101 research outputs found
"In Russia we were Germans, and now we are Russians" - dilemmas of identity formation and communication among German-Russian Aussiedler
"Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrages stehen erste Ergebnisse eines deutsch-israelischen
Forschungsprojektes ĂŒber die Produktion und Rezeption von Medien durch ethnische und
kulturelle Minderheiten. Die Frage der sozialen Integration ethnischer Minderheiten und die
Rolle der Massenmedien in diesem ProzeĂ werden mit Blick auf die Dilemmas der
IdentitÀtsbildung und Kommunikation von Russlanddeutschen Aussiedlern diskutiert. Im
konzeptuellen Teil des Papiers wird soziale Integration unter der Perspektive von Inklusion
und Exklusion von Minderheiten diskutiert. Soziale Integration wird als komplexer Prozess
gegenseitiger Austauschbeziehungen von Minderheit und Mehrheit konzipiert, in dem
Prozesse der Selbstdefinition und Fremddefinition eine wesentliche Rolle spielen. Die Medien
sind entscheidende GröĂen in diesen Aushandlungsprozessen, weil sie eine gemeinsame
soziale und politische RealitĂ€t herstellen und dadurch das entscheidende Referenzsystem fĂŒr
die öffentliche Aushandlung kultureller und ethnischer IdentitÀten bilden. Vor diesem
Hintergrund wird die kulturelle und ethnische IdentitÀt, die Medienumwelt und die
Mediennutzung russlanddeutscher Aussiedler untersucht. Empirische Basis sind sechs
Gruppendiskussionen mit Russlanddeutschen in BersenbrĂŒck und Berlin. Die Ergebnisse
zeigen, daà die GruppenidentitÀt der Aussiedler mit dem Dilemma zusammenhÀngt, daà diese
einerseits aufgrund ihrer deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit zur deutschen Mehrheitsgesellschaft
gehören und sich andererseits wegen ihres kulturellen Erbes, der Erfahrung der Migration und
Sprachproblemen ausgeschlossen, d.h. nicht als 'richtige' Deutsche akzeptiert fĂŒhlen. In
bezug auf die Rolle der Medien zeigt die Studie, daà die IdentitÀtsprobleme der
Russlanddeutschen weder in den Aussiedlermedien noch in den deutschen Mehrheitsmedien
auch nur annĂ€hernd reprĂ€sentiert sind. Vielmehr zeichnen sich die russischen Zeitungen fĂŒr
Russlanddeutsche dadurch aus, daĂ sie die Probleme ihrer Leser banalisieren und
boulevardisieren." (Autorenreferat)"This paper reports preliminary findings generated by a German-Israeli research project an the production and consumption of media by and for ethnic and minority communities. It discusses questions of social integration of ethnic minorities and mass media with respect to dilemmas of identity formation and communication among German-Russian Aussiedler. In the conceptual part, it is assumed that integration must be seen as a complex process of reciprocal social exchange between minority and majority communities, in which self-deinitions and other-definitions play a crucial rote. The media enter the picture as the negotiations of group identities are based an communication in the public sphere. Mass media create a social and political reality, thereby providing a reference system for both majority and minority communities. Against this background, identity politics and mass media functions are examined an the basis of focus group discussions with German-Russian Aussiedler. Identity politics among ethnic Germans is fundamentally linked to the dilemma that, an the one band, as full German citizens they belong to the majority society in legal terms. On the other band, because of their cultural heritage, the experience of migration and language barriers, they feel excluded from the majority community to which they want to belong so badly. Concerning the rote of mass media, we found that identity formation, as it is revealed by the orientations of ethnic Germans, is not made an issue whatsoever in either minority media nor majority media. Not even the media produced for Russian-Germans in Germany touch an questions of identity or self-location of the minority vis-a-vis the majority. Instead, the minority media are fall of practical cookbook-recipes of how to behave properly in a stereotypically-portrayed German society." (author's abstract
Government news management - strategic communication in comparative perspective
