders themselves, on opinion leadership in parasocial relations, and on influence and selection processes in adolescent networks—as well as a commentary by Elihu Katz.
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The study analyzes which forms opinion leadership takes in contemporary media environments where communication channels have increased and started to permeate interpersonal interaction. Some scholars assume that opinion leadership becomes... more
The study analyzes which forms opinion leadership takes in contemporary media environments where communication channels have increased and started to permeate interpersonal interaction. Some scholars assume that opinion leadership becomes more important under these conditions, as more media are available to enact it, and that more orientation is needed. Others argue that opinion leadership loses its importance as online media target audiences directly without interaction from opinion leaders. This study demonstrates that opinion leadership still exists in contemporary media environments. Using a cluster analysis of German online survey data, three clusters were identified that resemble communicative roles from earlier studies: Opinion Leaders, Followers, and Inactives. An additional fourth cluster, Mediatized Opinion Leaders, was also found. Individuals in this cluster exhibit the strongest and most diverse use of media and communication channels both for informing themselves and for communicating with followers.
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Higher education institutions (HEIs) are pivotal organizations in knowledge societies. A growing need for societal legitimation has led many HEIs to expand their media efforts-as news media are important sources through which both the... more
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are pivotal organizations in knowledge societies. A growing need for societal legitimation has led many HEIs to expand their media efforts-as news media are important sources through which both the broader public and stakeholders inform themselves about HEIs. Despite this importance of the news media-HEI nexus, few studies have analyzed it, and the scholarship has considerable gaps. Most studies focus on few news outlets, specific media types, or coverage of a few research universities. Therefore, this study provides a comprehensive picture of coverage of all Swiss HEIs across diverse media. Using data from quantitative content analysis of news articles (N = 5,732), official statistics, and HEI websites, we conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis to map coverage. We identified 6 types of HEIs that differ from official distinctions of HEIs, are portrayed differently in news media, and exhibit different structural characteristics. Only 2 types receive a high amount of coverage, showing that few large and strongly resourced universities have great advantages in the competition for visibility.
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ZusammenfassungIn der Wissenschaftssoziologie ist die Diagnose einer „Medialisierung“ der Berichterstattung über wissenschaftliche Themen von zentraler Bedeutung. Dieses Konzept weist bislang allerdings einige Unzulänglichkeiten auf, die... more
ZusammenfassungIn der Wissenschaftssoziologie ist die Diagnose einer „Medialisierung“ der Berichterstattung über wissenschaftliche Themen von zentraler Bedeutung. Dieses Konzept weist bislang allerdings einige Unzulänglichkeiten auf, die im vorliegenden Artikel bearbeitet werden: Erstens sind die konkreten Implikationen der „Medialisierung“ bislang unklar. Daher wird eine dimensionale Analyse vorgestellt, auf deren Basis Medialisierung als Extensivierung, Pluralisierung und als Zunahme von Kontroversen in der Wissenschaftsberichterstattung verstanden werden kann. Zweitens wird der bislang unklare Geltungsbereich des Konzepts durch eine vergleichende Analyse der Berichterstattung über drei Wissenschaftsthemen präzisiert. Dabei wird deutlich, dass sich eine Medialisierung nur für einige wissenschaftliche Themen und für andere Themen nur partiell oder nicht zeigen lässt. Drittens wird die Medialisierungs-Diagnose bislang nicht mit einer befriedigenden Erklärung dieser Veränderung verbu...
