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Die Open Access Database of Variables for Content Analysis DOCA sammelt, systematisiert und evaluiert Operationalisierungen für die standardisierte manuelle und automatisierte Inhaltsanalyse in der Kommunikationswissenschaft. DOCA soll Forschenden das Finden von geeigneten und etablierten bzw. getesteten Operationalisierungen (sowie den gesamten Codebüchern) für die standardisierte Inhaltsanalyse erleichtern. Für die kommunikationswissenschaftliche Forschung soll dies mit einer besseren Vergleichbarkeit inhaltsanalytischer Studien und Projekte sowie einer erhöhten Bedeutungszuschreibung der Transparenz von Operationalisierungen und Qualitätsindikatoren einhergehen. Mit dem vorliegenden Steckbrief sind zwei zentrale Zielsetzungen verbunden: Erstens soll über DOCA und deren Einsatzgebiete informiert werden und so auch der Bekanntheitsgrad dieser Forschungsinfrastruktur gesteigert werden. Zweitens soll dieser Artikel aus der Perspektive der Herausgeberinnen den Prozess und die damit verbundenen Herausforderungen für die Konzeption, Realisation und Aufrechterhaltung einer Forschungsinfrastruktur darlegen. The Open Access Database of Variables for Content Analysis (DOCA) collects, systematizes, and evaluates operationalizations for standardized manual and automatic content analysis in the field of communication science. DOCA aims to facilitate researchers in finding suitable and established or tested operationalizations (as well as complete codebooks) for standardized content analysis. For communication science research, this is expected to result in increased comparability of content analytic studies and projects, as well as greater emphasis on the transparency of operationalizations and quality indicators. The present fact sheet is associated with two central objectives: firstly, to provide information about DOCA and its applications, thereby increasing awareness of this research infrastructure. Secondly, from the personal perspective of the editors, this article aims

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.

While the role of social media in the spread of conspiracy theories has received much attention, a key deficit in previous research is the lack of distinction between different types of platforms. This study places the role of social media affordances in facilitating the spread of conspiracy beliefs at the center of its enquiry. We examine the relationship between platform use and conspiracy theory beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the concept of technological affordances, we theorize that variation across key features make some platforms more fertile places for conspiracy beliefs than others. Using data from a crossnational dataset based on a two-wave online survey conducted in 17 countries before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we show that Twitter has a negative effect on conspiracy beliefs—as opposed to all other platforms under examination which are found to have a positive effect.

Public diplomacy research in the realm of communication science has increased significantly since 2009, particularly in public relations and strategic organizational communication studies. Public diplomacy is generally conceived as a strategic communication instrument comprising different communication methods to inform and engage with foreign publics in order to advance the interests of nation-states. In this chapter, I focus on research on public diplomacy as the communication efforts of a nation (including those of the government itself and institutions that speak on behalf of the government) in advancing national interests and, ultimately, affecting the perception of a nation. In this regard, previous research has examined either subjects (communicators of public diplomacy messages) or objectives of public diplomacy communication.

In the study of climate and environmental communication, content analysis—in all its many facets—has been used numerous times and in various ways. This chapter provides an overview of common research designs and (combinations of) methods, showing that a variety of approaches have been applied, ranging from qualitative, to quantitative, to automated content analyses. In addition, we identify the main constructs employed in media content analyses—with issue attention, actors and sources, framing, uncertainty, or visual representations being of primary concern. Finally, we outline research desiderata that should be considered in future studies

Science communication has been defined as encompassing “all forms of communication by and about the sciences, within science (professional audience) as well as in the [broader] public sphere (general audience)”. This broad understanding of science communication includes all kinds of communication focusing on scientific work or scientific results, within science or to non-scientists, in one-directional or dialogical form. It also includes communication about the natural sciences, the arts or the humanities, and it has considerable overlaps with research fields such as health communication and risk communication. Content analysis, especially of media content, is a common method in the research field and this article provides an overview of this research.

Die manuelle Inhaltsanalyse gilt nach wie vor als zentrale Methode kommunikationswissenschaftlicher Forschung. Die nachfolgenden Ausführungen sollen ein Grundverständnis über Merkmale, Schritte, Qualitätskriterien und Schwerpunkte der manuellen Inhaltsanalyse vermitteln, die für die Nachvollziehbarkeit von Konzept und Idee des Handbuchs behilflich sein können. So wird in diesem Kapitel deutlich, was unter standardisierter Inhaltsanalyse – auch in Abgrenzung zur qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse – verstanden wird. Zudem werden auch Qualitätskriterien der manuellen Inhaltsanalyse skizziert, die bei der Auswahl der berichteten Studien in diesem Handbuch und auch der Operationalisierungen für die dazugehörige Datenbank zentral waren.

The transition from low- to high-choice media environments has had far-reaching implications for citizens’ media use and its relationship with political knowledge. However, there is still a lack of comparative research on how citizens combine the usage of different media and how that is related to political knowledge. To fill this void, we use a unique cross-national survey about the online and offline media use habits of more than 28,000 individuals in 17 European countries. Our aim is to (i) profile different types of news consumers and (ii) understand how each user profile is linked to political knowledge acquisition. Our results show that five user profiles – news minimalists, social media news users, traditionalists, online news seekers, and hyper news consumers – can be identified, although the prevalence of these profiles varies across countries. Findings further show that both traditional and online-based news diets are correlated with higher political knowledge. However, online-based news use is more widespread in Southern Europe, where it is associated with lower levels of political knowledge than in Northern Europe. By focusing on news audiences, this study provides a comprehensive and fine-grained analysis of how contemporary European political information environments perform and contribute to an informed citizenry.

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.

Analyses of actor diversity are theoretically linked to news performance and the democratic media function of integration (Imhof, 2010). This construct is related to the normative assumption that news content should represent society as a whole and thus cover a large variety of societal groups (Boydstun et al., 2014). More recent studies also focus on the influence of algorithms on news diversity (Möller et al., 2018).

Since Eveland and Shah (2003) published their seminal study on the impact of social networks on media bias perceptions in the US, little has been researched about the interpersonal antecedents of hostile media perceptions. In this study we address this gap by investigating the role of safe, or like-minded, political discussions on individuals’ likelihood to perceive media as hostile. We use survey data from more than 5,000 individuals in Germany. Our findings reveal that like-minded discussions increase one’s likelihood to perceive media as hostile; yet, only among those more politically engaged and ideologically on the left. The significance and theoretical implications of the results are discussed in the concluding section.