The Number of Bank Relationships of SMEs: A Disaggregated Analysis for the Swiss Loan Market

The present paper investigates the number of bank relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland using survey data from 1996 and 2002. We differentiate between overall bank relationships and lending relationships and disaggregate the loan market with respect to firm sizes, industries and banking groups. On average, bank lending declined, while the role of housebank relationships increased in 1996-2002. The development of the number of bank relationships seems to have been demand-driven as well as supply-driven for medium-sized firms, but only supply-driven for very small and small firms. Supply-side reductions resulted from the merger between two big banks and changes in credit risk management at major banksrelationship lending, housebank, loan market structure, multiple banks

The Number of Bank Relationships of SMEs: A Disaggregated Analysis for the Swiss Loan Market

The present paper investigates the number of bank relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland using survey data from 1996 and 2002. We differentiate between overall bank relationships and lending relationships and disaggregate the loan market with respect to firm sizes, industries and banking groups. On average, bank lending declined, while the role of housebank relationships increased in 1996- 2002. The development of the number of bank relationships seems to have been demand-driven as well as supply-driven for medium-sized firms, but only supply-driven for very small and small firms. Supply-side reductions resulted from the merger between two big banks and changes in credit risk management at major banks.relationship lending, housebank, loan market structure, multiple banks

The Number of Bank Relationships of SMEs: A Disaggregated Analysis for the Swiss Loan Market

The present paper investigates the number of bank relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland using survey data from 1996 and 2002. We differentiate between overall bank relationships and lending relationships and disaggregate the loan market with respect to firm sizes, industries and banking groups. On average, bank lending declined, while the role of housebank relationships increased in 1996- 2002. The development of the number of bank relationships seems to have been demand-driven as well as supply-driven for medium-sized firms, but only supply-driven for very small and small firms. Supply-side reductions resulted from the merger between two big banks and changes in credit risk management at major banks.relationship lending, housebank, loan market structure, multiple banks

Das Wissensparadoxon: Journalistische Publikumsorientierung und die Erosion epistemischer Standards im Internet

Journalism is crucial to modern democracies in that it provides valid knowledge about current events in the form of news. Through shared epistemic standards and the professional norm of objectivity, journalism helps to generate societal knowledge and to make informed decisions. Yet, this surveillance function is also driven by knowledge about audiences. Knowledge about audiences informs both journalism’s and mutual recipients’ expectations toward anticipated audiences. It allows to gauge shared epistemic standards and thus to reduce risks of criticism when participating in public discourse. Online, changes in possibilities and necessities to monitor audiences, however, have paved the way to engage in a mode of addressing more tailored standards of anticipated audiences. Such epistemic tribalism contrasts widely shared epistemic standards of professional journalism and has yielded a paradox in which an increase in knowledge about audiences possibly leads to less common knowledge about current events because epistemic standards are no longer shared across the public. Based on this diagnose, we offer two potential pathways for the future of epistemic standards on the internet. A negative one where polarization will benefit from an intensified identification with epistemic tribes and a positive one where discursive spaces will allow for an institutionalized rebalancing of epistemic standards between journalism and audiences.Der Journalismus ist für moderne Demokratien wichtig, weil er valides Wissen über aktuelle Ereignisse in Form von Nachrichten produziert. Gesellschaftlich akzeptierte epistemische Standards und die professionelle Objektivitätsnorm tragen zum gesellschaftlichen Wissensvorrat bei und ermöglichen fundierte Entscheidungen. Ergänzt wird diese journalistische Funktion der Umweltbeobachtung durch das Wissen über das Publikum. Das Wissen über das Publikum bestimmt sowohl die Erwartungen des Journalismus als auch jene der Rezipierenden an das Mitpublikum. Es ermöglicht die Herausbildung gemeinsamer epistemischer Standards, wodurch sich das Risiko von Kritik bei der Teilnahme am öffentlichen Diskurs verringert. Die veränderten Möglichkeiten und auch Notwendigkeiten der Publikumsbeobachtung im Internet haben den Weg dafür geebnet, dass sich Redaktionen mit maßgeschneiderten epistemischen Standards an das erwartete Publikum wenden. Ein solcher zielgruppenspezifischer Zuschnitt epistemischer Standards steht im Gegensatz zu geteilten Normen und hat zum Paradoxon geführt, dass die Zunahme des Wissens über das Publikum möglicherweise mit weniger gemeinsam geteiltem Wissen über aktuelle Ereignisse einhergeht, weil professionelle Standards nicht mehr geteilt werden. Auf der Grundlage dieser Diagnose diskutieren wir zwei mögliche Zukunftspfade für epistemische Standards im Internet: einen negativen, bei dem die Polarisierung aufgrund einer verstärkten Identifikation mit epistemisch distinkten Zielgruppen zunehmen könnte, und einen positiven, bei dem diskursive Räume einen institutionalisierten Diskurs epistemischer Standards zwischen Journalismus und Publikum ermöglichen