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In den folgenden drei Kapiteln stellen wir die Ergebnisse unserer Studie vor. Dabei werden wir uns, der eingangs präsentierten Analyselogik folgend, in Kapitel 3 zunächst mit den Formaten der Berichterstatt ung beschäftigen, bevor wir uns... more
In den folgenden drei Kapiteln stellen wir die Ergebnisse unserer Studie vor. Dabei werden wir uns, der eingangs präsentierten Analyselogik folgend, in Kapitel 3 zunächst mit den Formaten der Berichterstatt ung beschäftigen, bevor wir uns in Kapitel 4 der inhaltlichen Beschreibung der Terrorismusberichterstatt ung und in Kapitel 5 der medialen Darstellung von Emotionen im Zusammenhang mit Terrorismus zuwenden. In allen
Nachdem wir die Formate der von uns untersuchten Sendungen geschildert und die inhaltlichen Beschreibungen der Terrorereignisse in den verschiedenen Sendern analysiert haben, wenden wir uns nun unserer dritten Analysedimension zu: der... more
Nachdem wir die Formate der von uns untersuchten Sendungen geschildert und die inhaltlichen Beschreibungen der Terrorereignisse in den verschiedenen Sendern analysiert haben, wenden wir uns nun unserer dritten Analysedimension zu: der Darstellung von Emotionen in der Berichterstattung. Dafür nehmen wir die in Kapitel 2 vorgestellten Analysedimensionen wieder auf.
Wir untersuchen die Terrorismusberichterstattung in unterschiedlichen Medien mittels einer Kombination quantitativer und qualitativer Inhaltsanalysen. Die Erläuterung der zugrunde liegenden Daten und Methoden steht im Mittelpunkt des... more
Wir untersuchen die Terrorismusberichterstattung in unterschiedlichen Medien mittels einer Kombination quantitativer und qualitativer Inhaltsanalysen. Die Erläuterung der zugrunde liegenden Daten und Methoden steht im Mittelpunkt des folgenden Kapitels. Wir werden zunächst die Auswahlentscheidungen und Datengrundlage unserer Analyse beschreiben (Kapitel 2.1). Anschließend werden wir das methodische Vorgehen darlegen (Kapitel 2.2).
Seit den Anschlägen des 11. September 2001 auf das World Trade Center in New York und das Pentagon in Washington ist Terrorismus zu einem der bedeutsamsten politischen Themen geworden – und das weltweit. Im Vergleich zu historisch... more
Seit den Anschlägen des 11. September 2001 auf das World Trade Center in New York und das Pentagon in Washington ist Terrorismus zu einem der bedeutsamsten politischen Themen geworden – und das weltweit. Im Vergleich zu historisch früheren Formen ist der gegenwärtige Terrorismus aus mehreren Gründen als globalisierter Terrorismus beschrieben worden (z. B. Schneckener 2003; 2006): Erstens haben sich die Organisations- und Handlungsstrukturen der Täter internationalisiert. Typisch für die gegenwärtig virulente „vierte Welle“ des Terrorismus (Rapoport 2006: 64 ff.) sind transnationale terroristische Netzwerke, die ihre Mitglieder aus unterschiedlichen Regionen bzw. Ländern rekrutieren, auf eine tiefgreifende Umgestaltung der Weltordnung zielen und ihre Aktivitäten dementsprech end auf mehrere Länder und Kontinente ausdehnen. Zweitens, und damit verbunden, agieren auch die „Gegner“ – Ermitt – ler, Behörden, Geheimdienste usw. – im globalen Maßstab. Sie versuchen transnationale Allianzen zu bilden, sammeln weltweit Informationen und agieren stellenweise außerhalb ihres nationalstaatlichen Hoheitsbereichs.
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Spätestens seit dem 11. September 2001 – den Anschlägen auf das World Trade Center in New York und das Pentagon in Washington – ist Terrorismus zu einem länderübergreifenden Thema geworden. „Nine-Eleven“ und die folgenden Ansch läge in... more
Spätestens seit dem 11. September 2001 – den Anschlägen auf das World Trade Center in New York und das Pentagon in Washington – ist Terrorismus zu einem länderübergreifenden Thema geworden. „Nine-Eleven“ und die folgenden Ansch läge in Djerba (Tunesien), Bali und Jakarta (Indonesien), Riad (Saudi-Arabien), Casablanca (Marokko), Istanbul (Türkei), Amman (Jordanien), Madrid (Spanien), London (Großbritannien), Mumbai (Indien), Scharm El Scheich
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Chapter 13: Emotions in Sports Stadia1 Mike S. Schäfer and Jochen Roose The ball changed possession, moving fast from one end of the field to the other. The tension mounted; it became almost unbearable. People forgot where they were... more
Chapter 13: Emotions in Sports Stadia1 Mike S. Schäfer and Jochen Roose The ball changed possession, moving fast from one end of the field to the other. The tension mounted; it became almost unbearable. People forgot where they were standing. They were pushed, and ...
