Idealmaße österreichischer Abgeordneter

"In jüngster Zeit hat die persönliche Komponente in politischen Entscheidungsprozessen, in der politischen Berichterstattung und im Rahmen der Politikbeobachtung zusehends an Bedeutung gewonnen. Dabei scheint die politische Elite zunehmend in ein Spannungsfeld zwischen jenen Anforderungen, die für Erfolg im Bereich der Politikherstellung von zentraler Bedeutung sind, einerseits und den Bedürfnissen der (medial durchtränkten) Arenen der Politikdarstellung andererseits geraten zu sein. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die Frage, an welchen Rollenbildern sich PolitikerInnen heutzutage orientieren. Eine Antwort hierauf liefert eine repräsentative Umfrage unter den Abgeordneten des Nationalrats und der neun österreichischen Landtage. Die Befunde unterstreichen, wie komplex das Profil eines idealen Politikers bzw. einer idealen Politikerin aus Sicht der betroffenen AkteurInnen ist. Sie deuten auf eine Verschmelzung von ehemals 'rollennahen', politischen und 'rollenfernen', darstellungsbezogenen Eigenschaften hin." (Autorenreferat)"In recent years, political decision-making processes, political media coverage and citizens' observation of politics have become increasingly personalized. It seems that political elites are more than ever torn between politics-oriented demands of the political sphere and performance-oriented demands of the (media-saturated) political public. But at which ideal measures do politicians orient themselves nowadays? A representative survey among delegates of the 'Nationalrat' and of the nine Austrian 'Landtage' offers first empirical answers to that question. The findings point out how complex the profile of an ideal politician is, as it is being perceived by the respective actors. The authors also find an amalgamation of attributes, which can be labeled as 'role-near' political attributes, and 'role-distant' performance-related skills." (author's abstract

Media Consumption and Regional Perceptions of Global Climate Change: Findings from Germany

Global climate change has been one of the most urgent problems confronting humanity in recent years. However, there are intercultural and intracultural differences in perceptions both of the dimensions of global climate change and the necessity of fighting it. It is assumed that these perceptions depend heavily on the quantity and quality of media coverage and individuals’ media usage. To test how media consumption interacts with sociodemographic variables in affecting perceptions of global climate change, a regional survey was conducted in the southwest of Germany. A representative sample of 753 persons was interviewed face-to-face in February 2008. The study provides differential insights into the relationship between predispositions, media consumption, and orientations towards global climate change. Results show that media effects are relatively small and subordinated to attitudinal predispositions such as interest in climate change and personal concern about it. In addition to that, it is demonstrated that media can affect attitudes on global climate change both in a positive and in a negative way

Nur ZiB und Krone? Medienorientierungen österreichischer Abgeordneter

"Angesichts weitreichender Veränderungen im gesellschaftlichen und medialen Umfeld politischen Handelns erhöht sich der Druck auf die VolksvertreterInnen, die »richtigen« Kanäle zu bedienen, um im Kontakt mit den BürgerInnen und WählerInnen zu bleiben. Dabei ist die Frage, welches die 'richtigen' Medien- und Kommunikationskanäle sind, sowohl von individuellen Prädispositionen als auch von institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen abhängig. Das wird deutlich, wenn die aktuellen Medienorientierungen österreichischer Nationalrats- und Landtagsabgeordneter miteinander verglichen werden. Hierzu wurde im März 2012 eine repräsentative Online-Befragung durchgeführt. Diese fördert nicht nur unterschiedliche Medienorientierungen, sondern auch distinkte Medientypen unter den Abgeordneten zutage. Demnach stellen sich die ParlamentarierInnen unterschiedliche Medienmenüs in ihrer Außenkommunikation zusammen." (Autorenreferat)"In view of some fundamental transformations in the social and media environments of political action, political representatives have come under pressure to choose 'adequate' channels in order to stay in touch with their citizens and voters. The choice of 'adequate' media and communication channels depends on both individual predispositions and institutional settings. This becomes apparent, when the current media orientations of Austrian national and regional parliamentarians are compared, which was the focus of a representative online survey of Austrian politicians that was carried out in March 2012. The findings reveal not only different media orientations among Austrian political representatives, but also distinct types of media. As a basis for their external political communication, the parliamentarians compile diverse media menus." (author's abstract

Audiovisueller Stadtrundgang - Eine Bedarfsanalyse am Beispiel der Stadt Heilbronn

Theoretische Darstellung des Marketings, Tourismus-Marketings, Städtetourismuses und der Gästeführungen; empirische Untersuchung in der Stadt Heilbronn; Analyse und Bewertung der Befragung; Handlungsempfehlungen

