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.     

Predictors of H1N1 Influenza Pandemic News Coverage: Explicating the Relationships between Framing and News Release Selection

In health pandemic situations characterized by urgency, uncertainty and information scarcity, news media are highly reliant on information subsidies from public health agencies. This study, based on a content analysis, examines the relationships between the framing characteristics of news releases and subsequent publication to identify the predictors of news release selection for news coverage in the 2009 H1N1 A Influenza pandemic in Singapore. Through the news releases issued by the Singapore Ministry of Health and the resulting news stories in a Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times, this study found that six framing variables significantly predict a news release’s selection for news coverage: theme, episodic vs. thematic framing, emotion appeal, tone, gain vs. loss, and outbreak vs. nonoutbreak situation. News releases are more likely to be selected for news coverage when they focus on a preventive frame, rely on thematic framing, use emotion appeal, have a positive tone, are framed as gain, and are issued during an outbreak situation.     

Akteursbeziehungen in der Zeitungsberichterstattung über die Online-Aktivitäten des öffentlich-rechtlichen RundfunksActor relations in the newspaper coverage about the online activities of public service broadcasting in Germany

Focusing on the media policy debate about the Internet activities of public service broadcasting in Germany this paper investigates in how far strategic interests of newspaper publishers impact upon the news coverage of their newspapers. Using a combined content and network analytic approach the study examines what further actors from the media policy field were presented in the media debate and how they are related to each other. Empirically, the study relies on a content analysis examining the news coverage about the Internet activities of public service broadcasting in three national daily newspapers (die tageszeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt). 156 articles were coded using the principles of relational content analysis that allow studying actors‘ interactions as symbolized networks. Results found indication of the assumed influence of publisher’s interest on their news coverage. Additionally it was found that the newspaper’s editorial line seems to have a moderating effect on this process. Results from the network analysis point to a very polarized debate that is dominated by private media corporations and their associations.     

Themenzyklus der Kriegsberichterstattung – ein Phasenmodell

In this article, we analyse war coverage from a longitudinal perspective. In doing so, we refer to the classical issue cycle model, which has been discussed frequently in communication science. We adapt the model to war coverage and – according to the duration and the predictability of war events – we distinguish different types of news cycles. We assume that different stages of news coverage differ not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively with regard to the cited sources. The coverage on the war in Lebanon (2006) in the newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung serves as a case study for the empirical exploration of the suggested model. The coverage can be divided into four different phases, and the results show that it was mainly event-driven. In the peak phase of coverage, increased citations of actors participating in the conflict and of other media actors are observed, as well as generally the most diverse range of voices to be heard in the coverage.     

Frames und Positionen zur EU-Osterweiterung

While framing theory is concerned with the way media content is presented, news bias theory concentrates on the evaluative aspect. The study integrates both approaches of news structuring. A detailed argument analysis of two German quality newspapers, Die Welt and Frankfurter Rundschau, representative for two opposite editorial viewpoints, was conducted to test the assumptions of both theories. The examination of news coverage related to the accession of Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania to the EU contradicts previous results of framing and news bias research. Apart from finding a pronounced focus on economical topics in both newspapers, they clearly differ in their frames of reference and political positions on the issues, staying in line with their editorial orientation. A comparison of the different accession times reveals a change in the frames of reference and the advocates of these frames.     

