Current Edition 2025, Vol. 8 (1) November 2024

Dear readers, Three questions first: Which country bans books in public schools because they allegedly do not conform to moral…

By Horst Pöttker | We are in mourning for an extraordinary academic whose career mirrored the upheaval of German contemporary history and, in particular, of journalism studies as a university subject.

By Alfred J. Cotton III and Jeffrey Layne Blevins | Protests emerged worldwide during the summer of 2020 in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, who was murdered two months after the Louisville Metro Police Department killed Breonna Taylor. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag has trended on social media and reignited a nation-wide social justice movement, all during a global pandemic. Our study is a critical discourse analysis on how news media quote, source, identify and misidentify members of the Black Lives Matter movement as it took shape on social media during June 2020, as reported in four US newspapers.

By Teodora Trifonova and Joy Jenkins | The study examines the professional practices of foreign correspondents reporting on the war in Ukraine for Central European media. In-depth interviews with representatives of leading media organizations in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary (N = 11) show that the correspondents distrust the Ukrainian authorities as a source of information and are skeptical of local Ukrainian fixers. They see themselves in a conflict between their personal convictions and journalistic standards, as they are not neutral towards the war but try to remain objective in their reporting. The influence of Russia has been noticeable in all three countries since the start of the war.

By Roxane Biller, Seraina Cadonau and Marion Frank | Diverse and sensitive journalistic reporting is only possible where there is a diversity of staff in editorial offices. Previous studies demonstrate the relevance of the topic. The question guiding the research behind this paper is whether the composition of newspaper editorial offices is sufficiently diverse to reflect the population as a whole. The focus is on three characteristics of diversity: gender, age, and origin. The authors are also interested in the differences between newspapers of different political orientations and between the levels of editorial office and leadership positions. A total of 1,503 data sets from six editorial offices of national newspapers, collected from publicly accessible secondary data and from primary data requested personally, were analyzed.

By Thomas Hauser | Digitalization and economization are not only changing the public space and thus the public discourse. Today, anyone can communicate with anyone. In theory, this enables discourse free from domination – in reality, the result is a Babylonian mix of media, with fake news, propaganda, and PR on an equal footing with serious information. Many are talking, few are listening. It is a development that undermines the business models of conventional media and throws journalism into a crisis of legitimacy. This text analyzes this development and names the greatest challenges facing media and society.

By Fred Vultee | The 2024 US election points to the political value of insecurity: a sense that mutually cherished cultural referents are in peril, fueled by a steady flow of episodic yet correlated news. This information does not have to be false; through repetition and salience, isolated events create an image of a country in peril and a leader-in-waiting prepared to rescue it. In a closely divided electorate, a well-oiled partisan press aimed at half of the voters has the edge over a traditional media system trying to reach all of them.

By Mandy Tröger and Hendrik Theine | Donald Trump’s second term in office leads to profound changes in media and communications, platform regulation, and the political influence of Big Tech – also in Europe. In particular, the close ties between the Trump administration and wealthy business owners such as Elon Musk reinforce the oligarchization of US politics. One consequence is the strategic use of digital platforms for political purposes. At the same time, US technology and media policy could oppose European regulatory measures. These developments highlight the need for and strengthening of independent research and investigative journalism. This paper analyzes the global impact of power shifts in the United States and possible countermeasures.

By Initiative Nachrichtenaufklärung / Forgotten News | Once a year, the German non-governmental organization »Initiative Nachrichtenaufklärung« (INA), in collaboration with the Deutschlandfunk (German public radio) news department, releases a list of ten important issues that have been overlooked by the mainstream German-language media. The goal is to draw attention to omissions, agenda-cutting and disinformation as well as to highlight some topics for further investigation. Given the extensive coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine and the Gaza conflict, the U.S. election, and the German government crisis including new elections, along with the ongoing threats faced by journalists, investigators and whistleblowers worldwide, the search for »forgotten news« is particularly crucial.

Reviewed by Gabriele Hooffacker

Reviewed by Vera Katzenberger

Reviewed by Beatrice Dernbach

Reviewed by Stine Eckert