Publications

The complete list of all publications of the research group can be found here.

Recent publications of the iRisCS-Com team:

Schwarz, A., Seeger, M. W., & Kim, S. (Eds.). (2025). The Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (2 ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394180844

Schwarz, A., Sellnow, D. D., Diers-Lawson, A., & Sellnow, T. L. (2025). The crisis response to the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes in 2023: Instructional emergency risk communication by the government, the national disaster management agency, and NGOs via press releases and microblogs. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 129, 105770. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105770

Schwarz, A., & Faj, T. (2025). Public versus individual autonomous mobility and the reference to science in the news media: Frames of risks, benefits, and governance in Germany from 2018 to early 2023. SCM Studies in Communication and Media, 14(3), 421-455. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2025-3-421

Meissner, F., Wilke, A. J., & Puikytė, M. (2025). How is cybersecurity discussed across media channels? Exploratory analyses of Twitter content and news reporting. Journal of Risk Research, 28(8), 855–875. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2025.2553079

Schaller, S. (2025). Mental health risks of pandemic-related media communication: The mediating roles of distinct types of perceived threat. Risk Analysis, 45(10), 320–3217. http://doi.org/10.1111/risa.70079

Schaller, S., Schumann, C., & Arlt, D. (2025). Dynamic relations between negative news media experiences and mental distress? Examining transactional effects during times of health crises. Health Communication, 40(11), 2404–2416. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2457557

Schaller, S., Schumann, C., & Wolling, J. (2025). Public engagement by strategic science communication: An evaluation study on the impact of an interactive science exhibition on the German energy transition. Frontiers in Communication. Sec. Science and Environmental Communication. 10.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1657572

Schumann, C. & Arlt, D. (2025). How News Media Relates to Political Dissatisfaction Over Time Results from a 4-wave-panel study analyzing reinforcing processes between different forms of political dissatisfaction and their relation to news media exposure and media trust. Mass Communication and Society, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2025.2511616

Diers-Lawson, A., Schwarz, A., Meissner, F., & Ravazzani, S. (Eds.). (2024). Risk and Crisis Communication in Europe: Towards Integrating Theory and Practice in Unstable and Turbulent Times. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003375296

Löffelholz, M., Schleicher, K., & Trippe, C.F. (2024) (Eds.): War of Narratives. Russia, Ukraine and the West. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111331508

Xu, Y. & Löffelholz, M. (2024). Multimodal Crisis Messaging in Times of Pandemic: Comparing Instagram Posts Published by Governments and Public Health Institutions in Germany, Türkiye, the UK, and the USA. International Journal of Communication 18, 4003-4030. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/22032/4771

Schwarz, A. (2024). The mediated amplification of societal risk and risk governance of artificial intelligence: technological risk frames on YouTube and their impact before and after ChatGPT. Journal of Risk Research, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2024.2437629

Schwarz, A., Sellnow, D. D., Sellnow, T. D., & Taylor, L. E. (2024). Instructional Risk and Crisis Communication at Higher Education Institutions during COVID-19: Insights from Practitioners in the Global South and North. Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, 7(1), 1-47. https://doi.org/10.56801/jicrcr.V7.i1.1

Schwarz, A., Sellnow, T., Geppert, J., & Sellnow, D. D. (2024). Protective action as an enduring keystone of risk communication: Effective form, function and process of risk messaging as advocated by global higher education practitioners during a pandemic. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 32(1), 6, Article e12545. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12545

Schwarz, A., & Unselt, J. J. (2024). Rage against the machine? Framing societal threat and efficacy in YouTube videos about artificial intelligence. Risk Analysis, 44(10), 2377-2395. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14299

Seeger, M. W., & Schwarz, A. (2024). Best practices in crisis and disaster communication. In B. F. Liu & A. Mehta (Eds.), Handbook of risk, crisis, and disaster communication (pp. 65-82). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003363330-7

