Zwischen Brücke und Bumerang

Mittels einer breiten digitalen Wahlkampfkommunikation versuchen Parteien ihre politischen Themen und Positionen, über die Ansprache der eigenen Parteiklientel hinaus, an generell unentschlossene oder bereits sympathisierende Wähler heranzutragen. Diese strategische Absicht kollidiert jedoch mit den Funktionsweisen des Internets und der Social Media Communitys. Denn dort bilden sich Gruppen vorzugsweise anhand ähnlicher Interessen oder politisch übereinstimmender Meinungen. Daraus resultiert die verstärkte Bildung von Blasen der Selbstreferentialität. Eine solche Filter Bubble lässt sich kommunikativ nur äußerst schwierig überwinden, die Ansprache neuer Wählergruppen wird erschwert. Bei der Wahlkampfkommunikation über parteieigene Kanäle wird somit tendenziell nur die eigene Klientel erreicht. In diesem Artikel wird ausgeführt, wie die Verwendung von Ironie erlaubt, wahlkampfpolitische Inhalte brückenhaft zu transportieren. Anhand beispielhafter Fälle werden zwei Typen der ironischen Wirkungsweise nachgezeichnet: die verkehrte Ironie sowie die genuine Ironie.To reach voters beyond their generic clientele who are generally undecided or already sympathetic political parties use broad digital election campaigns for communicating their political issues and positions. This strategy, however, collides with the way the internet in general and social media communities in particular work. Here, groups preferably form on the basis of similar interests or opinions that coincide politically. As a result, bubbles of “self-referentiality” build increasingly. It is very difficult to overcome such filterbubbles in ways of communication so that addressing new voters is rather impeded. Therefore, election campaign communication that only uses party specific channels will mainly reach the own clientele. This article illustrates how implementing irony as a communicative bridge can transport political issues. Derived from exemplary cases two kinds of irony are described here: an inverted irony as well as a genuine irony.Lors des campagnes électorales, les partis politiques essayent de diffuser via Internet au plus grand nombre leurs valeurs et leurs positions. Ils ciblent non seulement leurs adhérents mais aussi des électeurs indécis ou des sympathisants. Cette stratégie de partis est en contradiction avec le mode de fonctionnement habituel d’Internet et des réseaux sociaux. Les communautés s’y créent autour d’intérêts similaires ou autour d’opinions politiques communes. Il en résulte la formation de « Filterbubbles » – des communautés numériques fermées sur elles-mêmes, qui se caractérisent par une logique de fonctionnement hermétique à leur environnement. Il est extrêmement difficile de s’adresser à des nouveaux électeurs en dehors de ces « filterbubbles » à cause des barrières communicatives propres à ce système fermé. La conséquence est que les partis politiques qui utilisent leurs propres canaux de communication n’atteignent que leur public sympathisant. Cet article explique comment l’emploi de l’ironie permet de transmettre les programmes lors des campagnes électorales. Le mode d’action de deux types d’ironie est détaillé à travers des exemples précis : l’ironie travestie et l’ironie originale

Buchbesprechung

Wolfgang Schroeder/Bettina Munimus/Diana Rüdt, Seniorenpolitik im Wandel. Verbände und Gewerkschaften als Interessenvertreter der älteren Generation, Frankfurt a. M./New York: Campus Verlag 2010, 515 S. (Stephan Klecha

Integration und Willkommenskultur im ländlichen Raum

INTEGRATION UND WILLKOMMENSKULTUR IM LÄNDLICHEN RAUM Integration und Willkommenskultur im ländlichen Raum / Klimach, Cornelia (Rights reserved) ( -

Cardiovascular Efficacy and Safety of Bococizumab in High-Risk Patients

Bococizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits proprotein convertase subtilisin- kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and reduces levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of bococizumab in patients at high cardiovascular risk. METHODS In two parallel, multinational trials with different entry criteria for LDL cholesterol levels, we randomly assigned the 27,438 patients in the combined trials to receive bococizumab (at a dose of 150 mg) subcutaneously every 2 weeks or placebo. The primary end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for unstable angina requiring urgent revascularization, or cardiovascular death; 93% of the patients were receiving statin therapy at baseline. The trials were stopped early after the sponsor elected to discontinue the development of bococizumab owing in part to the development of high rates of antidrug antibodies, as seen in data from other studies in the program. The median follow-up was 10 months. RESULTS At 14 weeks, patients in the combined trials had a mean change from baseline in LDL cholesterol levels of -56.0% in the bococizumab group and +2.9% in the placebo group, for a between-group difference of -59.0 percentage points (P<0.001) and a median reduction from baseline of 64.2% (P<0.001). In the lower-risk, shorter-duration trial (in which the patients had a baseline LDL cholesterol level of ≥70 mg per deciliter [1.8 mmol per liter] and the median follow-up was 7 months), major cardiovascular events occurred in 173 patients each in the bococizumab group and the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.22; P = 0.94). In the higher-risk, longer-duration trial (in which the patients had a baseline LDL cholesterol level of ≥100 mg per deciliter [2.6 mmol per liter] and the median follow-up was 12 months), major cardiovascular events occurred in 179 and 224 patients, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.97; P = 0.02). The hazard ratio for the primary end point in the combined trials was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.76 to 1.02; P = 0.08). Injection-site reactions were more common in the bococizumab group than in the placebo group (10.4% vs. 1.3%, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS In two randomized trials comparing the PCSK9 inhibitor bococizumab with placebo, bococizumab had no benefit with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events in the trial involving lower-risk patients but did have a significant benefit in the trial involving higher-risk patients

Cardiovascular Efficacy and Safety of Bococizumab in High-Risk Patients

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