Der Fall Grasser im Spiegel der Boulevard- und Qualitätspresse

"Politische Affären und Skandale sind ein prägender Bestandteil sowohl moderner (Medien-) Gesellschaften im Allgemeinen als auch der politischen Kultur Österreichs. Deren Analyse lässt Rückschlüsse auf das Verhältnis von Politik und Journalismus zu. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird im vorliegenden Beitrag die Rolle der Printmedien im Prozess der Skandalisierung des Falles Grasser in der vergangenen Dekade exemplarisch untersucht. Im Zentrum steht eine vergleichende quantitative Inhaltsanalyse der Berichterstattung zweier Qualitätsmedien ('Der Standard' und 'Die Presse') und des reichweitenstärksten Boulevardblatts ('Kronen Zeitung'). Die empirischen Befunde verdeutlichen, dass die Printmedien unterschiedliche Positionen im Zuge der Skandalisierung Grassers einnahmen. Die Qualitätsblätter unterscheiden sich hierbei klar von der 'Kronen Zeitung'. Die Medien scheinen (immer noch) nach unterschiedlichen Logiken zu operieren. Eine mitunter unterstellte Boulevardisierung der Berichterstattung der Qualitätspresse hat in diesem spezifischen Fall folglich nicht stattgefunden." (Autorenreferat)"Political affairs and scandals represent immanent parts of modern (media) democracies in general and they have impregnated Austria's political culture in particular. Analyzing political scandals allows drawing inferences about the relationship between politics and journalism. Against this background, we take a closer look at the example of print media and the role they played in scandalizing the case of Karl-Heinz Grasser. Methodically, we rely on a quantitative content analysis of the coverage of two quality newspapers ('Der Standard' and 'Die Presse') and the most popular tabloid paper ('Kronen Zeitung'). Our results show that the media took different positions in scandalizing Grasser. We identified a clear distinction between the quality press on the one hand and the tabloid press on the other. Seemingly, they (still) operate according to different logics. As a consequence, the often assumed trend of a 'tabloidization' of the quality press cannot be verified for this specific case." (author's abstract

Identification of mildew resistance in wild and cultivated Central Asian grape germplasm

BACKGROUND: Cultivated grapevines, Vitis vinifera subsp. sativa, evolved from their wild relative, V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris. They were domesticated in Central Asia in the absence of the powdery mildew fungus, Erysiphe necator, which is thought to have originated in North America. However, powdery mildew resistance has previously been discovered in two Central Asian cultivars and in Chinese Vitis species. RESULTS: A set of 380 unique genotypes were evaluated with data generated from 34 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The set included 306 V. vinifera cultivars, 40 accessions of V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris, and 34 accessions of Vitis species from northern Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Based on the presence of four SSR alleles previously identified as linked to the powdery mildew resistance locus, Ren1, 10 new mildew resistant genotypes were identified in the test set: eight were V. vinifera cultivars and two were V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris based on flower and seed morphology. Sequence comparison of a 620 bp region that includes the Ren1-linked allele (143 bp) of the co-segregating SSR marker SC8-0071-014, revealed that the ten newly identified genotypes have sequences that are essentially identical to the previously identified mildew resistant V. vinifera cultivars: ‘Kishmish vatkana’ and ‘Karadzhandal’. Kinship analysis determined that three of the newly identified powdery mildew resistant accessions had a relationship with ‘Kishmish vatkana’ and ‘Karadzhandal’, and that six were not related to any other accession in this study set. Clustering procedures assigned accessions into three groups: 1) Chinese species; 2) a mixed group of cultivated and wild V. vinifera; and 3) table grape cultivars, including nine of the powdery mildew resistant accessions. Gene flow was detected among the groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that powdery mildew resistance is present in V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris, the dioecious wild progenitor of the cultivated grape. Four first-degree parent progeny relationships were discovered among the hermaphroditic powdery mildew resistant cultivars, supporting the existence of intentional grape breeding efforts. Although several Chinese grape species are resistant to powdery mildew, no direct genetic link to the resistance found in V. vinifera could be established

The professionals speak: Practitioners’ perspectives on professional election campaigning

Faced with some fundamental changes in the socio-cultural, political and media environment, political parties in post-industrialized democracies have started to initiate substantial transformations of both their organizational structures and communicative practices. Those innovations, described as professionalization, become most obvious during election campaigns. In recent times, the number of empirical studies measuring the degree of political parties’ campaign professionalism has grown. They have relied on a broad spectrum of indicators derived from theory which have not been tested for their validity. For the first time, we put these indicators to a ‘reality check’ by asking top-ranked party secretaries and campaign managers in 12 European countries to offer their perceptions of professional election campaigning. Furthermore, we investigate whether any differences in understanding professionalism among party campaign practitioners can be explained by macro (country) and meso (party) factors. By and large, our results confirm the validity of most indicators applied in empirical studies on campaign professionalism so far. There are some party- and country-related differences in assessing campaign professionalism too, but the influence of most factors on practitioners’ evaluations is weak. Therefore, we conclude that largely there is a far-reaching European Union-wide common understanding of professional election campaigning

