Transformationen im Journalismus

In commercial broadcasting, the entertaining features of journalism are already prevalent and expected to increase further. Beyond the aspect of entertainment, a far-reaching process of transformation in journalism can be identified, to be clearly recognized in several domains: With purposes shifting away from information and towards entertainment, journalism changes its organizational structures, its working routines as well as the roles and the qualifications of its workforce. Based on an empirical study carried out in northern Germany, the article describes the organization and work »programmes« in »format radios« and discusses the resulting changes in journalists’ qualifications. The findings have led to the conclusion that, because of the lack of organizational and working structures at private radio stations, journalists will have to meet all the demands of the complete production process, both with respect to hierarchies and functions (»Everyone does each and everything«). The more organization »programmes« lose their determining influence, the more coordinating activities will be needed. That is to say, organizational structures are being replaced by social processes. As a consequence, the ability to communicate, as one of the elements of journalistic qualification, is of growing importance.     

Explaining perceived media influence in politics

This study focuses on explanatory factors for politicians?? and journalists?? perceptions of two dimensions of media influence on the political process: their influence on the political agenda and on careers of political leaders. Statistical analysis was done using regression analysis and takes three predictors into account: attitudes toward journalists?? affinity to voice political views in their reporting, the actors?? proneness to having frequent informal contacts with members of the other profession, and national contexts. In addition, an analysis was made to determine whether the impact of attitudes toward politically driven journalism on perceptions of political media influence is moderated by national context. The results are based on a survey of senior political correspondents, reporters and editors of the most important national news media outlets and political elites on the national level from Denmark, Germany, Spain and France (total N?=?925). The analyses showed that cross-cultural differences as regards perceptions of political media influence existed, in particular between France and Germany. Attitudes of political elites toward journalists?? professional objectives were a significant predictor for their perceptions of media influence. Moreover, hierarchical regression models demonstrated that the relationship between attitudes toward politically driven journalism and perceptions of media influencing politicians?? careers was moderated by national context.     

Aus-und Weiterbildung für Journalistinnen und Journalisten

This article gives an overview of the historical development and the state of training of journalists in Austria. Political (and especially media political) conditions and diverging interests of the actors involved in media development have led to a journalism training better characterized by breaks than by continuities on the one hand, and to academic training gaining ground more slowly than in Germany and Switzerland on the other. A complete survey of the situation of training for journalism in the spring of 1999 not only shows the diversity in duration and quality of different tracks in training, but also the severe shortcomings and the small interest of governments and media companies to provide an adequate theoretical and practical education for the new generation of journalists.     

Journalismus während der Besatzungszeit

During the period of occupation from 1945 to 1949 the allied powers’ press policies more than anything else gave Germany the inducement for a modernization of journalism, though there was no complete relaunch of journalism in Germany. On the basis of existing studies, three structural layers of journalism — organizations, roles and programs — are investigated in order to identify features that stand for relaunch and modernization on the one hand, and others that demonstrate continuity in the period of occupation. On the layer of journalistic forms, for instance, the separation of news and opinion as prescribed by the allies meant an important step towards modernizing journalism. It resulted in the loosening of political bonds, which were rooted in the tradition of German journalism. While the traditions of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi period continued to exist, the course for the route towards an independent and reader-oriented journalism was set under occupation. Thus a modernization of journalism was belatedly undertaken in Germany, while other countries had done that long before. This process, started in the occupation period, offered journalists chances to interpret their professional roles as autonomous mediators of information.     

Die heimlichen Entscheider

Facing the spread and importance of information technology, the lack of empirical studies of IT journalists must be considered a research gap. The small group of IT journalists includes important gatekeepers in the IT market, who play a major part in determining the success and failure of IT products. To examine the powerful position derived from this role is the central aim of this study: How do IT journalists in Germany perceive their influence on buyers and users of IT products? How do they perceive their influence on the IT industry? Based on an online survey of 102 IT journalists in Germany, the study measures subjective perceptions of effects on the general audience and the industry. The findings indicate that IT journalists view themselves as influencing consumer decisions of the general audience as well as corporations’ decisions in product development. However, these perceptions of effects are not related to (1) the audience size of the IT medium, or to journalists’ images of (2) the audience and (3) the IT industry. The perception of their own influence seem to be commonplace among IT journalists, independent of the power of media outlets and particular professional perceptions. The accuracy of journalists’ perceptions of effects and their normative implications are discussed.     

