Types of Statements on Emotion in Music

The question of emotion in music is addressed from a linguistic perspective, providing a typology of statements that can be made  about that topic. In particular, it is analyzed how an interlocutor could react to such statements uttered by another person, and whether or how the content of the statements could be refuted by the listener, and possibly corroborated by the speaker. Furthermore, it is briefly discussed which theories of emotion in music are compatible with the respective types of statement and what illocutionary and perlocutionary function they may serve

How we use social media: Strategies of Instagram use

Social media use is a highly relevant everyday practice with important individual and social consequences. In addition to analyses of such outcomes or of the content recipients are exposed to, how we use social media is an important object of study in itself and an important intervening factor in many processes of communication. Drawing on the theoretical framework of strategies of media use, this study investigates social media use as a strategic practice. Based on qualitative interviews with Instagram users, we identify different elements of strategies and reconstruct their practical sense. For example, social media use can be the simplest way to pass time and can be useful or "inspiring" in different ways. Styles of use can be straightforward or meandering, controlled or automatic. We find distanced or emotionally involved, critical or self-critical attitudes, and the world as represented on Instagram can be experienced as fake, aesthetic, or authentic

Professionalism as a Response to Right-Wing Populism? An Analysis of a Metajournalistic Discourse

The rise of right-wing populism in various countries poses difficult challenges to journalism: While populists themselves often accuse journalists of being biased against them or even of lying, critics allege that the mainstream media cover populism too extensively and normalize it. We reconstruct an understudied perspective on this problem: how journalists publicly discuss how to deal with right-wing populism. A qualitative analysis of metajournalistic discourses in the German press was conducted to identify typical narratives concerning the relationship between right-wing populism and the media, criticism of the way right-wing populism had been covered, and recommendations or demands concerning the "right" approach. Overall, the analysis reveals a rather uniform narrative about right-wing populism in Germany, and similar conceptions of how to deal with it were found. Most journalists make a clear distinction between the right and wrong way to cope with right-wing populism and emphasize the need for professional norms such as objectivity. Finally, we critically discuss some aspects that may inform metajournalistic reflection on how to cover right-wing populism, but that were absent from the debate

Ontology of opposition online: Representing antagonistic structures on the Internet

Research on cooperative social structures and particular types of conflict behavior online is readily available. However, the field lacks a framework to analyze how antagonistic structures are represented on online platforms. Social structures can be represented formally (manifestly) or informally (in open verbal or visual forms) or remain latent-a distinction that has received little scholarly attention in the analysis of computer-mediated communication. Based on an interpretative analysis of relational structures and types of acts, we distinguish structural elements that lead us to empirical typologies of antagonistic structures and an analysis of whether and how they are represented online. We develop theses about why some structures are formally represented more often than others and theorize the consequences of this selective representation

Social ontologies online

It is commonly said that “there are” social structures on the Internet. But how can they exist there, how can we identify and classify them? A theoretical and methodological framework is presented that describes the relationship between data structures, algorithms, and different types of social structures. We suggest that the latter are “represented” online in different senses of the word: They are not only described, but, by manipulating data, social structures can also be constituted and modified. We then outline a methodology for the analysis of social structures on the Internet: By analyzing the practical meaning of the structures of Internet platforms, we can reconstruct their providers’ and users’ ontological commitments (i.e., what kinds of social structures they have to assume “there are”)

Bereichernd oder belanglos?: Der Nachrichtenwert partizipativer Pressefotografie im Boulevardjournalismus

Zusammenfassung: Partizipative Pressefotografie existiert zwar bereits seit Jahrzehnten, doch ihre Institutionalisierung durch den Boulevardjournalismus ist relativ neu. Bekanntestes Beispiel in Deutschland sind die Leserreporter der Bild-Zeitung. Anhänger versprechen sich von ihnen eine Bereicherung der Berichterstattung, Kritiker werfen ihnen Belanglosigkeit vor. Diese Streitfrage versucht der vorliegende Beitrag auf Basis der Nachrichtenwerttheorie zu klären. Dazu ermittelt er anhand einer Vollerhebung der Leserreporter-Fotos und der dazugehörigen Beiträge, ob sich deren Selektion und Beachtung durch die Journalisten eher an gesellschaftlichen oder an individuellen Relevanzkriterien orientiert. Es stellt sich heraus, dass bei der Selektion "weiche" Nachrichtenfaktoren dominieren und im Zeitverlauf zunehmen. Die journalistische Beachtung jedoch wird in erster Linie von "harten" Nachrichtenfaktoren bestimmt. Diese werden den Fotos auch über den Beitragstext zugeschrieben. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse lassen sich mit Vorsicht auf andere Formen des partizipativen Journalismus übertragen. Sie stützen die Annahme, dass dieser sich eher komplementär zum professionellen Journalismus verhält und entwickel

Looking left or looking right?

The perception of political messages may not only be shaped by textual information, but also by its visual appearance. An online experiment investigated how newspaper articles’ layout style and text slant affect the perception of a newspapers’ political orientation on the left-right axis. The layout versions were based on a prior analysis of correlations between design and political direction of quality newspapers. Results suggest the existence of political layout effects: a conservative layout style led to the source of a left-wing slanted text being estimated more right-wing, especially for left-wing-oriented participants. However, it had no effect when it was combined congruently with a right-wing slanted text. A progressive layout style had only an effect for participants with more knowledge on quality newspapers, leading them to locate the source more left-wing