Publications

This paper scrutinizes the phenomenon of issue fatigue and its consequences. Issue fatigue results from overexposure to a news topic that has been on the media’s agenda for an extended period of time. Fatigued recipients become annoyed, and no longer wish to be exposed to the topic. Based on the findings of an explorative qualitative study, a quantitative online survey was conducted in Germany, Mexico, and Pakistan (N = 481). Using cluster analysis, we identified an emotional and a cognitive type of issue fatigue, and investigated how these types react. Both types of fatigued recipients avoided further news about the respective issue in traditional news media (= information avoidance). Differences were observed concerning the strategies to handle fatigue (= coping strategies): recipients of the emotional type posted about their fatigue in social media; recipients of the cognitive type turned to information in sources other than the mainstream news. Taking into account country-specific differences, we concluded that, generally, issue fatigue - via information avoidance - results in an uninformed citizenry. This can be a hurdle for the functioning of an established democracy or for the success of democratic transitions. Posting about issue fatigue, which was more frequent in Mexico and Pakistan, might ‘infect’ others, and intensify problems resulting from issue fatigue. Turning to alternative sources can be either beneficial or problematic for the development of a well-informed citizenry, depending on whether alternative sources provide reliable and truthful information

Die zunehmende Verbreitung von Systemen künstlicher Intelligenz führt zum Wandel des sozialen Arbeitsumfeldes von Journalist:innen. Es entwickelt sich zu einem sozio-technischen Arbeitssystem, in dem menschliche und anthropomorphisierte artifizielle Journalist:innen auf allen Ebenen der Nachrichtenproduktion und -distribution vernetzt journalistische Tätigkeiten ausführen. Der Beitrag stellt mögliche Anwendungsbereiche von algorithmengetriebenen Technologien im Journalismus vor und diskutiert die sich daraus ergebenden Herausforderungen und Konsequenzen für die journalistische Praxis und Forschung.

From an intergroup relations perspective, attitudes toward immigration derive from assessments of immigrants’ ethnic proximity to the host society. However, attitudes are embedded not only in the notion of intergroup relations, they are influenced by the information environment in which public discourse about immigration is shaped. This paper investigates whether the quality of the media system contributes to the emergence of a well-informed public that is more likely to reinforce democratic values and thus have more positive attitudes toward immigration. The European Social Survey data (2002-2018) from 19 European countries are combined with media quality indicators from the Varieties of Democracy project and studied in a cross-national comparative perspective. Results confirm that Europeans prefer immigrants that are ethnically more similar to the majority of the host society, regardless of time or given country. Furthermore, attitudes are more positive in countries with stronger public services. Moreover, a higher quality media system that reflects the level of media freedom, opinion plurality, self-governance, and objectivity, fosters pro-immigration attitudes, especially for immigrants who are ethnically different from the host society.

With the increasing frequency of transboundary crises in the twenty-first century - examples from the past are the financial crisis, the migration crisis and the current coronavirus pandemic - the need for political leadership beyond national borders is growing. As public visibility is an essential leadership resource with regard to transboundary leadership, the question arises of how media construct and thus legitimize political leadership in transboundary crises. The basic theoretical assumption is that perceived leadership in a transboundary crisis results from publicly observable processes of attributing responsibility beyond geographical and hierarchical boundaries. Consequently, a tool for capturing attribution statements, their senders and addressees as well as their reasoning in the media coverage is presented.

Das CO2-Grenzausgleichssystem der EU kann die Verlagerung der Produktion bzw. von Emissionen in Drittländer nur zum Teil verhindern. Es wird sehr hohe Kosten verursachen, nicht zu einer kosteneffizienten Emissionsreduktion beitragen und kaum Anreize für Drittländer schaffen, ihre Emissionen zu reduzieren. Das System ist nicht WTO-konform und wird deshalb Anlass zu handelspolitischen Streitigkeiten und Konflikten geben, unter denen vor allem Deutschland mit seinen hohen Exportüberschüssen zu leiden haben wird. Es spricht vieles dafür, das vorgeschlagene System nicht zu realisieren und die Wettbewerbsnachteile europäischer Unternehmen weiter durch die teilweise kostenlose Zuteilung von ETS-Zertifikaten auszugleichen.