Schwarz, A., & Diers-Lawson, A. (2024). Mediated crises and strategic crisis communication of third sector organizations: a content analysis of crisis reporting in six countries [Article]. Corporate Communications, 29(4), 567-591. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccij-08-2023-0117

Liu, B. F., Jin, Y., Zhao, W. Q., Schwarz, A., Truban, O., & Seeger, M. (2024). Building the new architecture of crisis management: Global experts' insights on best and worst practices for securing external funding. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 32(1), 12, Article e12539. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12539

Arlt, D., Schumann, C., & Wolling, J. (2023). What does the public know about technological solutions for achieving carbon neutrality? Citizens' knowledge of energy transition and the role of media. Frontiers in Communication. 1005603. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1005603

Schwarz, A., & Seidl, E. (2023). Stories of Astrobiology, SETI, and UAPs: Science and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life in German News Media From 2009 to 2022. Science Communication, 45(6), 788-823. https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470231206797

Schwarz, A., Seeger, M. W., & Kim, S. (2025). The Expanding and Dynamic Field of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication. In A. Schwarz, M. W. Seeger, & S. Kim (Eds.), The Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (pp. 675-689). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394180844.ch50

Schwarz, A. (2025). Crisis and Risk Communication Research in Germany. In The Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (pp. 417-434). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394180844.ch32

Schwarz, A. (2025). Global Threats and the Significance of International Risk and Crisis Communication Research. In A. Schwarz, M. W. Seeger, & S. Kim (Eds.), The Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (pp. 1-14). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394180844.ch1

Claeys, A.-S., & Schwarz, A. (2025). Domestic and International Audiences of Organizational Risk and Crisis Communication. In The Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (pp. 244-258). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394180844.ch20

Schwarz, A., Alpers, F., Wagner-Olfermann, E., & Diers-Lawson, A. (2023). The Global Study of COVID News: Scope, Findings, and Implications of Quantitative Content Analyses of the COVID-19 News Coverage in the First Two Years of the Pandemic. Health Communication, 39(8), 1568-1581. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2226932

Wagner-Olfermann, E. (2022). Political leadership in transboundary crises, responsibility attributions, and the role of the media: a synthesis of previous research and theoretical extension. Annals of the International Communication Association, 46(4), 290-304. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2022.2120520

Schwarz, A. (2008). Covariation-based causal attributions during organizational crises: Suggestions for extending Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). International Journal of Strategic Communication, 2(1), 31-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15531180701816601

Schwarz, A. (2008). Who is responsible for the crisis? A reception-oriented approach to crisis public relations. Media and Communication Studies, 56(1), 60-81.

Schwarz, A. (2010). Crisis PR from the perspective of stakeholders: The influence of attributions of cause and responsibility on the reputation of organizations. VS Verl. für Sozialwissenschaften.

Schwarz, A. (2012). How publics use social media to respond to blame games in crisis communication: The Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg 2010. Public Relations Review, 38(3), 430-437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.01.009

Schwarz, A. (2012). The Love Parade in Duisburg: lessons from a tragic blame game. In A. George & C. Pratt (Eds.), Case studies in crisis communication: international perspectives on hits and misses (pp. 340-360). Routledge.

Schwarz, A. (2012). Stakeholder attributions in crises: The effects of covariation information and attributional inferences on organizational reputation. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 6(2), 174-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2011.596869

Schwarz, A. (2014). The nuclear catastrophe as an object of international crisis communication: A cross-national and cross-cultural analysis of Fukushima reporting based on the framing approach. In J. Wolling & D. Arlt (Eds.), Fukushima and the Aftermath - Media Coverage, Public Opinion, Political Consequences (pp. 153-182). Univ. Publ. Ilmenau. https://doi.org/https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-49412-1

Schwarz, A. (2014). The relevance of attributions of cause and responsibility in the context of news production and reception: Theoretical and methodological potentials of attribution theories. In W. Loosen & M. Dohle (Eds.), Journalismus und (sein) Publikum: Schnittstellen zwischen Journalismusforschung und Rezeptions- und Wirkungsforschung (pp. 275-299). Springer VS.