Towards hypermedia campaigning? Perceptions of new media's importance for campaigning by party strategists in comparative perspective

This paper analyses strategic thinking around election campaign communication in a rapidly evolving media environment, characterized by the rise of digital communication channels and online social networks as new tools of political campaigning. Using an expert survey with campaign managers of 68 political parties within 12 European nations, representing both old and new EU member states, the study investigates the perceived importance of different types of communication platforms in meeting campaign objectives, especially with regard to differences between new and direct modes of campaigning in comparison to traditional campaign channels. The attributed significance to these various channels is then analysed against a range of variables on macro (country) level as well as meso (party) level. The results suggest that while some differences can be observed in regard to the perceptions of particular types of social media between individual strategists working for parties as well as between strategists working in new and old EU member states (e.g. Facebook is seen as more important in younger democracies), overall we can see a relatively high level of homogeneity in the perceived importance of campaign communication in the sample. The data point to the embedding of new communication platforms within election campaign strategies across most nations and parties; this indicates that the move towards ‘hypermedia' campaign style, integrating both old and new campaign tools and communication platforms, is now becoming a standard feature of professional campaigning strategy in Europe

Comparing online campaigning: The evolution of interactive campaigning from Royal to Obama to Hollande

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.Studies of election campaigning from a comparative perspective have a long history; this study approaches the topic through a most-similar regime perspective to explore the ebb and flow of innovations in digital campaigning between presidential campaigns in France and the United States. The hype surrounding the 2008 Obama campaign overshadowed innovations in France the previous year, while the 2011 contest gained little serious academic attention. Using a well-established content analysis methodology the research explains the strategic design of the digital dimension of the campaigns of the leading candidates (Sarkozy and Royal in 2007, Obama and McCain in 2008, Hollande and Sarkozy in 2011, and Obama and Romney in 2012). The research then assesses the strategic contribution of each feature using schematics for understanding the flow of communication, as well as the strategy employed by each candidate. The key findings are that the campaigns are becoming more interactive, with the citizens increasingly more able to enter into conversations with the campaign teams, however interactivity when it happens is carefully controlled. Largely, however, there is a strong similarity masked by the sophistication of US contests. Despite the advances in communication technology and the social trends they have instigated, campaign communication remains top-down and digital technologies are used to gather data and push supporters towards activism than creating an inclusive space for the co-creation that cyberoptimists argued would revitalise the structures of democracy

Using a limited mapping strategy to identify major QTLs for resistance to grapevine powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) and their use in marker-assisted breeding

A limited genetic mapping strategy based on simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker data was used with five grape populations segregating for powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) resistance in an effort to develop genetic markers from multiple sources and enable the pyramiding of resistance loci. Three populations derived their resistance from Muscadinia rotundifolia ‘Magnolia’. The first population (06708) had 97 progeny and was screened with 137 SSR markers from seven chromosomes (4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15, and 18) that have been reported to be associated with powdery or downy mildew resistance. A genetic map was constructed using the pseudo-testcross strategy and QTL analysis was carried out. Only markers from chromosome 13 and 18 were mapped in the second (04327) and third (06712) populations, which had 47 and 80 progeny, respectively. Significant QTLs for powdery mildew resistance with overlapping genomic regions were identified for different tissue types (leaf, stem, rachis, and berry) on chromosome 18, which distinguishes the resistance in ‘Magnolia’ from that present in other accessions of M. rotundifolia and controlled by the Run1 gene on chromosome 12. The ‘Magnolia’ resistance locus was termed as Run2.1. Powdery mildew resistance was also mapped in a fourth population (08391), which had 255 progeny and resistance from M. rotundifolia ‘Trayshed’. A locus accounting for 50% of the phenotypic variation mapped to chromosome 18 and was named Run2.2. This locus overlapped the region found in the ‘Magnolia’-based populations, but the allele sizes of the flanking markers were different. ‘Trayshed’ and ‘Magnolia’ shared at least one allele for 68% of the tested markers, but alleles of the other 32% of the markers were not shared indicating that the two M. rotundifolia selections were very different. The last population, 08306 with 42 progeny, derived its resistance from a selection Vitis romanetii C166-043. Genetic mapping discovered a major powdery mildew resistance locus termed Ren4 on chromosome 18, which explained 70% of the phenotypic variation in the same region of chromosome 18 found in the two M. rotundifolia resistant accessions. The mapping results indicate that powdery mildew resistance genes from different backgrounds reside on chromosome 18, and that genetic markers can be used as a powerful tool to pyramid these loci and other powdery mildew resistance loci into a single line