Thomas Koch

Bystanding or standing by? How the number of bystanders affects the intention to intervene in cyberbullying

This study examines the bystander effect in cyberbullying. On the basis of two experiments, we test whether individuals who witness cyberbullying are less willing to intervene when the number of others who have already observed the incident is increased. In addition, we inquire how differently severe cyberbullying incidents affect bystanders’ intention to intervene. Our results show that a very severe cyberbullying incident boosts individuals’ intention to intervene, mediated by the assessment of the situation as emergency and, in turn, by an increased feeling of responsibility. However, if there is a larger number of bystanders in a cyberbullying incident, rather than just a few, participants feel less responsible to help, and thus, they are less willing to intervene.

What's the harm in moonlighting? A qualitative survey on the role conflicts of freelance journalists with secondary employment in the field of PR

There seems to be an internationally shared consensus on the ethical norm that journalists may not ‘moonlight’ for PR since this might conflict with their commitment to autonomy, truth, neutrality and objectivity. However, there is a gap between the normative demands on freelance journalists and the reality of their occupation: The changing world of professional working conditions is challenging journalists and has led to growing numbers of freelance journalists who also work for PR. Whether or not, and if so how freelance journalists with secondary employment in the field of PR perceive and come to terms with conflicts has not yet been thoroughly examined. This contribution is dedicated to this gap in research and asks how freelance journalists who simultaneously work in the field of PR deal with their fundamentally conflicting roles (journalists’ perception of inter-role conflicts; how they cope with inter-role conflicts). We conducted semi-structured guided interviews with 18 freelance journalists simultaneously working for PR clients. Our results show that they are aware of the potential for conflict involved in fulfilling the two roles. All participants are inclined to preserve their professional self-concept as journalists, with regard to which the coping strategies of marginalization and merging roles are particularly indicative.

When Debunking Scientific Myths Fails (and When It Does Not) The Backfire Effect in the Context of Journalistic Coverage and Immediate Judgments as Prevention Strategy

When reporting scientific information, journalists often present common myths that are refuted with scientific facts. However, correcting misinformation this way is often not only ineffective but can increase the likelihood that people misremember it as true. We test this backfire effect in the context of journalistic coverage and examine how to counteract it. In a web-based experiment, we find evidence for a systematic backfire effect that occurs after a few minutes and strengthens after five days. Results show that forming judgments immediately during reception (in contrast to memory-based) can reduce backfire effects and prevent erroneous memory from affecting participants’ attitudes.

Mind the gap: Consequences of inter-role conflicts of freelance journalists with secondary employment in the field of public relations

Freelance journalists who are also occupied in public relations have to deal with contrary expectations. Working as a journalist means contributing to the ‘public duty’ of journalism. When doing public relations work, journalists have to represent the particular interests of their clients. If journalists cannot fulfill these contradictory expectations, they experience inter-role conflicts. What are the consequences of these role conflicts? We conducted a quantitative online survey with German freelance journalists who also do public relations work. We observed that participants are often troubled by inter-role conflicts. They feel tense and uncertain whether they see themselves as journalists or as public relations practitioners. Having internalized a normative perception that journalists must not do public relations work, they experience even more intense inter-role conflicts and consequently feel more stressed at work. Moreover, even if their job satisfaction on average remains moderate, when facing inter-role conflicts freelance public relations journalists feel less satisfied with their job situation in general.

Thinking of Others: Effects of Implicit and Explicit Media Cues on Climate of Opinion Perceptions

Media contain various cues to opinions of others and therefore serve as an important source of information about the climate of opinion. We distinguish explicit cues directly describing opinion distributions in society, from implicit cues lacking such a direct reference. In an experiment, we examined the relative impact of survey data (explicit cue) and arguments (implicit cue) on climate of opinion judgments. While survey results strongly affected assessments, argumentation had an effect only when no survey information was available. However, arguments produced an indirect effect, as they strongly affected personal opinions, which in turn influenced climate of opinion judgments (projection).