Der Begriff Lügenpresse in deutschen Tageszeitungen

In Germany, we currently see on-going changes in politics and society. More and more people seem to lose faith not only in politics, but also in the mainstream media. Since autumn 2014, the distrust in and suspicion of the news media has reached a new level: the group “Pegida” (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West) coined the term Lügenpresse (lying press) to illustrate their growing distrust in news media. The term lying press emerged for the first time in 1914 and was regularly used for war propaganda to defame foreign media. In general, the term is not only used by followers of a certain political direction, but in the context of different, especially antidemocratic, political movements (e.?g., during the National Socialist era or during the GDR era in Germany). Since the beginning of the 2000s, however, the concept has been increasingly referred to by right-wing groups (see Heine 2015; Klarmann 2013). Nevertheless, this is not only an issue in Germany, since Pegida has support in other European countries, such as Great Britain and the Netherlands.News media become part of their own coverage as soon as they refer to these developments. Self-discussion or self-coverage can be described as journalistic communication about journalism and means that the media themselves become the object of reporting. Hence, when media use the term lying press, they inevitably refer to themselves. The present study deals with how the media refer to the term lying press and how they reflect upon it. The main question we deal with in our study is how detailed the concept is reflected on and how the media deal with the associated reproach of deliberate misinformation.Drawing on the concept of framing, a content analysis is employed in order to analyze how newspapers report on the term, how they relate it to themselves and how they deal with its implications. The framing approach deals with the emergence, dissemination and alteration of interpretive frames, which are placed on an issue and determine the point of view on this topic. According to Matthes (2014), frames can be understood as a tool to highlight certain information or aspects of a topic while neglecting others. The framing approach deals with the genesis, alteration and effects of frames, which are located at various points in the communication process. In this study, we focus on media frames in the daily newspaper coverage. We rely upon the definition according to Entman (1993) which has been most frequently operationalized so far.We postulate several research questions that deal with the concept of self-coverage and framing. We are, for example, interested in verifying the sections of newspapers in which the term is referred to and if there are differences in how strongly the term is reflected upon. Furthermore, our research interest focuses on how the term is framed, which frames are dominant in the news media and if the frames change over time. We investigated the coverage of the five most widely circulated daily newspapers (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Bild, die Welt, and die tageszeitung) in Germany from October 2014 to October 2015. We discovered 304 articles with 338 statements referring to the term lying press. With a cluster analysis, we extracted four frames.Overall, the term lying press is more strongly reflected on in media sections than in political reporting. In political sections the term is often only mentioned without further contextualization. The four extracted clusters, which can be interpreted as media frames, are termed as follows: demanding author frame, reserved expert frame, external accusation frame, and unreflected author frame.In political sections of newspapers, the two rather undifferentiated frames (external accusation frame with 35% and unreflected author frame with 36%) are dominant. The reserved expert frame (35%) and the unreflected author frame (43%) are the two dominant frames in media sections. Nevertheless, the two most common frames (external accusation frame and unreflected author frame) do not use the term lying press in a critical and reflective way (combined percentage of 60%). The selection of the term as “non-word” of the year did not significantly change the frequency with which the four frames are used within the media.Our results show that the term lying press is used in different ways – but in most cases, there is only little or no elaboration. Frequently, the term is only mentioned without a deeper discussion and classification of the term and its meaning. It sometimes even seems that newspapers use the term ironically as a synonym for themselves instead of the terms media or press. However, the associated trivialization of a term carrying such negative connotations is problematic and could help to establish lying press as an unreflected designation for the media. The media might miss the opportunity to both react decisively to the accusations and to illustrate how important they are in a democratic society. The term must be placed in its historical context and should not be permitted as a flat-rate defamation. Whether the underlying criticism is justified or not, the media should discuss the term and, if possible, invalidate it. In this context, the media must perform their function of practicing criticism – also against themselves. Limitations and future research are discussed at the end of the paper.     

Demokratische Internet-Öffentlichkeit? Ein Vergleich der öffentlichen Kommunikation im Internet und in den Printmedien am Beispiel der Humangenomforschung

The importance of the internet has increased significantly in recent years. The easy access of this »new« medium sparked many hopes for a democratization of the public sphere and of public debate: Many authors argued that the internet will make actors and interpretations of topics visible to those parts of the broader public who are usually marginalized in »old« mass media. In an empirical analysis, we compared print media coverage and internet communication to assess these claims. For the case of human genome research — i.e. a bioscientific topic that reseived extensive media attention in Germany —, we analyzed which actors were given public standing and which frames came to the fore. In contrast to the claims mentioned above, our findings indicate that the debate in the internet does not differ to a significant extent from the offline debate in print media. We could not find a more egalitarian, democratic communication in the internet.     