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Recently, the debate about the external perception and relevance of media and communication science has gained momentum. Many researchers criticise that the discipline does not engage sufficiently in public debates and is hardly visible... more
Recently, the debate about the external perception and relevance of media and communication science has gained momentum. Many researchers criticise that the discipline does not engage sufficiently in public debates and is hardly visible in news media. They consider current developments in media and society—including the rise of online and social media as well as changes in political communication, news use, news quality, and journalistic autonomy—as a largely missed opportunity to increase the relevance and societal contribution of media and communication science. This comes at a time when the relationship between science and society is changing, with scientists, disciplines, and higher education institutions being increasingly called upon to engage in public discourse and with various publics.
This ongoing debate is important for stimulating self-reflection and sharpening the identity of the discipline. But while numerous diagnoses lament the discipline’s alleged lack of public visibility and societal contributions, studies assessing these aspects empirically are still scarce. In particular, there is a lack of studies measuring the media visibility of media and communication science over a longer period of time. The study at hand therefore presents the results of a longitudinal automated content analysis of the news media visibility and the thematic contextualisation of media and communication science in Swiss print media. Based on an analysis of the entire coverage of seven national newspapers between 1999 and 2018—including quality daily newspapers, weekly newspapers and magazines as well as tabloids—we analysed and compared the visibility of media and communication science with the related disciplines of political science and sociology. In addition, we examined the reporting on media and communication science in depth by using Topic Modeling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation.
Our study shows that the public visibility of media and communication science (n = 1843) is clearly lagging behind that of political science (n = 7013) and sociology (n = 9678). Moreover, the latter have continued to increase their media visibility while that of media and communication science has stagnated at a lower level. After years of a moderate downward trend, the visibility of media and communication science has only been slowly rising again since 2016. The differences between the disciplines can hardly be explained by their size or growth. While political science is one of the largest social sciences in Switzerland and has a higher, and growing, number of students, sociology is a smaller field compared to media and communication science. Yet it is sociology which has the highest media visibility, with a further increase in recent years. In contrast, the media visibility of media and communication science has been rather low for the past 20 years, although departments at Swiss universities have expanded considerably during this time.
In Swiss media, the topical contexts in which media and communication science is most frequently mentioned are trends of newspaper circulation, the role of the discipline in higher education as well as media policy, media regulation and public service broadcasting. In the last few years, the latter topic has gained importance, indicating that communication scientists contributed to the recent debate on the societal role and funding of Swiss public broadcasting. Surprisingly, media and communication science is rarely mentioned in the context of digital media and digitisation—and the mentions in this thematic context do not increase over time.
Overall, the study suggests that media and communication science is indeed “largely irrelevant” in important public discussions. Thus, measures to strengthen the visibility of media and communication science are needed, not at least because the Swiss public expects scientists to share and discuss their findings in ongoing public debates. Moreover, we argue that the regular analysis of the public visibility of media and communication science would be an important contribution for the further development of the field—in Switzerland and beyond. While we focused on print media, future studies should also address the visibility of media and communication science in broadcasting media, online news, blogs, and social media as well as contributions to commissions and public events.
This ongoing debate is important for stimulating self-reflection and sharpening the identity of the discipline. But while numerous diagnoses lament the discipline’s alleged lack of public visibility and societal contributions, studies assessing these aspects empirically are still scarce. In particular, there is a lack of studies measuring the media visibility of media and communication science over a longer period of time. The study at hand therefore presents the results of a longitudinal automated content analysis of the news media visibility and the thematic contextualisation of media and communication science in Swiss print media. Based on an analysis of the entire coverage of seven national newspapers between 1999 and 2018—including quality daily newspapers, weekly newspapers and magazines as well as tabloids—we analysed and compared the visibility of media and communication science with the related disciplines of political science and sociology. In addition, we examined the reporting on media and communication science in depth by using Topic Modeling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation.