Schaffen wir das?

In 2015, Germany sheltered about 900,000 refugees—more than ever before. This development led to political and public discussions in the country which changed between creating a culture of welcome for refugees and the danger of foreign infiltration through refugees. On the one hand, this article investigates, if patterns could be identified in the public debate about the so-called refugee crisis in the regional press in Germany in 2015. On the other hand, it concentrates on the solution orientation of the regional news coverage concerning this topic. The reporting pattern of solutions journalism supposes this kind of journalistic reporting and it is strongly discussed in communication sciences and journalism at the moment.The two aims of this study are based on four theoretical aspects: the responsibility of journalism, the reporting pattern of solutions journalism, the state of research concerning the image of migration and immigrants in the German media and the concept of framing. The responsibility of journalism roots in its function of information and its ethical foundation. In carrying out their work, journalists have to balance ethics of conviction and ethics of responsibility: Providing full information about a topic and the (ethical) consequences of this full information is the field of conflict in which journalism lies. In the case of media coverage about the so-called refugee crisis, it is not easy to report and not proliferating prejudice and resentments against immigrants.Generally, negative reasons of reporting are often picked up by the media. In contrast to this trend, the reporting pattern of solutions journalism focusses solutions for negative reasons of reporting. Not only the problems are discussed in this reporting pattern, also solutions are presented which should encourage the recipients to act. The journalist is accredited with the role of a mediator in public debates in the pattern of solutions journalism. This role is discussed critically in journalism and communications science.Regarding the image of migration and immigrants in the German media, communication studies do not describe this coverage in a positive way. Media reports often connect immigrants to crime, foreign infiltration or describe them as an expense factor. Also, terror and Islamic faith are topics appearing since 2011 in the German media linked with immigration. Concerning the so-called refugee crisis, the few existing studies show that this situation is described as threat. In its coverage the regional press follows the argumentation of the national press and concentrates on politics when reporting about this topic.This state of research leads to the assumption that negative patterns will dominate in the regional press concerning the so-called refugee crisis, although this topic could be the chance to implement some characteristics of solutions journalism. This hypothesis was investigated in this study by a quantitative content analysis of the regional press in Germany concerning the topic of the refugee crisis. The concept of framing was used in the methodological design of this article. To frame means to extract several aspects of reality and to emphasize some of them more than others. A frame consists of a problem definition of a topic, a causal interpretation, a moral evaluation, and a treatment recommendation. Based on this definition, frames can be seen as clusters of about four elements. To identify frames, this study uses an approach considering frames as clusters of these elements. In a quantitative content analysis these single elements were operationalized and after data collection investigated by hierarchical cluster analyses to create groups of elements which often appear together. For the content analysis, a stratified sample of eight regional newspapers in seven federal states in Germany was drawn to analyze the coverage of the year 2015. Altogether, the final sample consisted of 1231 articles.The results of this analysis show that the biggest frame in the regional press is the one of “social challenge” of the so-called refugee crisis. It deals with the social and cultural problems the so-called refugee crisis causes and replaces the dominant topic of crime in the then current state of research. Further frames are the ones of “integration”, “capacity”, “demonstration” and “solution”. The frame “integration” concentrates in a positive way on the chance of integration and is astonishingly quite equally sized in comparison to the one of “social challenge”. The frame “capacity” is smaller. It deals with the problem of accommodation of refugees. The frames of “demonstration” and “solution” appear not very often and focus the problems of protest against refugees and their supporters or political solutions for the so-called refugee crisis.But not only the widely spread frame of integration in the regional press is surprising, also its significant dominance in the coverage of the regional newspapers in East Germany is noteworthy. As more hostility against refugees can be observed in the eastern parts of Germany in 2015, it is an astonishing fact, that the regional press accents the frame of integration. Maybe the newspapers wanted to be the public counterpart to the hostile atmosphere in this region.Solution orientation as it is focused by solutions journalism could be identified in this analysis by the frame element of treatment recommendation. In sum, only few treatment recommendations exist in the regional press coverage: The widely spread frames “social challenge” and “integration” are the ones which provide the fewest treatment recommendations. The small frames “capacity” and “demonstration” are those which show the largest solution orientation. The solution proposals are oriented towards politics. These findings show that the solution orientation in the regional press coverage is not very strong, but the widely spread frame of integration demonstrates that the regional press reports in a more positive way than expected—especially in Eastern Germany.     

