Immersive Journalism

In March 2020, Sophie Lecheler and Loes Aaldering will begin working on a new project called „Immersive Journalism - The Future of News?“, funded by the ÖNB Jubiläumsfonds. In this project, they will study the visibility and effects of immersive news production. This will include a number of studies, such as an experimental study on possible emotional backfire effects of immersive news production. The project team also includes a new PhD student, Hannah Greber, who joins the Political Communication Group as the project commences.

Emotions in Journalism and News

In a number of studies, we examine the role emotions play in the political communication process. For example, which effects will emotional appeals in journalistic news have on political behavior, or how important are positive emotions during political campaigns? We also determine how to best measure trait and state emotions in mediated communication research.

Sophie Lecheler, Loes Aaldering

collaboration with Michael Bruder (London School of Economics), Sarah Harrison (London School of Economics).

Digitalization in Journalism

Digitalization has changed how journalists produce news. By means of qualitative and quantitative research techniques with both journalists and citizens, we observe how exactly journalists today use online tools, for example to verify information and find reliable sources. We also study innovation in journalism, such as immersive journalism, Virtual Reality reporting, and augmented reality in journalism.

Sophie Lecheler

collaboration with Sanne Kruikemeier (ASCoR, University of Amsterdam), Yael de Haan (Utrecht University of Applied Sciences)

Fake News and Media Credibility

Everyone is talking about „Fake News“ - but, how useful is the concept in our research field? We suggest that fake news’ alludes to two dimensions of political communication: the fake news genre (i.e. the deliberate creation of pseudojournalistic disinformation) and the fake news label (i.e. the instrumentalization of the term to delegitimize news media). The project observes the theoretical implications of „Fake News“ for our field, the occurrence of the term in public debate, as well as its effects on citizens.

Jana Egelhofer, Sophie Lecheler, Loes Aaldering

collaboration with Jakob-Moritz Eberl (University of Vienna) and Sebastian Galyga (University of Vienna)

Identity Motivated Reasoning

In times of populism and polarization, citizens’ identification with groups like their gender, rage, or age is increasingly important for understanding politics. So far, political communication research has predominantly focused on the impact of partisanship on opinion formation. This project takes this field one step further, widening our knowledge on the impact of group membership on political opinions and attitudes.

Ming Boyer, Sophie Lecheler, Loes Aaldering

Political Leadership and the Media

The media focus strongly on party leaders in their political reporting. In various studies, we examine which leadership traits are used by the media to discuss political leaders and what the electoral effects are of this coverage. Additionally, we study the relationship between partisan stereotypes and mediated leadership effects.

Loes Aaldering, Sophie Lecheler

Gender, Politics and Communication

Media report on men and women politicians in different ways, highlighting different background aspects, issues and character traits. In a number of studies, we examine these gender differences in political media coverage, the stereotypes voters and journalists hold for male and female politicians, and the electoral effects of gender bias in media coverage.

Loes Aaldering

collaboration with Daphne van der Pas (University of Amsterdam)

Contact

Universität Wien
Institut für Publizistik- und
Kommunikationswissenschaft
Althanstr. 14, UZAII, Rotunde
A-1090 Wien
T: +43-1-4277-49326

Recent Publications:

Egelhofer, J. L., and Lecheler, S. (2019). Fake news as a two-dimensional phenomenon: a framework and research agenda. Annals of the International Communication Association, (online first).
Lecheler, S. (2019). Framing effects in political communication. Oxford Bibliographies, Political Science. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756223-0269.
Metz, M., Kruikemeier, S. and Lecheler, S. (2019). Personalization of politics on Facebook: Examining the content and effects of professional, emotional, and private self-personalization. Information, Communication and Society. Accepted for publication.
Egelhofer, J., andLecheler, S. (2018). Das Fake News-Phänomen - eine Einordnung. Historische Sozialkunde, 4, pp. 3-9.
Aaldering, L. (2018). 'The (ir)rationality of mediatized leadership effects', Electoral Studies, 54: 269-280.
Lecheler, Sophie. “Framing Effects in Political Communication.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Political Science. Ed. Sandy Maisel. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
Van 't Riet, J., Schaap, G., Kleemans, M., Veiling, H., and Lecheler, S. (2018). On Different Sides: Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Anger Expression in Political News Messages. Political Psychology (online first).
Bartholomé, G., Lecheler, S., and de Vreese, C. (2018). Towards A Typology of Conflict Frames: Substantiveness and interventionism in political conflict news. Journalism Studies, 19(12), 1689-1711.
Aaldering, L., and van der Pas, D.J. (2018). 'Political Leadership in the Media: Gender Bias in Leader Stereotypes during Campaign and Routine Times', British Journal of Political Science (online first).
Van Leuven, S., Kruikemeier, S., Lecheler, S., and Hermans, L. (2018). Online And Newsworthy: Have online sources changed journalism?. Digital Journalism, 6(7), 798-806.
Lecheler , S. (2018). Down the rabbit hole: Integrating emotions into news framing effects research . In P. D’Angelo and J. A. Kuypers (Eds.), Doing news framing analysis (2nd edition), pp. 71-89. New York : Routledge.
De Haan, Y., Kruikemeier, S., Lecheler, S., Smit, G., and Van der Nat, R. (2018). Audience uses and evaluations of news visualizations: when does an infographic say more than a thousand words. In A. Nguyen (Ed.), News, Numbers and Public Opinion in a Data-Driven World (pp. 191-208). New York/London: Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Kruikemeier, S., and Lecheler, S. (2018). News consumer perceptions of new journalistic sourcing techniques. Journalism Studies, 19(5), 632-649.
Aaldering, L., van der Meer, T., and Van der Brug, W. (2018). Mediated Leader Effects: The Impact of Newspapers’ Portrayal of Party Leadership on Electoral Support. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 23(1), 70-94.
Kruikemeier, S., Lecheler, S., and Boyer, M. M. (2018). Learning from news on different media platforms: An eye-tracking experiment. Political Communication, 35(1), 75-96.
Wurff, van der R., De Swert, K., and Lecheler, S. (2016). News Quality and Public Opinion: The Impact of Deliberative Quality of News Media on Citizens' Argument Repertoire. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, IJPOR. Advance online publication.
Lecheler, S., and de Vreese, C. H. (2016). How long do news framing effects last? A systematic review of longitudinal studies. Annals of the International Communication Association, 40(1), p. 3-30.
Lecheler, S., and Kruikemeier, S. (2016). Re-evaluating journalistic routines in a digital age. A review of research on the use of online sources. New Media and Society, 18(1), 156-171.
Feinholdt, A., Schuck, A.R.T., Lecheler, S., and de Vreese, C.H. (2016). Shifting frames: Conditional indirect effects of contested issues on perceived effectiveness through multiple emotions. Journal of Media Psycholgy.

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