Martin Wettstein

Agenda Building and Setting in a Referendum Campaign: Investigating the Flow of Arguments among Campaigners, the Media, and the Public:

This study tests second-level agenda-building and -setting effects in the course of a referendum campaign. Personal standardized interviews with forty-seven different campaign managers and a content analysis of campaign material are linked to a content analysis of TV and newspaper coverage and a three-wave public opinion survey. The results demonstrate the dynamic flow of arguments in the agenda-building and -setting process: top-down from the campaigners to the news media and the public.

Frame Adoption in Referendum Campaigns The Effect of News Coverage on the Public Salience of Issue Interpretations

Answering the call for nonexperimental framing effects research, this article analyzes the effects of news frames on citizens’ political cognitions using data derived from a campaign on the naturalization of immigrants. A content analysis of TV and newspaper coverage was combined at the individual level with answers to open- and closed-ended panel survey questions. The results largely confirm prior experimental framing effects research. Media frames had a strong impact on their public salience. Prior to the campaign, however, audience members interpreted the issue in different ways. Individual media exposure was found to affect frame adoption for all respondents (and all frames investigated), irrespective of the initial attitudes of respondents and the frames’ origin. The implications of these findings for experimental and nonexperimental framing effects research are discussed.

News Media as Gatekeepers, Critics, and Initiators of Populist Communication: How Journalists in Ten Countries Deal with the Populist Challenge

In the wake of the recent successes of populist political actors and discussions about its causes in Europe, the contribution of the media has become an issue of public debate. We identify three roles—as gatekeepers, interpreters, and initiators—the media can assume in their coverage of populist actors, populist ideology, and populist communication. A comparative content analysis of nine thousand stories from fifty-nine news outlets in ten European countries shows that both media factors (e.g., tabloid orientation) and political factors (e.g., response of mainstream parties) influence the extent and nature of populism in the media. Although newspapers in most countries do not overrepresent populist actors and tend to evaluate them negatively, we still find abundant populist content in the news. Several media outlets like to present themselves as mouthpieces of the people while, at the same time, cover politicians and parties with antiinstitutional undertones.

The Effects of Right-Wing Populist Communication on Emotions and Cognitions toward Immigrants

The persuasiveness of right-wing populist communication has become a widely discussed topic; it is often assumed that such messages might foster anti-immigrant attitudes among citizens. The present study explores the effects of the different components of right-wing populist communication—anti-immigrant messages, populist content, and populist style—on attitudes toward immigrants. By combining a media content analysis (N = 605 articles) with a panel survey (N = 1,968) in metropolitan areas of four Western European countries (France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), this study analyzes how citizens’ attitudes toward immigrants are influenced by the right-wing populist communication with which they are confronted in their individual media diet. The results show that anti-immigrant statements in the media lead to more negative cognitions toward immigrants, while populist content leads to more negative emotions. The study, thus, demonstrates that not only anti-immigrant rhetoric but also populism as a thin-centered ideology influence citizens’ attitudes toward immigrants on top of pre-existing attitudes.

Wirkung populistischer Kommunikation. Populismus in den Medien, Wirkungen und deren Randbedingungen

Ein Teil des Erfolgs populistischer Bewegungen ist ihrer Kommunikation und Prasenz in den Medien geschuldet. Journalist_ innen geben populistischen Akteuren nicht nur eine Buhne fur ihre Themen, sondern schliesen sie zum Teil vom politischen Diskurs aus oder kritisieren sie starker als andere politische Akteure. Genauso konnen Massenmedien auch zu Erfullungsgehilfen fur populistische Bewegungen werden, weil sie selbst populistische Kommunikationsstrategien und -stile anwenden, z. B. ubertriebene Volksnahe und Elitenkritik, auf die auch politische Populist_innen zuruckgreifen. Populistische Kommunikation in den Medien kann Schuldzuschreibungen gegenuber der politischen Elite oder Migrant_innen fur soziale Probleme erhohen, und unter bestimmten Bedingungen populistische Einstellungen verstarken und das Wahlverhalten zugunsten populistischer Akteure beeinflussen.