Qualität im Journalismus – ein integratives Konzept

To determine the various performance criteria concerning journalism it is reasonable to develop a broad concept, which integrates the different theoretical approaches. In a functional and system-oriented perspective, fundamental performance criteria can be based on the social function and the specific code of journalism, which emerged in an historical process of mutual observation of journalists and audiences. In a normative-democratic perspective, performance criteria can be derived from societal and human values codified in diverse regulations. However, in this regard it has to be taken into account that specific claims of the political subsystem also play an important role. Finally from an audience and action oriented viewpoint, it is important to keep in mind that journalistic communication must be useful and applicable in the world the audience lives in.     

Aktivität und Passivität von Journalisten gegenüber parlamentarischer Pressearbeit

Based on the intereffication model, the relationship between public relations and journalists was investigated, using the example of the press releases of the parties in the Saxonian State Parliament and the press coverage on these parties in Saxonian daily newspapers. The research is based on 486 press releases and 823 newspaper articles from the period of February to July 2000. They were coded both independently and comparatively. In this way both the adaption of journalism to PR and, vice versa, of PR to journalism can be ascertained. Merely 28 percent of the releases had a chance to be noticed in at least one of the papers, and merely a fourth of the total coverage of parties in parliament was occasioned by their press releases. When press releases were used, then mostly they were heavily edited by journalists, the more so the higher their news value was, and thus the alleged importance of their subjects. Political PR can, in certain degrees, affect its own success, most strongly by the frequency with which it appears and by using journalistic style. A paper’s editorial leanings, however, noticeably interact with the chances for success of a party’s PR. The intereffication model all in all proved to be a useful heuristic for grasping the relationship between PR and journalism.     

Die »Jungtürken« der Kommunikationswissenschaft

This article presumes that the identity of an academic discipline is defined by the people pursuing it, and thus at least indirectly by the societal and individual experiences these people were shaped by. Biographical interviews present a portrait of a generation of professors who greatly influenced the field of communication science in the German-speaking countries during the last four decades. This generation of the so-called »Young Turks« was born between 1929 and 1940, experienced the chaos of the 2^nd World War as children or adolescents and studied German Publizistik-or Zeitungswissenschaft in the 1950s or 60s to become professional journalists. These professors experienced the low reputation of their field both in the media world and in the university. This explains the importance of this generation’s wish for legitimacy of their field, and is a key to understanding the opening of the discipline to media practice (key-word: journalism programs) and its turn into an empirical social science discipline. It was predominantly the empirical (communication) research that promised a gain in reputation. The »Young Turks« found the appropriate empirical research in the field’s literature published in the United States, as well as in neighbouring social science disciplines, in economics and partly in the new founders of the discipline.     

Das Bild der Public Relations in der Qualit?tspresse

In their survey study about the image of PR in Germany, Bentele and Seidenglanz (Das Image der Image-Macher. Eine repr?sentative Studie zum Image der PR-Branche und eine Journalistenbefragung. Leipzig: Universit?t Leipzig, 2004) presume an interrelation between media coverage on PR and the general public??s conception of PR. Their results show firstly: The higher the respondents?? media consumption the more negative was their perception of PR. And secondly: The journalists among their respondents had a much more negative image of PR than the general public. Thus, our study investigates the question of how German media cover PR. We conducted a longitudinal content analysis (1993?C2006) of quality newspapers??the first study of this kind in Germany. We compared our findings from the content analysis with what we call a ??contrasting foil,?? which represents a re-construction of the ??reality?? of PR consisting of empirical data and facts about PR and the profession??s official self-image as well as of science-based theoretical reflections of PR. This ??contrasting foil?? served as a reference to clarify the journalistic positions on PR found in media coverage and to outline differences between the media??s picture of PR and the reality of PR beyond the media. Our results show that the scandalisation of PR plays an important role in the media coverage on PR.     

