Journalists and their audience in the digital age

Within the framework of the project, the research team uses qualitative and quantitative surveys to investigate how reciprocal expectations and their fulfilment or violation influence journalism-audience relations and social developments.

The Erfurt sub-project is led by PD Dr Nicole Podschuweit at the Seminar for Media and Communication Studies. The focus is on the perspective of the audience, which is illuminated by a survey of around 1,000 recipients. The funding volume in Erfurt is around 460,000 euros. The joint project is coordinated by Professor Helena Stehle from the University of Münster, who also heads the sub-project there. Dr Hanne Detel is in charge of the Tübingen sub-project. Professor Claudia Wilhelm (University of Vienna) will accompany the project in an advisory capacity. She was already involved in the development of the project idea and in preliminary work on the project.

With their project, the partners want to strengthen the small subject of journalism at the locations. Cooperations, workshops and publications are intended to give journalism issues more visibility within the national and international scientific community and to explore interfaces with other research fields and disciplines. The involvement of journalists in various project phases enables the transfer of results into journalistic practice.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the network within the programme line "Small Subjects - Strong Together" as one of five projects over three years with a total of more than 1.3 million euros.