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This article presents conceptual considerations on the classification of TV series and movies according to their political references and introduces an empirical approach for measuring the constituent features. We argue that political representations in fiction vary along two dimensions: political intensity and degree of realism. These dimensions encompass four indicators relating to characters, places, themes, and time. The indicators were coded for a sample of 98 TV series and 114 movies. Cluster analyses showed four clusters of TV series and six clusters of movies. Nonpolitical fiction, thrillers, and fantasy were central types in both TV series and movies. Movies, however, stand out through a greater diversity and a focus on the past that is reflected in three additional types. Based on the identification of different types of movies and TV series, three directions for theory building are suggested.

It is generally agreed upon that fictional stories can serve as sources for the audience's perceptions of reality. This also includes the political realm. Our paper examines the fictional representation of politics in the U.S. series The West Wing and its German adaption, Kanzleramt. The comparative content analysis concentrates on political actors and political themes as key parameters of fictional politics. It investigates whether the national political context is reflected in the political dramas. Results show a rather small impact of national contexts. This indicates that the logic of fictionalization levels out national differences in shaping fictional politics.

"This chapter argues that for the EU to be successful cultural integration through public communication and deliberation of European matters is an important precondition. Three models of Europeanization of political communication are discussed: the emergence of a 'pan-European public sphere', 'segmented transnational public spheres', and the 'Europeanization of the national public sphere'. We argue that only the latter is able to provide for the opportunity of all citizens to become involved in a public debate on European issues. Our study aims to investigate the extent to which German media have become Europeanized. The empirical analysis examines the discourse on Europe in the editorials of national quality papers. The findings show that the media under study devote only a very small portion of their attention to European issues, thus marginalizing Europe to an extent that is not warranted by the significance of the European level of governance. If the media do focus on European issues they predominantly address them in terms of national politics, which we interpret as a 'domestication' of Europe in public discourse. At the same time, the media unanimously support the idea of European integration. We conclude that this pattern of communicating Europe reflects the élite consensus on European matters in Germany and may have contributed to the alienation of the general public from European politics." (author's abstract)

This research note deals with the role of the media in assigning legitimacy to Germany's first participation in military action since the end of the Second World War. A content analysis of the war discourse in the editorials of the five leading German newspapers investigates the range of evaluations of the Kosovo war. Employing the concept of framing, a variety of competing diagnostic, prognostic and identity-related interpretations were identified. Controversial debate emerged around the procedural aspects of warfare. While the conservative papers emphasized the military options, the liberal papers directed attention to humanitarian and diplomatic efforts. Yet, the legitimacy of the war was hardly contested in any of the national prestige papers. These findings support the basic assumptions of the indexing thesis since the high degree of consent in the media system reflects the lack of substantial conflict in the German party system.

In einem von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft geförderten und am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin durchgeführten Projekt untersuchen wir anhand einer Inhaltsanalyse von Kommentaren überregionaler Tageszeitungen sowie von Anfragen und aktuellen Stunden im Bundestag, Parteiprogrammen und Regierungserklärungen den eigenständigen Beitrag von Medien im politischen Diskurs zwischen 1993 und 1998. Das Projekt geht zum einen der Frage nach, welche politischen Themen die Medien in ihren Kommentaren aufnehmen, in welcher Weise sie diese definieren und interpretieren und dabei bestimmte Akteure und Akteursbeziehungen ansprechen und bewerten. Es untersucht zum anderen, unter welchen Bedingungen die auf diese Weise erfolgenden Relevanzzuweisungen und Problemdeutungen im politischen System Resonanz finden. Neben einer kompakten Darstellung des theoretischen Rahmens der Studie und der Operationalisierung der Fragestellung informiert dieser Bericht über die methodischen Besonderheiten der Mehrebenenuntersuchung. Das Kategoriensystem der Kommentaranalyse - einschließlich der Ergebnisse des Reliabilitätstests - sowie einige Anpassungen des Schemas für die Analyse der politischen Agenda werden ebenso erläutert wie die Stichprobenauswahl und die technische Organisation und Durchführung der Codierarbeiten. ; This project sets out to assess the autonomous contribution of the media to the political discourse between 1993 and 1998. It is financed by the German Science Foundation and conducted at the Science Center Berlin. On the one hand, the project investigates which political issues the media address in their editorials, how they define and interpret them, which political actors and constellations of actors they refer to and how they evaluate these. On the other hand, it asks under which circumstances the media´s relevance assignments and problem interpretations find resonance in the political system. In order to investigate the reciprocal effects between the media and the political agenda the editorials in national newspapers will be content analyzed and compared with party manifestos, government briefings and interpellations in parliament. This paper gives a short account of the theoretical background of the study and its empirical design. Moreover, it informs about the methodological approach of the multi-level-analysis. The coding scheme of the editorial analysis including the results of the reliability test and several modifications for the analysis of the political agenda are documented. Finally, the sample, the technical and organizational aspects of the coding process are explained.

AbstractOnline communication is often seen to promote audience fragmentation because it facilitates selective exposure and therefore is likely to divide audiences into sub-publics that hardly share common issues with other sub-publics. This study takes a micro-perspective on fragmentation by focusing on issue diversity in media items users have encountered in a particular week. Diversity was assessed via content analyses based on online diaries of 645 participants who recorded their media use concerning the German debates on climate change and federal elections. Findings show lower degrees of diversity for users of non-journalistic online media than for users of journalistic mass media.

Abstract
Drawing on the spiral of silence theory and heuristic information processing, we contend that individuals use likes as sources for assessing public opinion. We further argue that individuals may even adapt their personal opinions to the tenor reflected in those cues. The assumptions were tested using data from an experiment involving 501 participants, who encountered media items on two issues with or without likes. The findings show that respondents inferred public opinion from the media bias if it was supported by likes, however, only in cases of high levels of fear of social isolation. Respondents further adapted their personal opinion to the media bias if it was supported by likes.