"Der Beitrag exploriert den Begriff des News Management als strategische Option der politischen Ăffentlichkeitsarbeit von Regierungen in modernen Massendemokratien. Was ist News Management? Welchen Stellenwert hat News Management im politischen ProzeĂ? Wie ist News Management institutionell verankert und wie variieren die Stile des News Management in unterschiedlichen LĂ€ndern? Die Annahme der Autorin ist, daĂ die Stile des News Management von einer Reihe von Kontextfaktoren abhĂ€ngen, die im politischen System, dem Mediensystem und der Medienkultur verankert sind. Der Beitrag analysiert die AusprĂ€gungen des News Management von Regierungen auf der Basis einer Typologie von Mazzoleni fĂŒr die USA, GroĂbritannien und Deutschland. Durch den Vergleich lĂ€Ăt sich zeigen, daĂ die Typen und das Handlungsrepertoire der Informationspolitik nach strukturellen und normativen Kontexten des Regierungssystems und des Mediensystems variieren. In den USA herrscht ein medienorientierter Stil von News Management vor, der durch die Kontextfaktoren eines prĂ€sidentiellen Regierungssystems, einer fast vollstĂ€ndig kommerzialisierten Medienlandschaft sowie der Philosphie des 'adversarial journalism' zu begrĂŒnden ist. DemgegenĂŒber dominieren in GroĂbritannien und Deutschland politische Stile des News Management, die mit den Kontextfaktoren eines parlamentarischen Regierungssystems und einer starken Rolle politischer Parteien sowie mit der Existenz einer politischen Presse und eines öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks in Zusammenhang gebracht werden können." (Autorenreferat)"The approach of governments to public information has changed from a rather traditional press release policy - based on interpersonal exchanges between politicians and journalists - to a professionalized and specialized process of strategic communication controlling the flow of news. In the light of this general development, news management is one practical solution for governments to strategically communicate their messages and use the media to further their political and policy goals. The paper explores news management of governments in modern mass democracies from a variety of angles. What is news management? Does news management matter and if so, how is it related to the political process? How is news management organized and how does it vary across different countries? Our assumption is, that the variation in news management, its styles and outcomes across different political systems depend on a series of contextual factors, originating in the political system, the media system and the media culture. The main objective of the paper is to analyze news management and compare the context in which it occurs in three Western democracies: the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. The central argument we propose is that media centered news management is most likely to occur in the United States due to the context of a presidential system, a highly commercialized media system, and the predominance of adversarial journalism . On the other hand, political news management is expected to be the dominant type of strategic communication in Great Britain and Germany. Both European countries not only have parliamentary political systems and strong party governments in common, but also kept a political press and a rather strong public sector television. They also tend to feature a less adversarial working relationship between the government and the media." (author's abstract
Obstacles or motors of Europeanization? German media and the transnationalization of public debate
This article aims to contribute to the discussion on the Europeanization of
public spheres. It is the starting point for an investigation into the role of
the media in transnational debate in Germany. The study aims to determine
whether the media function as either a motor of or an obstacle to
Europeanization of national public debate, compared to other actors. Drawing
on empirical data from the project âThe transformation of political
mobilisation and communication in European public spheresâ (Europub.com), we
analyze the communications through which political actors, civil society
actors, and the media in Germany make public demands on European issues.
