Successfully completed doctoral dissertation by Maija Ozola-Schade

On 30 April, Maija Ozola-Schade from the Department of Empirical Media Research and Political Communication (EMPK) successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled “Media effects on immigration beliefs and attitudes in Europe. A multilevel and longitudinal comparative analysis”. The reviews were written by Prof. Dr Jens Wolling, Prof. Dr Emese Domahidi (Ilmenau University of Technology) and Prof. Dr Liane Rothenberger (University of Bamberg).
In her thesis, she investigated how the media influence attitudes towards migration. Methodologically, she combined quantitative content analyses of media coverage of migration in six EU countries with survey data from these countries, covering a period of 20 years. A key finding is that the fundamental political attitudes of the audience and the quality of the media system are decisive factors in how information about migration is processed and evaluated. This gives rise to differing perceptions of migration among the population, which in turn affect support for or opposition to migration. The doctoral thesis was produced as part of a DFG project.

We warmly congratulate Maija on her PhD and wish her every success in her future career.