Journalistik praxistheoretisch betreiben

This paper proposes a practice-theoretical journalism research approach that promises to present an alternative and innovative perspective to the current empirical challenges of journalism which are mainly driven by digitization. It combines the general theme of this special issue to previous contributions within the “Publizistik” debate. By examining the problems of demarcation, technological changes, finance gaps and the loss of legitimacy in journalism; this article exemplifies the practice-theoretical approach and explains its respective advantages in coping with these challenges.After an introduction, the second section describes four intertwined problem areas that challenge journalism extensively today: The first problem area is the increasing problem of definition and demarcation through digital media that has led to a growing uncertainty about which phenomena can still be regarded as ‘journalistic’. Second is the strong pressure placed on journalism to change due to even faster developing new technologies that influence its work methods, its genres and the organization of labor. The third area is the economic difficulty arising under the new competitive conditions of digitization (‘attention economy’) that fundamentally disrupt the traditional business model of publishers. The fourth problem area is the prominently debated crisis of legitimacy and authority of established products and organizations in journalism. As this section highlights, these empirical challenges are primarily triggered and accelerated by the digitization of today’s media environment.The third section begins by proposing a practice-theoretical approach as a ‘toolkit’ for productive examination of these structural disruptions and rapid developments. The proposed approach does not present a pre-defined system of hypotheses, but primarily introduces a fundamental starting point for new research questions and empirical investigations from an alternative perspective. The particular relevance of the theoretical perspective thereby arises from (1) its central decision to observe journalistic practices, (2) the transgression of conventional boundaries of journalism, (3) the denaturalization of journalistic norms and laws, (4) the explicit consideration of a material, sociotechnical dimension of journalism, (5) the focus on the tension between journalistic practices and media management, and (6) from prioritizing order generation over stability.The second part of the third section applies the theoretical lens to reconceptualize the empirical challenges of digitization described in the second section and to provide examples of the usefulness of this perspective. In this section, the following advantages are emphasized, among others: First, from a practice theoretical viewpoint, established practices, traditional actors and reified norms do not mark the boundaries of the phenomenon; the crisis of journalism’s demarcation can be reinterpreted as a promising opportunity to diversify the concept of journalism. Second, by examining the processes of technology and its role within social practices, the practice-theoretical approach advances the current perspective on technology in journalism research thus contributing to its development towards a socio-technological and data-orientated field of investigation. Third, the financial upheavals of journalism are viewed in the context of the tense relationship between journalistic practices and media management practices without however, assuming a fundamental primacy of economic constraints. Fourth, practice theories shift our perspective on the legitimacy and authority crises of journalism; from this viewpoint, it is clear that journalism does not form a fixed, reified entity, but is constantly in a process of emergence.The fourth section sums up the conceptual advantages of the theoretical perspective with regard to current problem areas. Nevertheless, the proposed conceptualization of journalism will not solve all of its contemporary challenges. Against this background, the section also presents criticism of the practice-theoretical approach. The limits elaborated here point to the fact that a fruitful pluralism of theory is indeed needed to advance journalism research. The paper concludes with methodological insights on where research can start empirically: e.?g., by examining individual practices that are studied in depth, by focusing on specific ‘sites of the social’ or by focusing on larger constellations of practice (e.?g., journalistic networks). Qualitative observational studies are proposed as the most suitable methods for these investigations.     