Transnationalisierte Öffentlichkeit und Klimapolitik

For decades, the analysis of public spheres has been a core field in communication science and neighboring disciplines. Its special importance is grounded in the assumption that the public sphere is the primary realm of societal self-understanding, a sphere in which collectively relevant issues, potential solutions and the activity of political and other stakeholders is discussed and put up for scrutiny and legitimization. In much of this research, the media have played a key role, as they were seen as the generally accessible, permanent and comprehensive “master forum” of the public sphere.In recent years, however, scholarship on the public sphere has undergone a “major theoretical shift”, namely, a widening of the analytical perspective from national to transnational concepts of public spheres. Against the backdrop of a general transnationalization of the social sphere, communication scholars have increasingly paid attention to transnational forms of public sphere(s). Many of them, however, have focused on the (potential) emergence of a European public sphere in light of the expansion of the European Union, and only recently has research started to address transnational public spheres beyond Europe.This study ties in with this field of research. An empirical analysis of (potential) transnational public spheres was conducted by focusing on a subject which has been interpreted as a focal point for the emergence of a transnational or even global public sphere: international climate change policy. Due to its high priority and wide reach, international climate policy is said to constitute conditions conducive for a potential transnationalization of public spheres.We understand transnationalization as a pervasion of national public spheres with transnational references that can be distinguished along two analytical dimensions: “Vertical” transnationalization describes the extent to which organizations and actors representing a form of supranational governance are represented and/or (de)legitimized in national public spheres. The “horizontal” transnationalization describes the extent to which organizations or actors from foreign countries are represented within national public spheres.In addition, we differentiate a “strong” and “weak” variant of vertical resp. horizontal transnationalization. For example, a “weak vertical transnationalization” characterizes a case where supranational governance institutions are merely mentioned within a national public sphere; whereas a “strong vertical transnationalization” characterizes a situation where actors from supranational governance institutions have the opportunity to actively express themselves.Our main research questions are 1) to what extent is the media coverage about climate policy in the examined countries pervaded by transnational references? 2) Which patterns of transnationalization can be identified in the media coverage about climate policy in the examined countries?We conducted a manual as well as an automated quantitative content analysis of newspaper coverage about climate change policy in 15 countries. We analyzed 4955 news articles from quality, tabloid and local newspapers for the whole year of 2014. The articles were downloaded from databases like LexisNexis and Factiva, using a complex search string in four languages. The automated content analysis—used to identify the weak variant of transnationalization—followed the “dictionary approach”, with dictionaries based on elaborated word lists (in German and English) that were translated into Portuguese and Spanish and further adapted for this study. The results of the automated content analysis were tested against a manual analysis of 50 randomly selected articles, with very good reliability for each language-specific dictionary (Krippendorff’s Alpha above 0.909). Regarding the manual content analysis—used to identify the strong variant of transnationalization—11 coders were trained and achieved a satisfying to good reliability (Krippendorff’s Alpha above 0.72).Firstly, our analysis shows a visible transnationalization of public debates about climate change policy. In all countries, foreign and supranational actors dominate the domestic news coverage (weak pattern). Conversely, regarding the strong pattern of transnationalization national actors who actively express themselves are dominant.Secondly, our findings show that the transnationalization of the public sphere differs depending on the dimension examined. On the one hand, the horizontal transnationalization appears more often than the vertical one: References to actors from other countries in climate policy-related debates appear more often than references to supranational institutions. On the other hand, transnational references tend to appear rather in a weak than a strong pattern: Foreign or supranational actors are mentioned more often than they express themselves actively. Furthermore, transnational references seem to concentrate on a few actors like the UN, the EU, China and the USA.Thirdly, we found country and media type-related differences regarding the extent, structural patterns and reach of transnationalization. Media type differences seem to correspond with the findings research about European public sphere yielded: News coverage of quality papers is more transnationalized than regional and especially tabloid papers.     

??ber Terroristen und Spitzensportler

Islamophobia is more strongly developed in East Germany compared to the western part of the country. Given the lack of personal contact with Muslims in East Germany, islamophobia is probably strongly influenced by media coverage. For this reason, the coverage of two East German regional newspapers, Nordkurier and Volksstimme, is analyzed against the theoretical background of a conjunction of the social-psychological stereotype content model with the communication-scientific concept of framing. Using content analysis and latent class analysis, two so-called stereotype frames were identified. Two thirds of all Islam-related articles use the ??cold and harm frame??. Here, Muslims are often blamed for the lethal consequences of terrorist action, their behaviour is evaluated as cold or immoral, and military interventions against them are discussed. On the other hand, one third of all Islam-related articles belongs to the ??competence and cooperation frame??. Competence is ascribed to Muslims as their success in artistic, athletic or political activities is recognized and other actors?? interest in cooperation in these areas is emphasized. Whereas the ??cold and harm frame?? probably promotes medial segregation, the ??competence and cooperation frame?? is representing an assimilative model of media integration.     