Sources on which this investigation was built were the news and editorial
section of two national quality newspapers (center-left, center-right), one
tabloid and one regional newspaper in the period between 2000 and 2002. The
findings show that the demands made by the media are generally more European
in scope than those made by other political actors. Regarding the evaluation
of EU integration and the frames that are advocated, the German press and the
political elite are rather convergent
Conceptual Challanges to the Paradigms of Comparative Media Systems in a Globalized World
National media systems are the central units of analysis in comparative mass
communication research. In times of growing globalization, however, it is
increasingly difficult to treat national media systems as isolated cases â a
dilemma that undermines the traditional logic of comparative research. A
careful examination of the core conceptual challenges leads this article to
conclude that global processes of diffusion do by no means spell the end of
the comparative research of media systems. Global processes of diffusion do
however demand for comparative designs that account for the fact that national
media systems are becoming increasingly interconnected. This article makes
three practical suggestions to tackle these challenges: The first suggestion
is to include additional levels of analysis below and above the nation state
level; the second suggestion is to incorporate theories from the field of
International Communications; and the third is to remain cautious about the
extent to which globalization penetrates national media systems. There is
still reason to presume that media systems can be compared along the lines of
national boundaries. We are required to modify and extent our tools though
Europeanised Attitudes, Nationalised Communication? Evidence on the Patterns behind Political Communication Output in Brussels
Studies of a communication deficit in the European Union (EU) have hardly taken a systematic look at the site where most of the political communication output is being created: within the elite bubble of EU politicians and correspondents in Brussels. This study builds on the communication culture approach to describe and explain the basic attitudinal patterns of EU politicians and journalists who critically shape the political communication output coming out of Brussels that is being consumed by European citizens. Based on a survey with more than 300 participating politicians and journalists, this study demonstrates that the internationalised communication context in Brussels reduces differences between the attitudes of actors from professional and national groups. We demonstrate that there is a tendency toward common elitist attitudes, complemented by a highly negative view of the public and a cynical mode of political communication. However, we observe predominantly national contact networks in Brussels and partly differing attitudes among some sub-groups of politicians and journalists, reflecting the partly conflicting national configurations of the European political and media system and the principal-agent relationships of EU politicians and journalists with their constituencies and media outlets
"In Russia we were Germans, and now we are Russians." â Dilemmas of Identity Formation and Communication among German-Russian Aussiedler
This paper reports preliminary findings generated by a German-Israeli research project on the
production and consumption of media by and for ethnic and minority communities. It
discusses questions of social integration of ethnic minorities and mass media with respect to
dilemmas of identity formation and communication among German-Russian Aussiedler. In
the conceptual part, it is assumed that integration must be seen as a complex process of
reciprocal social exchange between minority and majority communities, in which selfdefinitions
and other-definitions play a crucial role. The media enter the picture as the
negotiations of group identities are based on communication in the public sphere. Mass media
create a social and political reality, thereby providing a reference system for both majority and
minority communities. Against this background, identity politics and mass media functions
are examined on the basis of focus group discussions with German-Russian Aussiedler.
Identity politics among Ethnic Germans is fundamentally linked to the dilemma that, on the
one hand, as full German citizens they belong to the majority society in legal terms. On the
other hand, because of their cultural heritage, the experience of migration and language
barriers, they feel excluded from the majority community to which they want to belong so
badly. Concerning the role of mass media, we found that identity formation, as it is revealed
by the orientations of Ethnic Germans, is not made an issue whatsoever in either minority
media nor majority media. Not even the media produced for Russian-Germans in Germany
touch on questions of identity or self-location of the minority vis a vis the majority. Instead,
the minority media are full of practical cookbook-recipes of how to behave properly in a
stereotypically-portrayed German society.Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrages stehen erste Ergebnisse eines deutsch-israelischen
Forschungsprojektes ĂŒber die Produktion und Rezeption von Medien durch ethnische und
