Polarisation or just differences in opinion: How and why Facebook users disagree about Greta Thunberg

Abstract

To what extent was Greta Thunberg a ‘polarizing figure’ on Facebook, in the period when she received the most extensive media attention? The paper analyses seven months of discussion concerning Thunberg and her message of intergenerational climate justice, using all relevant posts on public Facebook pages in Germany, Sweden, and the UK. We find that there are many similarities in the attitudes expressed and topics discussed on Facebook in the three countries; however, there are also some striking differences in the levels of polarisation. This comparative study provides evidence that the level of polarisation around these topics on Facebook is very low in Sweden and the UK, but high in Germany. In Germany, a group of political actors stand out as particularly polarising, and, in contrast to the other two countries, the topic of intergeneration justice, the core of Thunberg’s message, is almost absent from the German Facebook discourse. The study shows that Thunberg was not in general a polarising figure in the three European countries and that neither the affordances offered by the platform nor features of her person, message, or activism explain the observed polarisation around Thunberg on Facebook.

Elgesem, Dag; Brüggemann, Michael (2022): Polarisation or just differences in opinion: How and why Facebook users disagree about Greta Thunberg. In European Journal of Communication, 02673231221116179. DOI: 10.1177/02673231221116179.

Zwischen Unterlassung und ökologischer Verantwortung: Klimajournalismus in Zeiten kognitiver Dissonanz

Abstract

Mehr als eine Dekade der Nicht-Kommunikation, der Untätigkeit und des Verdrängens liegt hinter uns. Heiße, trockene Sommer, grenzüberschreitende Jugendproteste und eine ‚Jahrhundertflut‘ im Westen Deutschlands haben den Klimawandel in das öffentliche Bewusstsein gedrängt und gezeigt: Klimawandel passiert hier vor Ort, vor der Haustür jedes und jeder Einzelnen. Expertinnen und Experten weltweit sind sich einig: Eine sofortige Reduktion von Emissionen ist längst überfällig. Vor und neben dem Handeln steht aber eine Verständigung über Probleme, Verantwortlichkeiten, angemessene Reaktionen und Ziele im Klimaschutz. Und dafür ist Klimakommunikation so wichtig, verstanden als das öffentliche Selbstgespräch der Gesellschaft über das Thema Klimawandel. Wir zeichnen die großen Linien dieses Gesprächs nach, werfen einen Blick in Richtung USA, diskutieren blinde Flecken des Journalismus und erklären, wie der Berufsstand seiner ökologischen Verantwortung gerecht werden könnte.

Brüggemann, Michael; Jörges, Susan (2022): Zwischen Unterlassung und ökologischer Verantwortung: Klimajournalismus in Zeiten kognitiver Dissonanz. In KLIMA vor acht (Ed.): Medien in der Klima-Krise. München: Oekom, pp. 27–44.

Plädoyer für eine bescheidene Weltverbesserung: transformativer Journalismus und transformative Kommunikationswissenschaft

Abstract

Die globalen ökologischen Krisen stellen Journalismus und Kommunikationswissenschaft vor die Frage: Wie tragen wir zur ökologischen Transformation unserer Gesellschaft bei? Beide Berufsstände verstecken sich hinter dem Dogma distanzierter und neutraler Weltbeobachtung und vermeiden so die Frage nach ihrem gesellschaftlich-ökologischen Fußabdruck: Der besteht nicht nur in Flugreisen und Materialverbrauch, sondern auch in der Entscheidung für bestimmte Forschungsfragen, für oder gegen eine Einmischung in die Debatten über die ökologische Transformation unserer Gesellschaft. Transformative Kommunikationswissenschaft könnte diesen Debatten Reflexivität zurückspielen, kritisch, lösungsorientiert und stets bereit, die eigene Bias mitzudenken und eigene Fehler zu korrigieren.

Brüggemann, Michael (2022): Plädoyer für eine bescheidene Weltverbesserung. Transformativer Journalismus und transformative Kommunikationswissenschaft. In Communicatio Socialis 55 (2), 176–183. DOI: 10.5771/0010-3497-2022-2-176.

From Global Doom to Sustainable Solutions: International News Magazines’ Multimodal Framing of our Future with Climate Change

Abstract

Modeling future pathways is essential for climate research, and such climate futures are also an integral part of media coverage on climate change. However, research on media’s framing of climate change has only sparsely investigated future visions, although media effect studies assume that characteristics of climate futures, including their visual representation, can motivate people to act. Hence, in this study, we analyzed the multimodal media framing of climate futures. The qualitative content analysis considered leading news magazine cover stories on climate change (N = 62) from 1980 to 2019 in India, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We identified three multimodal frames: While Global Doom and Local Tragedies were dominant in the early years, a new frame has recently emerged and focuses more prominently on a Sustainable Future. This analysis thus witnessed a shift from apocalyptic climate futures to a more diverse and potentially empowering reporting.