TTIP in den Medien

The global trade of goods and services is characterised by several disputes on policy, economic, and social issues. Especially the negotiations about the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US were highly discussed. In such controversies mass media plays a crucial role by shaping public discourses and democratic processes of opinion building. This study focuses on the deliberative media function and analyses the performance of German newspapers in the TTIP debate. Influenced by Habermas’ concept of deliberation, the public sphere is seen as an arena for rational debates and discursive interactions. According to this normative concept mass media should create a generally accessible, inclusive communication space where a diversity of political positions is argued and validated (input dimension of deliberation). Furthermore, public discourse should be based on a rational, responsive, and respectful way of communication (throughput dimension of deliberation). This leads to the empirical questions on how news reporting fulfills these normative demands of the deliberative theory.Although the concept of a deliberative public has been intensively discussed since the beginning of the 1990s, empirical studies on deliberative performance of mass media are relatively rare. Especially the conditions of a viable public deliberation need more investigation. To contribute to a deeper understanding of mediated deliberation, the present study examines different context factors which can be related to different degrees of deliberative media quality: (1) journalism type (quality vs. tabloid journalism), (2) partisan line (conservative vs. left-liberal papers), and (3) scandalisation, personalisation and emotionalisation as special characteristics of news construction. Particularly, the role played by these three patterns of journalistic news construction is unclear. On the one hand, it could be argued that substantial criticism and scandalisation of grievances is a fundamental element of public deliberation. On the other hand, scandalisation may reduce rational and respectful argumentation and create a hysterical public climate. In the same way it seems reasonable to assume that a strong emphasis on persons and their attributes rather than on issues and policy positions restricts the deliberative exchange of ideas. Otherwise, the focus on politicians and their positions could reduce the complexity of the discourse and report political concepts and abstract ideas within a personal story. Finally, emotions are ingredients of an empathic, responsive communication but also may harm the rationality of discourse at the same time. Considering these patterns of news construction, prospects for deliberative exchange are mixed and call for more empirical investigation.To investigate these contexts for a deliberative media performance, a quantitative content analysis of the debate on TTIP in German newspapers was conducted. The media sample included four quality newspapers (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, tageszeitung, Welt) and three tabloid newspapers (Bild, Hamburger Morgenpost, Abendzeitung München) which represent the left-right-wing spectrum of German print media. We analysed 531 articles about TTIP from June 2013 until January 2016. The coding scheme involved the deliberative criteria and the three discussed patterns of news construction. To measure deliberative media performance, two normative demands of the input dimension of public deliberation (inclusiveness of speakers and inclusiveness of opinions) and four demands of the throughput dimension were coded (justification, verifiable justification, responsiveness, and civility).Considering the input dimension of deliberation, it turns out that the discourse across all newspapers can be seen as inclusive. Speakers and opinions from different parts of the political system as well as actors from civil society and economic stakeholders are included in the news reporting on TTIP. However, for individual newspapers it can be shown that apart from this general conclusion partisan lines limit the diversity of the debate. Especially the left-wing newspaper tageszeitung rarely quotes and discusses positions pro TTIP while the most conservative paper of the sample Welt focuses more on pro opinions from industry actors. The moderate papers SZ and FAZ draw a balanced, inclusive portrait of the trade agreement. In sum, although the whole debate on TTIP is largely diverse, single papers give a biased picture of the conflict which limits the deliberative performance of these media outlets. On the throughput dimension of mediated deliberation, the study shows substantial differences between quality and tabloid journalism. The three tabloid newspapers of this sample show significantly lower performance. In particular, a comprehensive rational justification and responsive comparison of different opinions is mostly missing in this journalism type. For the three analysed patterns of news construction we find that personalisation, emotionalisation and scandalisation relate to low deliberative performance. In particular, the civility of communication is missing when media content reports on TTIP in a scandalised and emotionalised way. But also the rational and responsive exchange of ideas is limited in articles which show these characteristics. In sum, the study shows that the concept of public deliberation offers a fruitful benchmark to examine the performance of news coverage and evaluate different contexts of media content.     

