¦¦¦¦¦ Research

The Worlds of Journalism Study

The Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS) is an academically driven project that was founded to regularly assess the state of journalism throughout the world. The Study’s primary objective is to help journalism researchers and policy makers better understand worldviews and changes that are taking place in the professional orientations of journalists, the conditions and limitations under which they operate, as well as the social functions of journalism in a changing world.

• To the project web site

Worlds of Journalism Pilot Study:
Developing Research Tools for the Comparative Analysis of Journalism Cultures

Originally planned as a pilot project and fielded in 2007-2011, the Study's initiators carried out interviews with 2100 journalists from more than 400 news organizations in 21 countries. This first project had focused on differences in journalism cultures (the role perceptions, epistemological orientations and ethical views of journalists), as well as on perceived influences on the news and journalists' trust in public institutions. The study's findings and conceptual background are published in various academic journals, including the Journal of Communication, Communication Theory, International Communication Gazette, International Journal of Press/Politics, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Journalism Studies. On the basis of our findings we were, for instance, able to identify four global professional milieus of journalists that exist almost everywhere in the world: the populist disseminator, detached watchdog, critical change agent, and the opportunist facilitator.

• To the project web site

Foreign News in Swiss Television: Production, Content, and the Audience

Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the project investigates foreign tv news in terms of its selection, presentation, content and consumption. The research is part of a large 24-nations study that aims at identifying systemic factors that account for national differences in foreign tv news. The study will make use of a multi-method design, including a content analysis, focus group discussions, an audience survey, as well as qualitative interviews with journalists.. (Duration: 05/2008-04/2010)

Comparative Research in German Communication Journals, 1948 – 2005

Carried out in collaboration with Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany).

• To presentation of findings (ppt, in German)

Online Journalists in Germany and the United States

Funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the comparative project was carried out in collaboration with David Weaver (Indiana University, USA); Martin Löffelholz and Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany); and Thorsten Quandt (University of Munich, Germany)

To publication:

• Thorsten Quandt, Martin Löffelholz, David H. Weaver, Thomas Hanitzsch & Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (2006) 'American and German Online Journalists at the Beginning of the 21st Century: A Bi-National Survey', Journalism Studies 7(2): 171-186.

• Martin Löffelholz, Thorsten Quandt, Thomas Hanitzsch & Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (2003) 'Onlinejournalisten in Deutschland. Zentrale Befunde der ersten Repräsentativbefragung deutscher Onlinejournalisten', Media Perspektiven (10): 477-486. (full text, in German)