Deep Impact? How Journalists Perceive the Influence of Public Relations on Their News Coverage and Which Variables Determine This Impact:

Journalists perceive 25% to 80% of their coverage to be influenced by public relations (PR). However, there is hardly any research on what factors determine where on this wide spectrum an individual journalist will fall. This study analyzed the extent and source of the perceived influence of PR on news coverage via a quantitative survey of German journalists. On average, participants perceived over one third of their work to be influenced by PR, and a number of variables were found to be associated with the degree of this impact. Role conceptions as populist mobilizers and newsroom conventions discouraging excessive reliance on PR decreased the influence of PR on news coverage. Secondary employments in the field of PR, having close personal relationships with PR professionals, and considering interests of publishers or advertisers increased the impact of PR on journalistic content.

With Heart and (No) Mind? How Recipients Negatively Infer Missing Information About Politicians and How This Affects the Assessment of the Speaker

Two fundamental dimensions underlie person perception: warmth and competence. We conducted three experiments to investigate how a positive or negative emphasis of only one of these dimensions (i.e., of only warmth or only competence) affects the perception of the other (complementary) dimension, and how voting intentions are influenced by these emphases. The results show that when a politician is described positively in only one of the two dimensions, people assess the complementary dimension more negatively. In addition, the negative emphasis of only one of the two dimensions also leads to a more negative assessment of the complementary dimension. Furthermore, we explore how these one-dimensional person descriptions affect the assessment of the speakers uttering them. Politicians who describe their opponents in negative terms are also evaluated negatively. On the contrary, politicians who judge others in positive terms are not necessarily evaluated positively.

News Selection Within Customer Magazines: A quantitative survey among editors-in-chief in Germany

Customer magazines blur the boundaries between journalistic reporting and organizational information. On the one hand, customer magazines are intended to communicate the interests, brands, products, and services of an organization. On the other hand, their topics, style, and layout resemble those of journalistic publications, from which readers expect independent and objective reporting. While customer magazines are distributed in high numbers throughout different industries and play an increasingly important role in the media landscape, they have hardly been the focus of researchers to date. It is therefore quite unclear how editorial decisions are made within these publications. This study investigated the relevance of journalistic news factors for topic selection in customer magazines and the extent to which these factors differ from those of journalistic publications. We conducted a quantitative survey of customer magazines’ editors-in-chief in Germany (N = 143). We compared their responses on the relevance of news factors to the findings of a survey of senior journalists. The findings revealed clear differences in the use of news factors between the two groups.

Everybody follows the crowd?Effects of opinion polls and past election results on electoral preferences.

Opinion polls are a well-established part of political news coverage, especially during election campaigns. At the same time, there has been controversial debate over the possible influences of such polls on voters’ electoral choices. The most prominent influence discussed is the bandwagon effect: It states that voters tend to support the expected winner of an upcoming election, and use polls to determine who the likely winner will be. This study investigated the mechanisms underlying the effect. In addition, we inquired into the role of past electoral performances of a candidate and analyzed how these (as well as polls) are used as heuristic cues for the assessment of a candidate’s personal characteristics. Using an experimental design, we found that both polls and past election results influence participants’ expectations regarding which candidate will succeed. Moreover, higher competence was attributed to a candidate, if recipients believe that the majority of voters favor that candidate. Through this attribution of competence, both information about prior elections and current polls shaped voters’ electoral preferences.

Presentation of CEOs in the media: A framing analysis

Chief executive officers as representatives of their companies are increasingly the focus of attention from both the public and the media. The head manager represents the company and in some cases even personifies it. The growing exposure of chief executive officers has turned some of these individuals into celebrities and media stars. Some studies have shown that the image of the chief executive officer is closely linked to that of the company. However, the presentation of chief executive officers in media coverage has received little research interest. The present study aims to fill this research gap by conducting a content analysis of two German newspapers and one magazine published from July 2013 to June 2015 to assess chief executive officer press coverage. We focus on the personalization of chief executive officers in corporate coverage by deriving six frames which show that chief executive officers are presented very differently in the media, for example, as an individual or a representative of the company.