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.

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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. 

OPEN ACCESS: Global Warming in Local Discourses (2020)

Abstract

Global news on anthropogenic climate change is shaped by international politics, scientific reports and voices from transnational protest movements. This timely volume asks how local communities engage with these transnational discourses. The chapters in this volume present a range of compelling case studies drawn from a broad cross-section of local communities around the world, reflecting diverse cultural and geographical contexts. From Greenland to northern Tanzania, it illuminates how different understandings evolve in diverse cultural and geographical contexts while also revealing some common patterns of how people make sense of climate change. Global Warming in Local Discourses constitutes a significant, new contribution to understanding the multi-perspectivity of our debates on climate change, further highlighting the need for interdisciplinary study within this area. It will be a valuable resource to those studying climate and science communication; those interested in understanding the various roles played by journalism, NGOs, politics and science in shaping public understandings of climate change, as well as those exploring the intersections of the global and the local in debates on the sustainable transformation of societies.

Brüggemann, M., & Rödder, S.: Global Warming in Local Discourses. How Communities around the World Make Sense of Climate Change (2020). Global Communications, Vol. 1, 284 pp. OPEN ACCESS available at: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1177

Climate Feedback: Wissenschaft kommentiert Journalismus und entwickelt Mehrsystemkompetenz (2020)

Abstract

Wissenschaft und Journalismus beruhen auf unterschiedlichen Logiken. Aus Sicht der Systemtheorie überrascht es also nicht, wenn WissenschaftlerInnen Wissenschaftsjournalismus kritisieren. Gleichzeitig wird aber auch eine Medialisierung von Wissenschaft postuliert. Demnach würde sich Wissenschaft zunehmend an Medienlogiken orientieren. Diese Studie prüft explorativ, welche Kriterien WissenschaftlerInnen bei der Beurteilung journalistischer Artikel heranziehen und welche Aspekte sie loben und kritisieren. Dazu werten wir die Kommentare auf dem Blog „Climate Feedback“ qualitativ inhaltsanalytisch aus. Induktiv werden zunächst die angelegten Evaluationskriterien der WissenschaftlerInnen kategorisiert und dann den Überkategorien „journalistische Vermittlungsleistung“ oder „wissenschaftliche Informationsleistung“ zugeordnet. Unsere Ergebnisse, basierend auf 82 Blogeinträgen und den Kommentaren von 184 WissenschaftlerInnen im Zeitraum von 2015 bis 2017, zeigen, dass sich die WissenschaftlerInnen intensiv und sogar häufiger mit Aspekten der journalistischen als der wissenschaftlichen Leistung beschäftigen. Sie sehen die journalistischen Kriterien eher als erfüllt an, während sie das Fehlen wissenschaftlicher Standards kritisieren. Die beteiligten WissenschaftlerInnen kombinieren die Kommunikationsnormen beider Systeme. Für den Ansatz der Medialisierung von Wissenschaft ergibt sich der Befund, dass die Diffusion von Medienlogiken keineswegs zur Aufgabe von Logiken der Wissenschaft führen muss, sondern dass kompetente Akteure an der Schnittstelle zwischen Journalismus und Wissenschaft Mehrsystemkompetenz erwerben und anwenden können.

Walter, S., Görlach, J. & Brüggemann, M. Climate Feedback: Wissenschaft kommentiert Journalismus und entwickelt Mehrsystemkompetenz. Publizistik (2020). Available online at https://rdcu.be/b70SC

Klimawandel und Klimapolitik: Vom Nischenthema auf die öffentliche Agenda (2020)

Abstract

Der Klimawandel und seine Folgen gewinnen deutlich an Relevanz im aktuellen gesellschaftlichen Diskurs. Das Forschungsfeld Klimakommunikation belegt eine Zunahme der medialen Berichterstattung dazu. Zudem wurde ein thematischer Wechsel von einem stark wissenschaftlichen Fokus hin zu sozialen, politischen und ökonomischen Aspekten des Klimawandels verzeichnet. Im Rahmen von drei Onlinebefragungen untersuchte die vorliegende Studie anlässlich der Klimakonferenzen 2015 in Paris, 2018 in Katowice und 2019 in Madrid, wo Informationen zum Klimawandel rezipiert werden sowie wie die entsprechende Berichterstattung bewertet wird.

Guenther, Lars; Mahl, Daniela; Silva-Schmidt, Fenja de; Brüggemann, Michael (2020): Klimawandel und Klimapolitik. Vom Nischenthema auf die öffentliche Agenda. In Media Perspektiven 5, pp. 287–296. Available online at https://www.ard-werbung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/media-perspektiven/pdf/2020/052020_Guenther_Mahl_De_Silva-Schmidt_Brueggemann.pdf

Post-normal science communication: exploring the blurring boundaries of science and journalism (2020)

Abstract

This article provides a framework for analysing changes and continuities in science communication. The field is challenged by three contexts: (1) ‘post-normal situations’ of coping with uncertainties, value questions, an urgency to take action, and associated political pressures; (2) a dramatically changing media environment, and (3) a polarizing discourse culture. We refine the concept of post-normal science to make it more applicable to analyse public science communication in an era of digital media networks. Focussing on changes in the interactions between scientists and journalists, we identify two ideal types: normal and post-normal science communication, and conclude that the boundaries of science and journalism are blurring and under renegotiation. Scientists and journalists develop new shared role models, norms, and practices. Both groups are increasingly acting as advocates for common goods that emphasize the emerging norms of post-normal science communication: transparency, interpretation, advocacy and participation.

Brüggemann, Michael; Lörcher, Ines; Walter, Stefanie (2020): Post-normal Science Communication. Exploring the Blurring Boundaries of Science and Journalism. In JCOM 19 (03). DOI: 10.22323/2.19030202. Available online at https://jcom.sissa.it/sites/default/files/documents/JCOM_1903_2020_A02.pdf

Mutual Group Polarization in the Blogosphere: Tracking the Hoax Discourse on Climate Change (2020)

Abstract

A salient tactic used in online communication about anthropogenic climate change is to accuse the opposite side of being untruthful. This hoax discourse identifies one side as deniers of scientific facts and the other side as manufacturing false alarm. We study the hoax discourse on climate change in the English-speaking blogosphere as a disruptive discursive practice. The study uses automated, qualitative, and quantitative content analysis as well as network analysis to identify the main patterns of the hoax discourse, drawing on a sample of almost 50,000 blog posts related to climate change published online for one year, from May 14, 2016, to May 14, 2017. The study shows that hoax discourses are a salient feature of online debates. They engage both mainstream voices and contrarians in mutual accusations. Accusations of untruthfulness are rarely voiced in a way that identifies concrete lies and liars; instead, they form part of broad attacks designed to vilify the other group. The discourse does not directly address the other side of the debate. It does not constitute a deliberation, but rather serves to affirm one’s social group identity and exacerbate mutual group polarization.


Brüggemann, Michael; Elgesem, Dag; Bienzeilser, Nils; Dedecek Gertz, Helena; Walter, Stefanie (2020): Mutual Group Polarization in the Blogosphere. Tracking the Hoax Discourse on Climate Change. In International Journal of Communication 14, pp. 1025–1048. Available online at https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/11806/2975.

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