Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw

Intermedia agenda-setting in a multimedia news environment:

This article analyzes intermedia agenda-setting processes during a national election campaign of 38 newspapers, online news sites, TV news programs, as well as a wire service, through semi-automatic content analysis and time series analysis. The theoretical assumption was that intermedia agenda-setting is determined by the production structures of certain media types, the opinion-leader role of specific media outlets, and issue-specific characteristics. The findings suggest that, despite previous evidence to the contrary, intermedia agenda-setting also occurs during election campaigns, with a short time lag of 1u2009day. Additionally, a medium’s opinion-leader role depends strongly on issue-specific characteristics, such as obtrusiveness and proximity, mediating the intermedia agenda-setting process. And the traditional role of print media as intermedia agenda-setters is found to be challenged by online news sites.

Perceptions of Climate Change Imagery: Evoked Salience and Self-Efficacy in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria

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.

Political News in Online and Print Newspapers: Are online editions better by electoral democratic standards?

The electoral model of democracy holds the ideal of citizens who are well informed about politics, and regards it as a task of news media to provide citizens with political information. Against this ideal, the quality of political news in online news outlets is highly contested. While pessimists point out the dangers of increased competition online, optimists emphasize the potential benefits of unlimited space and interactivity. To see which view holds true, this paper compares political news in popular and elite print newspapers and their respective online editions during the 2013 National Election Campaign in Austria. Findings show that online editions score better than paper editions regarding the amount of political news, (party) diversity, and emotionalization, but differences between newspaper types were notable. Whereas elite newspapers cover politics online more extensively than in print, the reverse is true for popular newspapers. Leader focus is also strong in popular papers online. We conclude that the gap in quality between political news in elite and in popular newspapers is larger online. This might contribute to a wider gap between a well-informed elite audience and a lesser-informed popular news audience, when audiences switch from print to online news.

The Framing of the Euro Crisis in German and Spanish Online News Media between 2010 and 2014: Does a Common European Public Discourse Emerge?

In recent years, Europe has been facing the Euro crisis, questioning the whole process of European integration. However, scholars argue that this crisis also presents an opportunity for the Europeanization of national public spheres as public attention regarding Europe has increased. Therefore, this study examines the media discourse on the crisis and the possible convergence of the national public spheres of Germany and Spain. It investigates how the issue is framed and who participates in the discourse during the crisis between 2010 and 2014 in German and Spanish online quality newspapers. Based on a content analysis of 7,256 statements in 961 articles, frames were identified in a data-driven approach. Results show that German and Spanish media have Europeanized their framing during the crisis and mainly support Europe’s policy. This convergence has occurred despite a slight renationalization of discourse participants, indicating that Europeanization has been increasingly sustained by national actors.

Followers, Spread the Message! Predicting the Success of Swiss Politicians on Facebook and Twitter

Politicians have been criticized for not exploiting the deliberative potential of social media platforms. We complement previous definitions of politicians’ success on social media through the lens of network media logic: Despite the lack of deliberation, some succeed in building large digital followerships, which spread their messages via reactions through the network. Analyzing a data set of personal, structural, and social media characteristics of Swiss politicians, we used path analysis to determine which predict their success on Facebook (nu2009=u200963) and Twitter (nu2009=u2009108). Politicians, who are active in parliament, represent urban regions and receive substantial amounts of traditional media coverage also have larger digital followerships on both platforms. Digital followership in turn influences the average number of digital reactions on Facebook, but not on Twitter. Thus, politicians’ success on social media depends on their personal background, political activity, and media coverage, and also their followership and the platform.

Partisan journalism and the issue framing of the Euro crisis: Comparing political parallelism of German and Spanish online news

Empirical studies investigating political parallelism in news coverage mostly look at the frequency and evaluation of party actors, though political parallelism is not only tied to parties but also to broader political ideologies. By contrast, this study examines country differences in political parallelism focusing on the alignment of media’s issue interpretations with political ideologies. Based on a content analysis of 7256 statements in 961 articles about the Euro crisis in German and Spanish online newspapers, issue frames were identified in a data-driven approach before examining how the argumentative structure of these frames referred to ideologies. Results show that ideology-guided framing is present in nearly half of all articles. But Spanish media more often used frames corresponding to their political alignment than their German counterparts indicating stronger political parallelism in the Mediterranean Model. Thus, the results support the revision of the Hallin/Mancini Model of media systems proposed by Brüggemann et al.

Pseudo-discursive, mobilizing, emotional, and entertaining: identifying four successful communication styles of political actors on social media during the 2015 Swiss national elections

ABSTRACT Political actors are adapting their communication styles to the network media logic of social media platforms with varying success. This study investigates the communication styles used during the Swiss national election 2015 and their success in triggering digital reactions. In a quantitative content analysis of the “top 20” most reacted to messages on Facebook (n = 2170) and Twitter (N = 1796) of 246 Swiss parliamentarians and 11 parties we analyzed the impact of a pseudo-discursive, mobilizing, emotional and entertaining communication style. Whereas the pseudo-discursive style is the most common on both platforms, it leads on Facebook to fewer interactions. The entertaining style fosters reactions on Facebook but not on Twitter. Though the emotional style is used the least, it is the most beneficial. The paper concludes by discussing how these four communication styles alter communication between political actors and citizens.

Between Guilt and Obligation: Debating the Responsibility for Climate Change and Climate Politics in the Media

ABSTRACT 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.