Die Leistungen des Lokaljournalismus

Local news are still of rather high relevance for the audience, but in the last years few studies on local journalism in its two most important forms—print and online—were carried out in Germany. Considering that many empirical studies on local journalism were published in the 1960?s and 1970?s this is quite astonishing. At that time many deficits in quality were found: Local newspapers did not provide enough background information, they published articles with low news value and studies revealed a strong influence of public relations. Further studies pointed out that local journalism was rather uncritical, especially in reporting on local elites. In addition, the reporting was characterized by a limited diversity—regarding topics, viewpoints and journalism formats. Above all, recent studies on online journalism suggest that the percentage of exclusive content on newspaper websites is low.This study tries to fill in the gap in research on local journalism. In a first step, quality criteria for local journalism are derived from three theoretical perspectives. In (1) a functional and system-oriented perspective, journalism as a societal sub-system has a vital function for society. It was developed in the historic process by journalism itself. Journalism compensates consequences of functional differentiation in society. Journalism gathers and selects current, socially relevant and factual topics in various parts of society, edits them and returns them to society as media content. In doing so, it provides a self-observation of society with a broad social resonance. In this perspective, important criteria are, e.?g., diversity and relevance; journalism should also be entertaining and easy to understand.In (2) a normative-political perspective, criteria like, e.?g., impartiality and the respect for personal rights are located which are specified, e.?g., in media laws, codes of conduct and court decisions. Journalism is expected to support the democratic process and to offer information that enable citizens to make rational decisions. It should actively generate a common public sphere where relevant issues are freely debated by political actors and society.In (3) a spatial perspective, the local environment is regarded as the place to identify with (emotionally), as the place of everyday life (functionally), as the place of interaction and communication (socially), and as the place of participation (politically). So, local journalism should, e.?g., support political participation and connect the local and national level (quality criteria participation and glocality) and offer service news (quality criterion applicability).103 local newspaper editions and their corresponding websites were chosen by a complex two-step random sampling for the following empirical analysis. The editions were weighted by newspaper circulation and collected for one week (June 15th to 20th, 2015). 18 student assistants analyzed the newspapers and websites in a content analysis, e.?g., in terms of topics, sources, controversial debates, graphic design and service information. Data were aggregated on a weekly level for every newspaper and standardized with a theoretical or—if not possible—with an empirical maximum. The quality dimensions are mean values of the measured indicators.Data of the print analysis show that some deficits of local journalism seem to remain: Newspapers seldom provide a critical stance and neglect background information; the texts are characterized by a low news value, and they are written and designed rather boringly. In addition, local journalism offers a limited diversity of journalism formats and a small proportion of participative elements—even on the local websites. They usually offer standard options like contact addresses of the desk, comment functions or a connection with a local Facebook profile. Many of the analyzed online articles were also published in the print edition the same or the next day—however, almost 20% were original online content.Despite the number of deficits, improvements in local journalism were found: Newspapers provide a wide variety of topics, they are rather credible, and they achieve good results in independence and neutrality.Comparisons between types of newspapers (published in a major city, in a town or in rural areas or classified as tabloids) illustrate that local journalism in major cities obtains rather good values, e.?g., in terms of diversity of topics, independence, or online orientation. In rural areas newspapers often reach lower values; however, they are in the best position in terms of service orientation. In tabloids local journalism is characterized, e.?g., by a lack of participation and background information; tabloids reach—compared to other newspapers—a lower level in neutrality; however, they are much better than the others in entertainment and graphic design.All in all, the study shows that local journalism became better in some dimensions. However, major problems still prevail, e.?g., the tendency to show a harmonious world in a rather uncritical way or low news value. The article discusses methodological implications (e.?g., the question if some maximum points should be modified) and proposes aspects for future research.     

Visuelle Kandidatendarstellung in Wahlkampfbeiträgen deutscher und amerikanischer Fernsehsender – Image Bites,Rollenbilder und nonverbales Verhalten

Political communication research still lacks indepth information about the role of visual information in television news. Based on a content analysis of 158 newscasts of two US and two German channels aired during national election campaigns in 2008 and 2009 respectively, this study examines visual representations of candidates’ performances that allow conclusions to be drawn about underlying campaign strategies. Furthermore, journalists’ reporting strategies are analyzed by coding so-called sound- and image bites as well as other selection processes related to nonverbal news of candidates. Results of our bi-national comparative study confirm expectations about a transnational convergence with regard to the increasing importance of image bites, whereas sound bite journalism is particularly prevalent on commercial TV channels. US news coverage reflects a highly professionalized approach by candidates, for instance by how they stage their ‘mass appeal’ and ‘closeness to the people’. German election news reflects a less populist approach towards campaigning with candidates preferring a public image as ‘statesmen’ and ‘party representative’.     

Sportskandale in der Presse

Scandal research questions the normative social corrective function of scandal coverage. For political scandals, a correlation between coverage and disenchantment with politics has been proven. Similar effects can be expected in other domains. However, empirical evidence for this is yet missing. This study examines whether the coverage of sport scandals displays those characteristics known from the coverage of political scandals and considered to be a condition of negative effects on the recipients. To this end, the press coverage of two recent German sport scandals was analysed. Results show that the presumed characteristics known from political scandals also appear in sport scandal coverage. Finally, the extent of these negative effects and their possible consequences for journalism are discussed against the background of additional external survey data about one of the analysed scandals.     