Lars Guenther, Michael Brüggemann & Shorouk Elkobros (2022) From Global Doom to Sustainable Solutions: International News Magazines’ Multimodal Framing of our Future with Climate Change, Journalism Studies, 23:1,131-148, DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2021.2007162

Media Systems in the Digital Age: An Empirical Comparison of 30 Countries

Abstract

Media systems have changed significantly as a result of the development of information technologies. However, typologies of media systems that incorporate aspects of digitalization are rare. This study fills this gap by identifying, operationalizing, and measuring indicators of media systems in the digital age. We build on previous work, extend it with new indicators that reflect changing conditions (such as online news use), and include media freedom indicators. We include 30 countries in our study and use cluster analysis to identify three clusters of media systems. Two of these clusters correspond to the media system models described by Hallin and Mancini, namely the democratic-corporatist and the polarized-pluralist model. However, the liberal model as described by Hallin and Mancini has vanished; instead, we find empirical evidence of a new cluster that we call “hybrid”: it is positioned in between the poles of the media-supportive democratic-corporatist and the polarized-pluralist clusters.

Edda Humprecht, Laia Castro Herrero, Sina Blassnig, Michael Brüggemann, Sven Engesser, Media Systems in the Digital Age: An Empirical Comparison of 30 Countries, Journal of Communication, Volume 72, Issue 2, April 2022, Pages 145–164, https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab054

Learning about climate politics during COP 21: Explaining a diminishing knowledge gap

Abstract

A basic understanding of climate politics is necessary for citizens to assess their government’s policies. Media use is supposed to enable learning, while widening knowledge gaps. We analyze whether such a gap opened up in times of intense media coverage during the 2015 climate conference in Paris and explain learning through hierarchical regression analyses, drawing on a 3-month panel survey (n = 1121) in Germany. We find a diminishing knowledge gap: people with low previous knowledge catch up on the better informed, but overall knowledge remained low and learning was limited. This suggests a ceiling effect: possibly journalistic media did not provide enough new information for the well-informed. Closing knowledge gaps may also be explained by the media system with public television and regional newspapers reaching broad segments of the population. Higher knowledge was predicted less by media use than by education, concern, and being male.

 Fenja De Silva-Schmidt, Michael Brüggemann, Imke Hoppe & Dorothee Arlt (2022) ‘Learning about climate politics during COP 21: Explaining a diminishing knowledge gap’, Public Understanding of Science, 31(5), pp. 617–633. DOI: 10.1177/09636625211068635

How Investigative Journalists Around the World Adopt Innovative Digital Practices

Abstract

This article explores how investigative journalists around the world adopt innovative digital practices in their daily work, what challenges they perceive to the adoption of digital practices, and how they cope with those challenges. We interviewed 133 journalists from 60 countries. Utilising the lens of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory, we found that journalists generally perceive the impact of digital practices as positive, but structural and individual factors heavily influence the adoption processes. Journalists from the Global South stress the importance of simple everyday technology and report that they only have limited access to data, which is in stark contrast to interviewees from the Global North. Journalists across countries feel overwhelmed by the need for digital skills, especially those related to digital security. They often work in interdisciplinary teams to address these challenges, which allows them to combine skills and tackle more complex topics. Overall, we found that traditional approaches remain indispensable to investigative work around the world, while innovative digital practices are adopted cautiously in accordance with the journalistic mission. We call for a global network to facilitate diffusion of digital practices, addressing that journalists from the Global South are often laggards against their will due to contextual factors.

Jessica Kunert, Jannis Frech, Michael Brüggemann, Volker Lilienthal & Wiebke Loosen (2022) How Investigative Journalists Around the World Adopt Innovative Digital Practices, Journalism Studies, 23:7, 761-780, DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2022.2033636

Klimawandel und Klimapolitik bleiben trotz COVID-19-Pandemie etablierte Themen: Medienrezeption während der UN-Klimagipfel 2015, 2018, 2019 und 2021

Abstract

Der Klimawandel ist seit Jahrzehnten Thema medialer Berichterstattung. Im Rahmen der regelmäßigen Befragungen im Projekt “Down2Earth” an der Universität Hamburg wurde bereits in der Vergangenheit in Media Perspektiven mittels Mediennutzungsdaten beschrieben, wie die gesellschaftliche Relevanz des Themas in Deutschland seit 2015 deutlich anstieg. Durch die Pandemie kam es jedoch zu Veränderungen, die sich auch auf die Themenwahrnehmung der Mediennutzenden zum Klimawandel ausgewirkt haben. Deshalb wurden die Befragungsdaten um einen weiteren Zeitpunkt (November 2021) erweitert, der die beschriebenen Trends während einer globalen Pandemie neu einordnet.

Guenther, Lars; Reif, Anne; De Silva-Schmidt, Fenja; Brüggemann, Michael (2022): Klimawandel und Klimapolitik bleiben trotz COVID-19-Pandemie etablierte Themen. Medienrezeption während der UN-Klimagipfel 2015, 2018, 2019 und 2021 (4), pp. 192–202.