Here you will find a selection of our latest publications

A complete publication list can be found on the pages of our team members

 

 

Abstract der Publication

Prochazka, F., Soontjens, K., Beckers, K., Hopmann, D. N., & Schuck, A. (2025). Projection in journalists’ perceptions of public opinion. Journalism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849251346198

Journalists’ perceptions of public opinion influence their reporting. Yet, the factors driving these public opinion perceptions are not well understood. This study examines one such potential factor, namely the impact of journalists’ own policy opinions on their estimations of public opinion. Concretely, we identify which journalists are more susceptible to such so-called social projection. Moreover, we investigate which factors moderate the relationship between own opinion and perceived public opinion. Drawing on unique survey data from political journalists in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, we demonstrate that journalists’ own policy opinions are indeed correlated with their public opinion estimations. Moreover, we find that journalists whose political opinions tend to the right are more likely to perceive public opinion in line with their own opinion. Finally, our findings indicate that journalists project less when estimating public opinion on policies within their news beats, and they project less when they perceive public opinion on a policy issue as ambiguous. We discuss the implications of our findings for journalism as a profession.

Titelseite der Publikation

Prochazka, F., & Obermaier, M. (2025). Vertrauen in Online Nachrichten-Medien. [Trust in Online News Media.] In W. Schweiger, K. Beck, & V. Karnowski (Hrsg.), Handbuch Online-Kommunikation (S. 1–21). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18017-1_34-1

The article shows how credibility and trust attributions to news media take place in online communication. Due to the many alternatives to journalistic media, the trust of the audience has become more fragile and important as a result of the digital structural change and, in particular, the use of news via personalized channels (e.g. social network platforms, aggregators) plays a major role. We derive from this a number of possible effects of how personalized channels change the relationship of trust between news media and audience (including credibility and transparency effects, effects on the recognition of journalistic quality and on quality itself). Finally, we discuss the democratic consequences of media trust.

Front page of the publication

Prochazka, F. (2025). Journalismus und Qualität. [Journalism and Quality.] In T. Hanitzsch, W. Loosen, & A. Sehl (Hrsg.), Journalismusforschung (S. 387–406). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. doi.org/10.5771/9783748932291-387

The article first examines how journalistic quality is conceptualized in communication science and which quality criteria can be derived from this. Building on this, journalistic quality is considered from the perspective of communicator, media content and audience research. The article thus clarifies how quality is discussed, controlled and ensured in journalism itself, what findings there are on changes in its quality and how media users perceive journalistic quality. 

 

Prochazka, F., Cantzler, J., Göthert, H., Hartung, S., Konermann, S., Lotz, J., Neureither, E., & Nittel, R. (2025). Self-effects of online commenting in different opinion environments. Communication Research Reports. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2025.2462594 

We investigate how commenting on policy-relevant posts in social media affects the opinions of the commenters themselves (“self-effects”). Specifically, we examine whether writing comments affects the valence and strength of preexisting opinions, and how commenting in congruent or incongruent opinion environments influences these self-effects. An online survey experiment shows that writing comments reinforces prior opinions. Self-effects were strongest for participants who had no clear previous opinion, but commenting in congruent or incongruent opinion environments did not influence self-effects. The findings advance our understanding of online discourse and its implications for public opinion, showing that online expression shapes beliefs about socially relevant issues. Open scholarship.

Prochazka F. & Obermaier, M. (2022). Trust through Transparency? How Journalistic Reactions to Media-Critical User Comments Affect Quality Perceptions and Behavior Intentions. In Digital Journalism, DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2021.2017316 

User comments to digital news often contain media criticism, detrimentally affecting how others perceive the quality of news and possibly lowering media trust.
It remains an open question, however, how journalistic reactions can mitigate these effects.
Based on premises of engagement moderation, accountability, and transparency in digital journalism,
we conducted an online experiment investigating how critical user comments and journalistic reactions affect quality perceptions and behavioral intentions towards a news media brand.
Results show that media-critical comments lower perceived brand quality, but only among media cynics, whereby increasing it among media supporters.
Journalists admitting mistakes only enhances perceived brand quality for media cynics, while denying does so for everyone and decreases cynics’ intention to comment negatively.
Lastly, explaining why a mistake was made or not boosts brand quality perceptions overall, suggesting that transparency is a viable strategy for improving media trust in the long run