Statistenrolle als Migrant zu vergeben

Studies regarding the media portrayal of migrants differentiate between the actor roles of active speakers and passive objects. Furthermore, the single indicators applied in many studies cannot capture the interconnectedness of public debates on migrants. By understanding the debate as a symbolic network of media-imparted interactions, this study analyses the discursively important role of the addressee. United in the concept of the active-passive-balance of public representation, the network-analytic indicators show to what extent the media are representing migrants adequately or whether they over-/underrepresent them in specific roles. The gathered relational data of a claims analysis of press articles from June 1999 and 2009 portray changes of migrants?? actor roles. A high legitimation of migrants as addressees substantiates indications of positive discrimination in the sense of ??goodwill coverage??. Structurally the media-imparted interactions, esp. the level of conflict in the debate, point towards existing partitioning tendencies in the social collectives?? discourse.     

Der Fall G��nter Grass: Eine Inhaltsanalyse ausgew?hlter Qualit?tsmedien nach dem Waffen-SS-Gest?ndnis

When Günter Grass revealed in an interview published in the FAZ in August 2006 that he had been a member of the Waffen-SS, this triggered an intense and emotional discourse in (the cultural sections of) German newspapers and magazines. This discourse can be described as a relatively balanced media conflict between the pro-Grass and the anti-Grass camps that gradually became more negative and in which tendencies of scandalization can be observed in the coverage of the Spiegel and the taz. It is noticeable that Grass??s apologists were often not the journalists themselves but external authors who were invited by the newspapers and magazines to present their opinion even if it differed from their own. Four of the five newspapers and magazines analyzed in this study (FAZ, SZ, taz, Zeit, Spiegel) took a critical stance towards Günter Grass and his revelation, only the Zeit defended him. However, with the exception of the Spiegel that held a strongly negative view on Grass, none of them followed a consistent strategy. These results show that the debate around Grass also took place within the newspapers and magazines and not only between them.     

Medienberichterstattung über Medienkonzentration

Taking into account the ongoing political debate on self-regulating and self-observing media and the increasing media concentration, the study explores journalists’ strategies of manufacturing credibility in self-referential media communication. How do journalists try to construct a »normal distance« between their public functions on the one hand and the economic stakes of the media conglomerates they work for and the media industry on the other. Based on a qualitative content analysis, the case study on the coverage of the AOL-Time Warner merger reveals significant differences in the tendencies of coverage and the strategies used to solve this dilemma: Independent media such as 〉die tageszeitung〈 tend to report more intensely and to comment more critically, also considering the frameworks of media politics and media ethics. A comparison of 〉Newsweek〈 and 〉Time Magazine〈 shows that increasing self-referentiality goes along with an increasing use and complexity of all three strategies: distancing, revealing, and concealing. 〉Newsweek〈 provides a much more pluralistic and more critical view of the merger than the AOL-Time Warner owned 〉Time Magazine〈, its direct competitor.     

Gentechnologie in der Presse

The aim of the study at hand is to analyze systematically the public discussion about the application of genetic engineering in an internationally comparative perspective. It presents the results of an analysis of the public debate about genetic engineering from 1973 to 1996 in Germany and eight additional European countries. Furthermore, a long-term analysis of the coverage of genetic engineering by the German daily newspaper 〉tageszeitung〈 was conducted. The results show that the coverage of the topic by the German media does not deserve its bad reputation. Its typical feature is rather normality in the sense of a critical benefit-orientation. Especially the German opinion-leading media (〉Der Spiegel〈, 〉Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung〈) reflect transnational developments profoundly and from multiple perspectives.     

Publizistische Chancengleichheit in der Wahlkampfberichterstattung?

A true democracy is based on political competition. Political parties set up programmes and suggest solutions which the electorate is then asked to choose between. Competition for tomorrow??s leadership positions can only be fair if today there are equal opportunities for all parties. The German legislative body passed several laws which are meant to guarantee equal opportunities in this contest. In times of an ever increasing importance of the mass media for political communication, this paper is meant to answer the question of whether??besides equal political opportunities??there is something like equal media opportunities, and if so, which indicators can be used to measure them. After a broad theoretical examination, an empirical analysis of the media coverage prior to the general elections in 1998, 2002 and 2009 follows. It reveals that??from a quantitative point of view??there certainly are equal media opportunities for the political parties sitting in the German Bundestag. The chances for media coverage are, especially for smaller parties, better than the gradation of equal chances by formal regulations.     

