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 — 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

What News Users Perceive as ‘Alternative Media’ Varies between Countries: How Media Fragmentation and Polarization Matter

Studies have extensively discussed what characterizes news media sources as alternative. However, this study focuses on users and the range of news sources they perceive as alternative media. We expect that these audience perceptions vary between countries, depending on the level of media fragmentation and polarization. We use original survey data from five countries (Denmark = 2,667 respondents; Italy = 2,121; Poland = 2,536; Switzerland = 1,859; United States = 3,493) and investigate (i) what sources are perceived by users as alternative and (ii) whether these perceptions differ among users embedded in more or less fragmented-polarized media environments. Our results reveal that users have distinctive types of media in mind when reporting alternative media consumption, fanning out on a spectrum from traditional mass media outlets to self-proclaimed alternative news media. Interestingly, despite a greater supply of alternative news sources and an overall higher propensity to indicate the use of alternative news sources, citizens in more fragmented-polarized media environments are more likely to indicate using mass media outlets as alternative news media. We conclude from these findings that media fragmentation and polarization in a political information environment contribute to the convergence of the alternative-to-mainstream spectrum in the eyes of their audiences

Marlis Prinzing & Roger Blum (Hrsg.). Handbuch Politischer Journalismus

Marlis Prinzing und Roger Blum haben das «Handbuch Politischer Journalismus» herausgegeben, weil es bisher keine vergleichbare Publikation gab, obwohl der politische Journalismus ein zentrales Feld der Berichterstattung ist. Das Handbuch versteht sich als Brücke zwischen aktueller Forschung und Praxis. Es enthält Beiträge aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen und gibt länderübergreifende Einblicke in die vielfältigen Arbeitsfelder des politischen Journalismus – mit Schwerpunkten auf Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Diese Zusammenführung unterschiedlicher Perspektiven verdeutlicht den integrativen Anspruch des 900 Seiten starken Werks. Es hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, «den politischen Journalismus in modernen […] europäischen […] Demokratien einmal gesamthaft darzustellen» (S. 17). Dies war, wie Prinzing und Blum in ihrer Einleitung einräumen, ein arbeitsintensives Unterfangen, das sich aber – wie der Erfolg zeigt – gelohnt hat. Das Handbuch gewinnt sein Publikum in der Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, in der Medienpraxis und Politik, in der PR- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit sowie in der Verwaltung und den Staatskanzleien. Der Erfolg gründet in verschiedenen Stärken des Buches

News Media Performance Evaluated by National Audiences: How Media Environments and User Preferences Matter

Media fragmentation and polarization have contributed to blurring the lines between professional and non-professional journalism. Internationally, more fragmented-polarized media environments are often associated with the emergence of non-professional news providers, the weakening of journalistic standards, and the segmentation of audiences along ideological leanings. Furthermore, these environments are home to partisan and alternative news media outlets, some of which try to actively undermine the credibility of traditional mainstream media in their reporting. By following an audience-centric approach, this study investigates the consequences of more fragmented-polarized media environments and consumption habits on users’ perceptions of news media performance. We use online-survey data from five countries that differ in the extent of fragmentation and polarization in the media environment (CH = 1,859, DK = 2,667, IT = 2,121, PL = 2,536, US = 3,493). We find that perceptions of high news media performance are more likely to be expressed by citizens from less fragmented-polarized media environments. Positive perceptions of news media performance are also stronger among users of traditional media, and those who inform themselves in a more attitude-congruent manner. By contrast, citizens from more fragmented-polarized media environments and users of alternative news media tend to express less satisfaction with news media performance. Based on these results, we argue that perceptions of news media performance among news users are shaped by their individual media choices as well as by the composition of the news media environments that surrounds them

Digraphs with real and gaussian spectra

The conventional binary operations of cartesian product, conjunction, and composition of two digraphs D1 and D2 are observed to give the sum, the product, and a more complicated combination of the spectra of D1 and D2 as the resulting spectrum. These formulas for analyzing the spectrum of a digraph are utilized to construct for any positive integer n, a collection of n nonisomorphic strong regular nonsymmetric digraphs with real spectra. Further, an infinite collection of strong nonsymmetric digraphs with nonzero gaussian integer value is found. Finally, for any n, it is shown that there are n cospectral strong nonsymmetric digraphs with integral spectra.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23206/1/0000135.pd

Identifying the Drivers Behind the Dissemination of Online Misinformation: A Study on Political Attitudes and Individual Characteristics in the Context of Engaging With Misinformation on Social Media

The increasing dissemination of online misinformation in recent years has raised the question which individuals interact with this kind of information and what role attitudinal congruence plays in this context. To answer these questions, we conduct surveys in six countries (BE, CH, DE, FR, UK, and US) and investigate the drivers of the dissemination of misinformation on three noncountry specific topics (immigration, climate change, and COVID-19). Our results show that besides issue attitudes and issue salience, political orientation, personality traits, and heavy social media use increase the willingness to disseminate misinformation online. We conclude that future research should not only consider individual’s beliefs but also focus on specific user groups that are particularly susceptible to misinformation and possibly caught in social media “fringe bubbles.

Us and them: how populist parties get their message across

Current discussions about politics – be it European, British, or American – almost inevitably end up being discussions about populism. Yet we know little about how populist parties communicate their messages. Focusing on this area, and drawing on extensive research from across Europe, Toril Aalberg, Frank Esser, Carsten Reinemann, Jesper Stromback, and Claes de Vreese share some key findings on populist political communication