The more sophisticated, the more biased? : testing a new measure of political sophistication on biased information processing. - In: International journal of public opinion research, ISSN 1471-6909, Bd. 35 (2023), 4, edad037, S. 1-12
According to literature, biased information processing increases with political sophistication. The logic behind this relationship is that political sophisticates possess greater cognitive skills and knowledge to defend their prior beliefs. Although political sophistication can be understood as a multidimensional concept, existing research primarily uses general political knowledge as a proxy to assess it. Therefore, we introduce a more rigorous measure of sophistication that gauges individuals’ ability to justify their attitudes with substantive and well-elaborated arguments and put the classic measure of political sophistication to a test. We study these mechanisms in a direct-democratic setting via an online survey, in which 898 Swiss-German voters are exposed to a tailored counterargument on a political referendum. Our results indicate that individuals with higher levels of sophistication evaluate counter-attitudinal information less favorably and hold more stable opinions. While we did not find support for the hypothesis that sophistication leads to selective exposure to consonant information, our analysis points to a reverse mechanism: individuals with lower levels of sophistication exhibit a higher likelihood of exposure to dissonant views. Notably, these results align with the trends reported for general political knowledge and corroborate the validity of using general political knowledge as a proxy for political sophistication.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edad037
Mapping a dark space: challenges in sampling and classifying non-institutionalized actors on Telegram. - In: Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft, ISSN 2942-3317, Bd. 71 (2023), 3/4, S. 212-229
Crafted as an open communication platform characterized by high anonymity and minimal moderation, Telegram has garnered increasing popularity among activists operating within repressive political contexts, as well as among political extremists and conspiracy theorists. While Telegram offers valuable data access to research non-institutionalized activism, scholars studying the latter on Telegram face unique theoretical and methodological challenges in systematically defining, selecting, sampling, and classifying relevant actors and content. This literature review addresses these issues by considering a wide range of recent research. In particular, it discusses the methodological challenges of sampling and classifying heterogeneous groups of (often non-institutionalized) actors. Drawing on social movement research, we first identify challenges specific to the characteristics of non-institutionalized actors and how they become interlaced with Telegram’s platform infrastructure and requirements. We then discuss strategies from previous Telegram research for the identification and sampling of a study population through multistage sampling procedures and the classification of actors. Finally, we derive challenges and potential strategies for future research and discuss ethical challenges.
https://doi.org/10.5771/1615-634X-2023-3-4-212
Still facing the ‘paper ceiling’? : exploring gender differences in political news coverage of the last decade. - In: Journalism, ISSN 1741-3001, Bd. 0 (2023), 0, S. 14648849231215194
In the present study, we investigate gender bias against politicians in a large set of news articles (n = 1,139,571) published in major media outlets in the United States between 2010 and 2020 by tracing changes in reporting about 1,095 US politicians. Using topic modeling with latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), we identify main policy-related topics in media reports. We find gender differences in the coverage of certain policy issues, with major imbalances explained by societal factors. Specifically, we show that women in high-level political positions receive less media coverage than their male counterparts and women in less powerful positions on economic and national security issues. However, women and men in less influential positions do not differ in the amount and type of reporting they garner. Since women are still underrepresented in leadership positions, the US media may inadvertently reflect and reinforce existing gender biases in society by devoting more attention to high-profile politicians, who are overwhelmingly male. Although our longitudinal analysis shows positive changes, the gender gap in reporting continues to exist.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849231215194
[Rezension von: Matzke, Johannes, Thüringer Datenschutzgesetz]. - In: Thüringer Verwaltungsblätter. - Weimar : Boorberg, 1992- , ISSN: 0941-7648 , ZDB-ID: 1121941-5Thüringer Verwaltungsblätter, ISSN 0941-7648, Bd. 31 (2023), 10, S. 243
Simsalabim: eine Kompetenzbeschränkung wird zur Ermächtigungsgrundlage. - In: Juris, ISSN 2197-5345, (2023), 6, S. 251-253
Anmerkung zu: BVerwG v. 30.11.2022 - 6 C 12/20
The architecture of global knowledge production - do low-income countries get more involved?. - In: Industrial and corporate change, ISSN 1464-3650, Bd. 0 (2023), 0, dtad042
In this paper, we analyze the extent to which low-income countries integrate into the global knowledge production network. We develop an (undirected) research collaboration model based on which we identify the drivers of global research collaboration using publication data of the field Business and Economics from the Web of Science and macroeconomic data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics. Network and dynamic panel regression techniques are employed. Our results show that (i) reciprocal preferential attachment and the homophily between countries reinforce scientific collaboration, (ii) there is no evidence that low-income countries are becoming better integrated into the global knowledge production over the years, despite their active participation in international reserach collaboration, while (iii) high-income countries show a basic willingness to cooperate with them, which, in turn, promotes the integration of low-income countries, although this willingness seems to decline; and (iv) as to low-income countries, they have little choice but to invest more in education and R&D in order to advance in the global knowledge production network.
