Author: Elias Raatz

We are pleased to welcome two new members to the team: Theresa Neto Romeira, bachelor student at the University of Münster, will work for the team in Münster as a student assistant. The team in Tübingen is now complete with research assistant and master’s student Maxine Schneider. We are looking forward to working together. More information about the project team can be found here.

In her lecture „Journalistinnen und Journalisten und ihr Publikum: Enttäuschte Erwartungen als Ursache schwindenden Medienvertrauens?“ (Journalists and their Audiences: Disappointed Expectations as a Cause of Dwindling Media Trust?) at Adult Education Center / Volkshochschule Chemnitz, Nicole Podschuweit, Interim Professor at Chemnitz University of Technology, will present findings from the project to a wider audience on November 30, 2021. After the lecture, the audience will have the opportunity to discuss to what extent the disappointment of mutual expectations of journalists and their audiences might be a possible cause for the breakdown of journalism-audience relationships. The lecture is part of the project “trau.schau.wem? faktenfest und mediensicher“, which is funded by the Media Authority of Saxony.

Good news from Hannover: The submission for a presentation in the conference session „Future Programmatics: Erfahrene Kommunikationswissenschaftler:innen präsentieren ihre Programme“ (Future Programmatics: Experienced Communication Scholars Present Their Programs) of the 67th Annual Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) 2022 was successful. Under the title „Zwischen interpersonaler und Massenkommunikation: Neukonzeptionalisierung von Journalismus-Publikums-Beziehungen im digitalen Zeitalter“ (Between Interpersonal and Mass Communication: Reconceptualizing Journalism-Audience Relations in the Digital Age) the project partners will be presenting the collaborative project and the underlying research program together with cooperation partner Assistant Professor Dr. Claudia Wilhelm on Thursday, February 22, 2022 (time to follow). Their presentation is one out of three one-hour Zoom talks in this conference session.

During the winter semester 2021/22, Erfurt subproject leader PD Dr. Nicole Podschuweit will substitute for the Chair of Communication and Media Studies at the Institute for Media Research at Chemnitz University of Technology. She will, amongst other subjects, continue to develop ideas for the BMBF joint project with the students in Chemnitz as part of the project seminar „Kommunikations- und Interaktionsformen digitaler Medien: Journalismus-Publikums-Beziehungen im digitalen Zeitalter“ (Communication and Interaction Modes in Digital Media: Journalism-Audience Relations in the Digital Age).

After a successful start of the joint project, the teams at all three partner universities are growing: Beginning in July, Jonas Büttner (master’s student, University of Mainz) and Sonja Walke (bachelor’s student, University of Münster) joined the team as student assistants in Erfurt and Münster. As of September, we welcome the master’s students and research assistants Johanna Wolleschensky (University of Erfurt) as well as Gina Feis and Elias Raatz (both University of Tübingen) to the project team. More information on the joint project’s team can be found here.

The joint project started with two kick-off meetings on June 8 and 15, 2021. In addition to the three partners, Assistant Professor Dr. Claudia Wilhelm from the University of Vienna participated as well. She will support the project as an external consultant. The meetings focused on planning the collaboration and the next steps to be taken.

A preliminary theoretical paper by Assistant Professor Dr. Claudia Wilhelm, Assistant Professor Dr. Helena Stehle, and Dr. Hanne Detel has been published in the scientific journal New Media & Society. Titled “Digital Visibility and the Role of Mutual Interaction Expectations. Reframing the Journalist-Audience Relationship through the Lens of Interpersonal Communication“, the authors develop a theoretical model of the journalist-audience relationship in the digital age, mutual expectations and their (non-)fulfillment based on the “Expectancy Violations Theory”.

Wilhelm, C., Stehle, H., & Detel, H. (2021). Digital Visibility and the Role of Mutual Interaction Expectations. Reframing the Journalist-Audience Relationship through the Lens of Interpersonal Communication. New Media & Society, 23(5), 1004-1021. doi: 10.1177/1461444820907023

On May 1, 2021, the joint project „Journalist*innen und ihr Publikum im digitalen Zeitalter. Wechselseitige Erwartungen und ihre Folgen für Journalismus-Publikums-Beziehungen und öffentliche Meinungsbildung“ (Journalists and their Audience in the Digital Age. Mutual Expectations and Their Consequences for Journalism-Audience Relations and Public Opinion Formation) was launched. The universities of Münster (subproject leader and coordinator: Assistant Professor Dr. Helena Stehle), Erfurt (subproject leader: PD Dr. Nicole Podschuweit) and Tübingen (subproject leader: Dr. Hanne Detel) are partners in the project. External consultant will be Assistant Professor Dr. Claudia Wilhelm (University of Vienna). The funding period spans three years from May 2021 to April 2024. The project launch was accompanied by publications in several media channels.

Press releases on the project launch:
• University of Erfurt
• University of Münster
• University of Tübingen