Wider die Symbiose

The analysis deals with the presentation of hunger and related emergencies in the mass media. It focuses on problems and structures of journalistic production processes and symbiotic relationships between the media and the aid industry. Mass media often create the impression that ??hunger?? occurs unexpectedly and abruptly. In this way media and journalists produce their own news value, which they need for selling the topic. Bad weather, climate change and natural disasters fit into the concept of mass media, their news selection processes as well as their production structures much better than the fact that hunger is a political phenomenon mostly, at heart, a major political scandal. Such scandals require profound analysis, investigation and a high level of journalistic independence and know-how. In the field of disaster relief, development organizations professionalize their public relations efforts more and more. The dynamic and transactional interactions between the aid industry and journalists play an increasingly important role in disaster reporting. In Germany the networks of relief organizations stretch deeply into editorial offices. The relief industry has a tight media network in Germany. In their communications efforts, fear and pity, two of the strongest individual and socio-psychological emotions, play a central role.     

Transparenz im Journalismus

The transparency that journalists and newsrooms can produce for their audience has long been regarded as a rather marginal criterion for journalistic quality. But new transparency models??due to the interactivity, immediacy, archiving capacity and the absent limitation of space in the internet??offer greater potentials than classical instruments in print and broadcasting. In comments, web videos, blogs, twitter feeds and social networks, journalists discuss with users and publicly account for editorial decisions. Transparency is fashionable in the digital public sphere; its evaluation, however, is not clear, but ambiguous and complex. This paper conceptualizes (self-)transparency and qualitatively classifies the available instruments in a three-dimensional matrix model. This is to facilitate the analysis of problematic areas and potential conflicts: Newsrooms demonstrating open self-reflection dismiss the ideal of ??objective journalism??. Yet, transparency is not only an ethical demand, but is also supposed to strengthen trust in journalistic products because it permits quality evaluations by the audience. An experiment shows, for the first time, that self-transparency has an effect on trust in some aspects but not as a basic principle. Analysing this interdependency, we have to distinguish between transparency of process and of product as well as between different media.     

Verhalten optimistisch

Information about music rank highest among the most popular media issues. With their information, music journalists contribute considerably to the media’s cultural basic services. However, there is a lack of reliable data on these specialists, their everyday work, their professional satisfaction, their self-conception as well as their role in society. The present study aims at closing this gap in communicator research. Additionally, we ask how music journalists anticipate their future in a changing media world which provides manifold other ways to gain information on music. The results of the unrepresentative online survey (n?=?209) show that today’s music journalists are relaxed about their professional situation and do not question the necessity of their job. Above all, they consider themselves to be information brokers with a subjective and critical demand for autonomy who unwaveringly believe that the review is the most important form of knowledge transfer. Also, a surprising consent is revealed between journalists reporting on entertaining music and journalists reporting on classical music as well as between newspaper and online journalists.     

Bereichernd oder belanglos?

Although participatory press photography has existed for decades, its institutionalization by tabloid journalism is a relatively new phenomenon. The most popular example in Germany is constituted by the “reader reporters” of the tabloid newspaper Bild. Supporters of participatory press photography hope for an enrichment of news coverage while its critics consider the photos as insignificant. This paper tries to clarify this controversy on the basis of news value theory. It presents the results of a census of reader reporter photographs and their adjacent articles. This paper tries to answer the question of whether selection and prominence of the photographs is oriented toward societal or individual relevance. It can be shown that selection is dominated by “soft” news factors while prominence is mainly influenced by “hard” news factors. The latter are also attributed to the photographs via the adjacent text. The results can be transferred to other forms of participatory journalism. They support the hypothesis of a complementary rather than competitive relation between participatory and professional journalism.     

Kriegsberichterstattung in deutschen Qualitätszeitungen

As the gulf wars and the wars in former Yugoslavia occured in the 1990s, researchers and journalists alike began to discuss anew the conditions, role, and effects of war coverage. Despite the comparatively large number of empirical studies on war coverage, longitudinal analyses of the development and change of the media’s performance in constructing an image of war are lacking to date. The study introduced here pursues this subject with a broadly conceived content analysis. Starting with the fact that the media do not only merely take up issues, but process them in a specific way, we looked for coverage patterns into which frames of interpretation were worked during the journalists‘ production of the media image of events — a process referred to as framing. It was the aim of the study to investigate more closely the framing of German war coverage. It appeared that media reconstruction of war changed over time. German war coverage retains, however, a strong focus on the military and combat action. It is rather these subjects than, for instance, the causes or consequences of war that are most intensely covered.