https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtad042
Lobbyismus und Medienwirtschaft - strategische Beeinflussung von Informationsflüssen. - In: Handbuch Lobbyismus, (2023), S. 971-986
Der Zusammenhang von Lobbyismus und Medienwirtschaft wird auf zwei Ebenen analysiert. Erstens werden Medienunternehmen als Lobbyisten ihrer Partikularinteressen betrachtet und dabei sowohl auf „klassische“ Medien als auch auf datenbasierte Geschäftsmodelle moderner Onlinemedienkonzerne eingegangen. Zweitens werden Medienunternehmen als Adressat lobbyistischer Einflüsse betrachtet, welche über den Transmissionskanal Medien die öffentliche Meinung und die Politik zu beeinflussen suchen. Dies spricht spezielle Aspekte der ökonomischen Theorie des Media Bias an.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32320-2_26
Wettbewerb und Regulierung
Update 2023. - Ilmenau : Technische Universität Ilmenau, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, 2023. - 1 Online-Ressource (31 Seiten). - (Ilmenau economics discussion papers ; vol. 28, no. 183)
Wettbewerb und Regulierung werfen sowohl aus einer wirtschafts- als auch aus einer politikwissenschaftlichen Perspektive interessante Fragestellungen auf und haben daher in beiden Disziplinen umfangreiche Beachtung gefunden. Während die Wirtschaftswissenschaften zwischen den Subdisziplinen Wettbewerbs- und Regulierungsökonomik trennt, begreift die Politikwissenschaft die marktschaffende als auch marktkorrigierende ‚regulative Politik‘ weitgehend als Einheit (Abschnitt 2). Der Hauptbeitrag der Wirtschaftswissenschaften liegt im Bereich einer wettbewerbsökonomischen Wirkungsanalyse (Abschnitt 3), während die politikwissenschaftliche Domäne in der Analyse von Institutionen und Prozessen der regulativen Politik zu verorten ist (Abschnitt 4). Aus einer interdisziplinären Perspektive kommen wir zu dem Ergebnis, dass beide Sichtweisen in erster Linie komplementär sind und sich gegenseitig befruchten können. Insbesondere das Verständnis jüngster Entwicklungen in den Bereichen Wettbewerb und Regulierung, die eine stärker industriepolitische und geostrategische Ausrichtung beinhalten, kann von einer politökonomischen Perspektive profitieren.
https://www.db-thueringen.de/receive/dbt_mods_00059134
Pornolügen!? : warum Pornosex anders ist als Alltagssex. - In: Pro Jugend, ISSN 2198-2767, (2023), 3, S. 8-10
Mit „Pornolügen“ sind Abweichungen zwischen den in der Pornografie gezeigten sexuellen Aktivitäten und dem alltäglichen Sexualleben gemeint. Der Begriff wird unter anderem in sexualpädagogischen Schriften (z. B. Henning & Bremer-Olzewski 2017), in der Presse (z. B. Men’s Health 2018) und im Rundfunk (z. B. ARD/ZDF funk 2017) verwendet. Dahinter steht die Vorstellung, die Pornografie lüge darüber, wie Sex in Wirklichkeit abläuft und man müsse vor allem Jugendliche über diese Lügen aufklären, damit sie kein falsches Bild von Sexualität entwickeln oder sich gar unter Druck gesetzt fühlen, dem Pornosex nachzueifern. Der vorliegende Beitrag erläutert, inwiefern Pornosex und Alltagssex sich unterscheiden und wie diese Unterschiede sachgerecht in der Medien- und Sexualpädagogik aufgegriffen werden können.
Abortion attitudes (media content, user comments). - In: Database of Variables for Content Analysis, ISSN 2673-8597, (2023), S. 1-4
The concept of "abortion attitudes" refers to an individual's or group's beliefs, opinions, and feelings regarding the practice of abortion (Jelen & Wilcox, 2003). Abortion here addresses abortion care in the form of medical (i.e., drug-induced) or surgical termination of an unwanted pregnancy, usually before the fetus is considered viable (i.e., able to survive outside the womb). People's attitudes towards abortion care can vary widely and are influenced by factors such as cultural, religious, moral, and personal beliefs, societal norms and values, as well as personal experiences and media representations (Adamczyk, Kim & Dillon, 2020; Ferree, Gamson, Gerhards & Rucht, 2002). Abortion and abortion attitudes are widely represented in the media, this includes news media, fictional media, and social media (Conti & Cahill, 2017). Attitudes towards abortion as they are held in the population and represented in the media are polarized and can be categorized broadly as pro-choice versus pro-life (Krolzik-Matthei, 2019): &hahog; The pro-choice or pro-abortion attitude focuses on the pregnant woman/person and acknowledges her human rights to life, health and self-determination. Hence, the pro-choice attitude demands access to legal and safe abortions as a reproductive right for all women/persons who seek abortion care as a reproductive health service. The pro-choice position morally accepts abortions and politically favors the legalization of abortions. &hahog; The pro-life or anti-abortion attitude focuses on the embryo (weeks 0 to 9 of the pregnancy) or the fetus (from week 10) and acknowledges its right to life. Hence, the pro-life attitude demands complete prohibition or at least heavy restriction of abortions, regardless of the life, health, and self-determination of the pregnant woman/person. The pro-life position morally condemns abortions and politically favors the criminalization of abortions in most or all cases. - These two attitudes often manifest as general principles (or absolutist positions). But they also manifest in various shades of grey (situational positions), with some individuals and media representations supporting abortion under specific circumstances (such as cases of rape, incest, or severe fetal abnormalities) while opposing it in others (Rye & Underhill, 2020). In the context of ongoing political debates surrounding the legalization or criminalization of abortion (e.g., the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the USA in 2022), measuring attitudes towards abortion in media content remains a relevant and timely research topic, especially when it comes to popular and growing social media platforms such as TikTok (Wu & Byler, 2022).
https://doi.org/10.34778/5y