Political communication in and about crises. Potentials of a fragmented field

While there is growing interest in political crises in political communication research, crisis has not yet become a meaningful concept. Also, research tends to be reactive, which is suggested by an analysis of when and how the “crisis” label occurred in Swiss media from 2000 to 2018 and how recent scholarship examines political crises. This commentary gives an overview of different research areas within this fragmented “crisis” field and discusses a nuanced concept of crises that is more sensitive to the causes and dynamics of communicatively constructed crises on the macro level. It argues that a more systematic, more comparative and more macro-oriented research on political crises will help reduce the reactive nature of the field and enhance its public relevance

Referendum Campaigns in the Digital Age: Towards (More) Comparative Analyses in Hybrid Media Systems

Referendum campaigns, which happen in many countries on the national or sub-national level, are highly important and special periods of political communication. Unlike elections, however, referendum campaigns are understudied phenomena. This thematic issue addresses patterns of referendum campaigns, which increasingly take place in digital and hybrid media environments, where political actors conduct campaigns through various channels, news media react to and shape debates on social media, and citizens receive a large share of political information from traditional and digital media. In this editorial, we provide a short overview of how research on referendum campaigns has evolved and how it has started to shift its attention away from news coverage and toward the role of campaign actors and the citizens who use (or engage with) search engines and social media platforms. The articles in this thematic issue reflect this shift but also show that news media remain important actors in referendum campaigns. Finally, we outline further research steps, which should include even more holistic analyses of the hybridity of referendum campaigns and hopefully more comparisons across cases

Abstimmungsmonitor - Vorlagen vom 29. November 2020: Konzernverantwortungsinitiative, Kriegsgeschäftsinitiative: Schlussbericht

In der Schweizer Medienarena wird über die beiden Abstimmungsvorlagen unterschiedlich intensiv berichtet. Die Konzernverantwortungsinitiative (KVI) findet dreimal so viel Beachtung wie die Kriegsgeschäfteinitiative. Bei der KVI ist die Tonalität leicht negativ (-11), während sie bei der Kriegsgeschäfteinitiative ambivalent ist (+1), d.h. negative und positive Stimmen und Bewertungen halten sich die Waage

Aktuelle Ereignisse

Dieses Kapitel gibt einen kurzen Überblick über aktuelle Ereignisse, die für das Mediensystem in der Schweiz wichtig sind. Die Ereignisse zeigen einige der Strategien, wie die Medienhäuser mit der digitalen Transformation umgehen. Sie zeigen ausserdem die Schwierigkeiten neuer Finanzierungs- und Fördermodelle, auch weil eine verstärkte öffentliche Medienförderung nach dem Nein der Schweizer Stimmbevölkerung im Februar 2022 in naher Zukunft unrealistisch ist. Medienhäuser sind ausserdem Teil von weiteren gesellschaftspolitischen Debatten, so bei den Themen Bankgeheimnis (Persönlichkeitsschutz), Corona-Pandemie und Ukrainekrieg (Desinformation). Diese Entwicklungen werden in diesem Kapitel auf der Grundlage von konkreten aktuellen Ereignissen diskutiert