The public sphere as a dynamic network

This article proposes to conceptualize the public sphere as a dynamic network of actors and contents that are linked with each other by communicative actions. This perspective allows us to theoretically derive and empirically describe the entire range of small to large network structures and their evolution over time. First, we will define the elements of these networks, which include the actors, content, communicative actions, and content relations. Based on these entities, four communicative roles (producer, recipient, curator, isolate) will be distinguished. Second, we will summarize how these actors perceive the communicative situation and how they select from behavioral options. Third, we will show how this combines with the network dynamics and outcomes that are discussed in the different lines of research. This provides not only the basis for understanding the link between the communicative actions on the micro-level and macro-level structures, but also new avenues for normative discussions

How News Websites Refer to Twitter: A Content Analysis of Twitter Sources in Journalism

The study presents the results of a standardized content analysis comparing the use of Twitter as an information source on the websites of five news media types (quality newspapers, a tabloid newspaper, weekly magazines, broadcasters, and internet only). The theoretical assumption behind the study is that the adoption of Twitter as a source follows the established practices of a particular media type. All articles published online by ten German news media in a period of one month were collected (n = 21,823). A subset of articles containing Twitter-related keywords (n = 496) and 375 tweets cited in these articles was explored in detail. Our focal analysis of n = 287 articles using Twitter as an information source revealed systematic differences between both media types and article topics regarding the number and style of Twitter references as well as the types of accounts cited. We found that the tabloid paper incorporated the highest number of tweets per article, incorporated tweets primarily in articles on human interest and gossip and cited non-elite sources more often than other media types. Quality papers, weekly magazines, and broadcasters used tweets as sources primarily in articles on politics and economy and cited public actors, such as politicians or officials, more frequently

Development of social media opinion leaders during international periodic events

Social networks like Twitter are a central communication channel, where people share their opinions, emotions, and views with the world which is also true during live TV events. These opinions are able to start a discussion and influence the opinion of others. This influence is able to impact the results of televised events such as the Eurovision Song Contest. In the process of sharing information, key groups could be able to be more effective and have a bigger reach at different points of an event. Therefore, their identification is relevant for research, event operators, participants, and fans. We aim to create an understanding of how groups and opinion leaders change over the event period of the contest by conducting a social network analysis based on Tweets. Word clouds will be used to confirm findings from the social network analysis as well as to identify topics within tweets for further research

The digital transformation of knowledge order: a model for theanalysis of the epistemic crisis

In a proclaimed age of ‘post-truth,’ scholars have raised concerns about the spread of false information and the questioning of epistemic authorities. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to capture the digital transformation of knowledge order. Drawing on insights from social epistemology, sociology and history of knowledge, and media history, we identify epistemic practices as basic elements of knowledge order. We then analyze how epistemic practices are organized into an overarching structure of knowledge phases, contexts, roles, and hierarchies. Digital media tend to destabilize the traditional knowledge order. This destabilization is characterized by a more flexible order of phases, a dissolution of boundaries between contexts, an opening of professional roles to new actors, and a flattening of hierarchies

Peace Journalism in the Digital Age

The advent of modern means of communication opens up a wide range of possibilities for individual users, organizations, and governments to connect. This paper argues that the concept of peace journalism can leverage the potential of digital developments to maintain relevance in current times. Five areas of peace journalism’s possible synchronization with media digitalization are deduced and elaborated from a pragmatic perspective to facilitate conceptual advancement: (1) digital distribution, (2) utility of the potential of two-way communication, (3) exploration of new forms of digital storytelling, (4) curation of various digital sources of conflict actors and fact-checking, and (5) incorporation of virtual training and digital skills into journalism curricula. By addressing these aspects of media digitalization, peace journalism outlets can receive acclaim within modern journalistic circles while also attracting wider audience support