Schwarz, A. (2015). Strategic crisis communication of organizations. In R. Fröhlich, P. Szyszka, & G. Bentele (Eds.), Handbook of Public Relations: Scientific foundations and professional action. With lexicon (3 ed., pp. 1001-1016). Springer VS.

Schwarz, A. (2016). Crisis communication research in Germany. In A. Schwarz, M. Seeger, & C. Auer (Eds.), The handbook of international crisis communication research (pp. 357-372). Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118516812.ch33

Schwarz, A. (2018). Crises in child and youth services: Findings and suggestions for crisis communication by youth welfare offices. Our Youth, 70(1), 29-38. https://doi.org/10.2378/uj2018.art05d

Schwarz, A. (2018). Crisis communication in child protection. Communicatio Socialis, 51(3), 269-285. https://doi.org/10.5771/0010-3497-2018-3-269

Schwarz, A. (2024). Journalism and public relations. In M. Löffelholz & L. Rothenberger (Eds.), Handbook of journalism theories (pp. 697-716). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32151-2_48

Schwarz, A. (2024). Conflict and crisis communication. In P. Szyszka, R. Fröhlich, & U. Röttger (Eds.), Handbook of Public Relations: Scientific foundations of professional action (pp. 785-805). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28034-5_43

Schwarz, A., Binetti, J.-C., Broll, W., & Mitschele-Thiel, A. (2016). New technologies and applications in international crisis communication and disaster management. In A. Schwarz, M. Seeger, & C. Auer (Eds.), The Handbook of International Crisis Communication Research (pp. 465-477). Wiley Blackwell.

Schwarz, A., & Büker, J. (2018). The crisis communication of universities. In B. Fähnrich, J. Metag, S. Post, & M. S. Schäfer (Eds.), Research field of higher education communication (pp. 271-295). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-22409-7_13

Schwarz, A., & Fritsch, A. (2014). Communicating on Behalf of Global Civil Society: Management and Coordination of Public Relations in International Nongovernmental Organizations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(2), 161-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/1062726x.2013.864242

Schwarz, A., & Löffelholz, M. (2020). Crisis communication: Preparation, implementation, success factors. In A. Zerfaß, M. Piwinger, & U. Röttger (Eds.), Handbook of corporate communication (pp. 1-17). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-03894-6_46-1

Schwarz, A., & Pforr, F. (2011). The crisis communication preparedness of nonprofit organizations: The case of German interest groups. Public Relations Review, 37(1), 68-70. doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.10.002

Schwarz, A., Schleicher, K., Srugies, A., & Rothenberger, L. (2016). Crisis in the youth welfare office. Guide to strategic crisis communication for municipalities. Nationales Zentrum Frühe Hilfen (NZFH) in der Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA). http://www.fruehehilfen.de/fileadmin/user_upload/fruehehilfen.de/pdf/Publikation_NZFH_Krise_im_Jugendamt.pdf

Schwarz, A., Schleicher, K., Srugies, A., & Rothenberger, L. (2017). The crisis communication of youth welfare offices in Germany: Findings on media coverage and strategic communication, especially in the context of serious cases of child endangerment. Ilmenau University Press.

Schwarz, A., Seeger, M., & Auer, C. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of international crisis communication research. Wiley-Blackwell.

Schwarz, A., Seeger, M. W., & Auer, C. (2016). Significance and structure of international risk and crisis communication research: Toward an integrative approach. In A. Schwarz, M. W. Seeger, & C. Auer (Eds.), The handbook of international crisis communication research (pp. 1-10). Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118516812.ch1

Löffelholz, M. (2004) (Eds.): Krieg als Medienereignis II. Krisenkommunikation im 21. Jahrhundert. Springer VS.