Our study shows that the public visibility of media and communication science (n = 1843) is clearly lagging behind that of political science (n = 7013) and sociology (n = 9678). Moreover, the latter have continued to increase their media visibility while that of media and communication science has stagnated at a lower level. After years of a moderate downward trend, the visibility of media and communication science has only been slowly rising again since 2016. The differences between the disciplines can hardly be explained by their size or growth. While political science is one of the largest social sciences in Switzerland and has a higher, and growing, number of students, sociology is a smaller field compared to media and communication science. Yet it is sociology which has the highest media visibility, with a further increase in recent years. In contrast, the media visibility of media and communication science has been rather low for the past 20 years, although departments at Swiss universities have expanded considerably during this time.
In Swiss media, the topical contexts in which media and communication science is most frequently mentioned are trends of newspaper circulation, the role of the discipline in higher education as well as media policy, media regulation and public service broadcasting. In the last few years, the latter topic has gained importance, indicating that communication scientists contributed to the recent debate on the societal role and funding of Swiss public broadcasting. Surprisingly, media and communication science is rarely mentioned in the context of digital media and digitisation—and the mentions in this thematic context do not increase over time.
Overall, the study suggests that media and communication science is indeed “largely irrelevant” in important public discussions. Thus, measures to strengthen the visibility of media and communication science are needed, not at least because the Swiss public expects scientists to share and discuss their findings in ongoing public debates. Moreover, we argue that the regular analysis of the public visibility of media and communication science would be an important contribution for the further development of the field—in Switzerland and beyond. While we focused on print media, future studies should also address the visibility of media and communication science in broadcasting media, online news, blogs, and social media as well as contributions to commissions and public events.
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Chapter (p.171-195) in Fichter, Adrienne (Ed.): Smartphone Demokratie.
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Few studies have assessed whether populations can be divided into segments with different perceptions of science. We provide such an analysis and assess whether these segments exhibit specific patterns of media and information use. Based... more
Few studies have assessed whether populations can be divided into segments with different perceptions of science. We provide such an analysis and assess whether these segments exhibit specific patterns of media and information use. Based on representative survey data from Switzerland, we use latent class analysis to reconstruct four segments: the " Sciencephiles, " with strong interest for science, extensive knowledge, and a pronounced belief in its potential, who use a variety of sources intensively; the " Critically Interested, " also with strong interest and support for science but with less trust in it, who use similar sources but are more cautious toward them; the " Passive Supporters " with moderate levels of interest, trust, and knowledge and tempered perceptions of science, who use fewer sources; and the " Disengaged, " who are not interested in science, do not know much about it, harbor critical views toward it, and encounter it—if at all—mostly through television.
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Climate change is often seen as a remote, complex or ‘unobtrusive’ topic by the general public – a topic about which many people acquire information mainly from media reporting. However, media landscapes are changing rapidly, particularly... more
Climate change is often seen as a remote, complex or ‘unobtrusive’ topic by the general public – a topic about which many people acquire information mainly from media reporting. However, media landscapes are changing rapidly, particularly with the growth of the internet and social media. A number of new media organisations are challenging traditional media and have gained significant audiences for their environment content. We analyse the coverage by three of these – Huffington Post, Vice and BuzzFeed – of the COP21 summit in Paris at the end of 2015, and compare it with that of traditional media. We show that while the general spectrum of themes is similar across media outlets, there are differences in the volume of the coverage and in the emphasis that is laid on different themes by some, but not all, of the new players compared to traditional media.
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Die Kommunikation wissenschaftlichen Wissens aus der Wissenschaft heraus, und insbesondere medial vermittelte Kommunikation, ist nach wie vor von grosser Bedeutung. Die Vorlesung beleuchtet die Relevanz und den Wandel dieses... more
Die Kommunikation wissenschaftlichen Wissens aus der Wissenschaft heraus, und insbesondere medial vermittelte Kommunikation, ist nach wie vor von grosser Bedeutung. Die Vorlesung beleuchtet die Relevanz und den Wandel dieses Forschungsfeldes und seines Gegenstandes, zeigt aktuelle Erscheinungsformen auf identifiziert zentrale Herausforderungen künftiger Forschung