kulturelle Minderheiten. Die Frage der sozialen Integration ethnischer Minderheiten und die
Rolle der Massenmedien in diesem ProzeĂ werden mit Blick auf die Dilemmas der
IdentitÀtsbildung und Kommunikation von Russlanddeutschen Aussiedlern diskutiert. Im
konzeptuellen Teil des Papiers wird soziale Integration unter der Perspektive von Inklusion
und Exklusion von Minderheiten diskutiert. Soziale Integration wird als komplexer Prozess
gegenseitiger Austauschbeziehungen von Minderheit und Mehrheit konzipiert, in dem
Prozesse der Selbstdefinition und Fremddefinition eine wesentliche Rolle spielen. Die Medien
sind entscheidende GröĂen in diesen Aushandlungsprozessen, weil sie eine gemeinsame
soziale und politische RealitĂ€t herstellen und dadurch das entscheidende Referenzsystem fĂŒr
die öffentliche Aushandlung kultureller und ethnischer IdentitÀten bilden. Vor diesem
Hintergrund wird die kulturelle und ethnische IdentitÀt, die Medienumwelt und die
Mediennutzung russlanddeutscher Aussiedler untersucht. Empirische Basis sind sechs
Gruppendiskussionen mit Russlanddeutschen in BersenbrĂŒck und Berlin. Die Ergebnisse
zeigen, daà die GruppenidentitÀt der Aussiedler mit dem Dilemma zusammenhÀngt, daà diese
einerseits aufgrund ihrer deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit zur deutschen Mehrheitsgesellschaft
gehören und sich andererseits wegen ihres kulturellen Erbes, der Erfahrung der Migration und
Sprachproblemen ausgeschlossen, d.h. nicht als ârichtigeâ Deutsche â akzeptiert fĂŒhlen. In
bezug auf die Rolle der Medien zeigt die Studie, daà die IdentitÀtsprobleme der
Russlanddeutschen weder in den Aussiedlermedien noch in den deutschen Mehrheitsmedien
auch nur annĂ€hernd reprĂ€sentiert sind. Vielmehr zeichnen sich die russischen Zeitungen fĂŒr
Russlanddeutsche dadurch aus, daĂ sie die Probleme ihrer Leser banalisieren und
boulevardisieren
Die Ăffentlichkeit der Medienpolitik in Pressekommentaren
Der Beitrag diskutiert die Strukturen und Prozesse des Politikfeldes
Medienpolitik und versucht, vor diesem Hintergrund die mediale Ăffentlichkeit
ĂŒber Medienpolitik zu analysieren. Nach einer Bestandsaufnahme der internen
Strukturen und Verhandlungsprozesse sowie der Normen und Steuerungsprinzipien
medienpolitischer Entscheidungen wird die Rolle von Ăffentlichkeit in
medienpolitischen Verhandlungssystemen diskutiert. Sofern man die EinschÀtzung
teilt, dass die Weichenstellung in der deutschen Medienpolitik weg von
staatlich-hoheitlicher Steuerung hin zu âregulierter Selbstregulierungâ eine
breite öffentliche Diskussion ĂŒber Medien und Medienkritik erforderlich macht,
stellt sich die empirische Frage, wie dieser öffentliche Diskurs ĂŒber
Medienpolitik tatsÀchlich aussieht. Auf der Grundlage einer Inhaltsanalyse von
240 Kommentaren ĂŒber Medienpolitik in den ĂŒberregionalen QualitĂ€tszeitungen
von 1994-1998 beschreibt die Studie den medialen Diskurs ĂŒber Medienpolitik
und interpretiert ihn vor dem Hintergrund der Annahme, dass die Struktur- und
Funktionsdefizite der gegenwÀrtigen Medienpolitik möglicherweise deshalb so
persistent sind, weil die medienpolitische Ăffentlichkeit allenfalls die
symbolischen GerÀusche des medienpolitischen Streits reproduziert
A Comparative Study of Structures and Coalitions in Germany, the UK, the US, and Switzerland
In times of genetically modified food, globalized production and distribution
chains, food safety is a major issue in public policy. Although industrial
actors have traditionally had remarkable influence on political decision-
making in this area, challenger organizations from civil society have gained
influence by mobilizing support and shaping public discourse on the Internet.
The authorsâ study analyzes online issue networks concerning food safety in
order to assess the actor constellations and coalitions that may serve as an
opportunity structure for the mobilization of the issue. By comparing the US,
the UK, Germany, and Switzerland, the authors investigate the differences in
policy settings between pluralist and corporatist democracies. They find that
the mobilization structures related to food safety issues are actively
promoted by the challengers themselves. In countries where challengers do not
find support within national politics, the challengersâ online communication
refers to mass media as witnesses to legitimize their concern in public
debates
A Hyperlink Analysis on the Food Safety Issue in Germany
This article focuses on the constellations of actors engaged in the food
safety debate in Germany and the potential of civil society organizations for
mobilization and politicization of the issue. In an exploratory case study we
assess the structure of communication between these organizations by applying
hyperlink analysis. Our study sheds light on the nature of the issue network
and in particular on their linkages with media and political actors. We
interpret communication network patterns with respect to civil society actors'
opportunities to make food safety salient on the agenda and to mobilize around
it and politicize it. In fact, our empirical study shows that the structure of
linkages between civil society actors, media organizations and political
actors in Germany offers favourable opportunities for making the food safety
issue salient and for politicizing it in the offline world
- âŠ