Synchronisation von Nachricht und Werbung

Advertiser pressure has always been seen as a potential source of bias in the coverage of ad-financed media. The effects of advertiser pressure, however, have seldom been subject to systematic empirical research. Content analyses on the subject are particularly rare. This study for the first time scrutinizes on how the representation of firms by the leading German political weeklies Der Spiegel und Focus correlates with the amount of advertising by those firms. For this purpose all ads and the full news coverage on selected firms during the year of 2011 were analyzed. Central findings show that firms will receive more coverage, friendlier coverage and a larger share of product coverage, the higher their volume of advertising both in Der Spiegel and in Focus.     

Parlamente in non-fiktionalen und fiktionalen AngebotenThe portrayal of parliaments in non-fictional and fictional TV-programs

Parliaments are the hearts of democracy. This is where negotiations between different political actors on different levels take place, where negotiation processes are consolidated and where binding decisions for our society are made. We are currently witnessing both an increase in the importance of media coverage for political communication and a fragmentation of the audience’s exposure to it. This article analyzes how non-fictional and fictional TV-programs depict the logic behind the working method of the parliament. Based on a comprehensive theoretical discussion, a quantitative content analysis of parliamentary reporting in Berlin direkt and the depiction of parliamentary procedures in the Danish TV-series Borgen was conducted. Results show that both Berlin direkt and Borgen depict the procedural character of parliamentary negotiation processes and therefore help the public gain a better understanding of parliamentary procedures.     

Die Auswirkung des Schlüsselereignisses „Silvesternacht in Köln“ auf die Kriminalitätsberichterstattung

Key events captivate the attention of the news and the public. Previous research has shown that key events even influence news coverage that is not directly related to the key event. In fact, key events may increase the amount of news coverage about similar events. We investigated whether the key event “New Year’s Eve in Cologne” elicited a substantial effect on crime coverage. We hypothesized that the mentioning of foreigner-related attributes (foreigner, migration background, North African, and asylum seeker) has increased due to the key event. A content analysis of German news coverage supports this assumption. Therefore, the key event influenced journalistic selection decisions (i.?e., selection of events or selection of event attributes) that ultimately altered actual news coverage. This finding has important societal implications: The German press council recommends to only report on the nationality of offenders if there is a “justified reason.” As revealed by the present study, the key event influenced journalistic decision making and thus actual news coverage. This is an important finding because previous research indicates that the mentioning of foreigner-related attributes in crime articles can contribute to negative beliefs and attitudes toward foreigners and asylum seekers. This may ultimately influence the public debate about this issue.     

Duell oder Berichterstattung?

Televised debates between the German Chancellor and his challenger were held for the first time in the election campaign in 2002. Hence we had the opportunity to examine the effects of debates as well as the impact of the follow-up news coverage of the debate. By combining a content analysis of debate coverage and a representative survey, we explored how voters’ reception of the first TV debate and their reception of the debate coverage interacted. Voters were influenced both by the impression they formed by directly viewing the debate and by the indirect impression they gained from follow-up media coverage. On the one hand we found an impact on voters’ views of the candidates’ appearance and of who won the debate. On the other hand we found an impact on voters’ general notions of the candidates’ personalities and competences. Furthermore there were — probably rather short-lived — shifts of candidate and party preferences.     

Image Repair Campaign Strategies Addressing Race: Paula Deen,Social Media,and Defiance

This multi-method study examines how the use of social media in a crisis campaign involving race-related issues may affect a public figure’s credibility and perceived response appropriateness. First, image repair theory is used to analyze Paula Deen’s image repair campaign in the wake of the National Enquirer’s revelation that she admitted to using the “N-word” during a lawsuit deposition. Our analysis shows her response strategies were unsuccessful because her apology did not center on the allegations, and she was contradictory in her bolstering, minimization, and mortification strategies. We build on the Deen case study results by exploring the effectiveness of tweeted message strategies in a race-related crisis via Twitter. We use a mixed-design experiment examining how public figure type (politician v. TV celebrity) and response strategy (moral defense, performance defense, defiance defense, no defense) affect perceptions of a female public figure’s credibility and perceptions of the appropriateness of the response. Results show that any of the three responses are better than no response when addressing charges of racial insensitivity. A defiance defense, as newly tested strategy, and moral defense worked better for the TV celebrity condition than the politician condition. Implications are discussed.