Bücher der Reihe Studies in International, Transnational and Global Communications

In times of increasing mediatization and digitalization media play an important role in political and societal transformation processes. They inquire into the ways processes of networking and mobilization evolve in the context of restricted media systems and state-dominated public spheres.

Stefanie Walter examines the visibility of European Union citizens in the mass mediated European public sphere and argues that it can help facilitate an exchange between decision-makers and ordinary citizens. The results show that in comparison to other actor groups, such as political parties or civil society organisations, the visibility of European Union citizens is not marginal. Yet, the image of the European Union citizenry that becomes visible via the news media remains nationally entrenched and references to a truly European citizenry are rare. The study also uses multilevel regressions to explain the visibility of European Union citizens in the news coverage. The empirical analyses are based on a large-scale content analysis of TV news and newspaper articles of the 2009 European Parliament election.p>

This study approaches a pressing question for the public, the media, and in academia: how can the media be held accountable?

Comparative research has gained enormous popularity in communication and media studies in the last two decades and is increasingly conducted in international research teams. Collaboration with scholars from different countries brings many advantages, but it is also prone to conflict. Sophia Charlotte Volk presents the first systematic reflection on the conceptual, methodological, and social challenges of international collaborative and comparative studies in communication science. A systematic review of comparative studies and expert interviews with communication scholars shed light on how challenges manifest themselves empirically and what solutions have proven to be appropriate. The book proposes a phase model of collaborative and comparative research that can serve as a guide for scholars on what conditions should be created for productive collaboration in temporary research projects.