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The article deals with the use of humorous and entertaining elements in online election campaign videos of the right-wing populist Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ). We first discuss the role of humor in political communication and advertising. Subsequently, the visual and multimodal design of humorous messages is discussed with a special emphasis on how humor and visuality can contribute to attack political opponents and foster anti-immigrant attitudes. Applying multimodal discourse analysis on humorous campaign spots, we reconstruct the multimodal meaning-making in the audiovisual narration, connect the individual media texts to the broader discursive structure, and show in detail how humor is instrumentalized and functionalized for political persuasion in the context of right-wing populism. For example, in the episodic video series "The Hubers'" images in the literal sense and linguistic images (metaphors) were strategically deployed inside a humorous narrative as collective symbols to convey fear appeals combined with simple anti-immigrant messages.

In the digital age, calls for transparency and openness as well as for privacy and confidentiality prevail: Struggles for visibility occur simultaneously with conflicts regarding invisibility and hidden battles for power and privileges of interpretation. Concerns about a loss of digital self-determination exist, just like those regarding the "right to be forgotten" or the right to become invisible and unseen. While the idea of a "transparent user" – as the ultimate notion of (in)voluntary visibility – has caused a broad outcry in society and in scientific debates a few years ago (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008), the discussion has shifted toward considerations of Internet governance and regulation (Camenisch, Fischer-Hübner, & Hansen, 2015). Brighenti (2010, p. 109) has pointed out that visibility has long been one of the key aspects "associated with the public sphere" and that in today's digitized publics, the "project of democracy can no longer be imagined without taking into account visibility and its outcomes" (Brighenti, 2010, p. 189). Visibility and invisibility, along with their societal outcomes, are increasingly being discussed and analyzed, as they are becoming important dimensions in the accurate description and explanation of digital communication.

In the digital age, calls for transparency and openness as well as for privacy and confidentiality prevail: Struggles for visibility occur simultaneously with conflicts regarding invisibility and hidden battles for power and privileges of interpretation. Concerns about a loss of digital self-determination exist, just like those regarding the "right to be forgotten" or the right to become invisible and unseen. While the idea of a "transparent user" – as the ultimate notion of (in)voluntary visibility – has caused a broad outcry in society and in scientific debates a few years ago (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008), the discussion has shifted toward considerations of Internet governance and regulation (Camenisch, Fischer-Hübner, & Hansen, 2015). Brighenti (2010, p. 109) has pointed out that visibility has long been one of the key aspects "associated with the public sphere" and that in today's digitized publics, the "project of democracy can no longer be imagined without taking into account visibility and its outcomes" (Brighenti, 2010, p. 189). Visibility and invisibility, along with their societal outcomes, are increasingly being discussed and analyzed, as they are becoming important dimensions in the accurate description and explanation of digital communication.

Visual depictions of politicians play an essential role in the impression formation of the audience because they convey visual cues and attributes related to, for example, likeability or competence. This study examines the subjective audience evaluations based on the visual portrayals of a politician by using Q methodology, a qualitative–quantitative approach of audience research. Q-sorts of 33 different pictures showing a high-ranking European politician, along with personal interviews, were used to probe the audience's perception of a favorable or unfavorable picture. Q factor analysis yielded four groups of participants. The audience groups differ regarding their expectation toward favorably depicted political behavior and the involved balance of professional political leadership competences, social competences, and personality. In addition, technical and formal representation strategies were identified as important visual cues, but not for all audience groups.

AbstractVisual depictions of politicians play an essential role in the impression formation of the audience because they convey visual cues and attributes related to, for example, likeability or competence. This study examines the subjective audience evaluations based on the visual portrayals of a politician by using Q methodology, a qualitative–quantitative approach of audience research. Q-sorts of 33 different pictures showing a high-ranking European politician, along with personal interviews, were used to probe the audience's perception of a favorable or unfavorable picture. Q factor analysis yielded four groups of participants. The audience groups differ regarding their expectation toward favorably depicted political behavior and the involved balance of professional political leadership competences, social competences, and personality. In addition, technical and formal representation strategies were identified as important visual cues, but not for all audience groups.

We propose an implicit cognition account of attribute agenda setting (AAS). We draw a distinction between implicit AAS, which conceptualizes media effects on automatically activated object-attribute associations, and explicit AAS, which deals with their overt expression. Previous research has relied almost exclusively on explicit AAS. This is unfortunate, because people must have the motivation and the ability to report inner mental associations. We investigated AAS in the context of the 2014 European Union parliamentary elections using a content analysis and a two-wave panel survey. Exposure to the mediated attribute agenda elicited implicit AAS effects, but no impact on the explicit dimension could be discerned. Only by additionally taking into account implicit cognition were we able to reveal substantial AAS effects.

"Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit unter unibrennt bzw. Audimaxismus firmierenden Studierendenprotesten 2009 in Wien. In einer Inhaltsanalyse der Online-Plattformen der Protestbewegung wird untersucht, wie verschiedene Akteursgruppen ihre Haltung gegenüber der Protestbewegung konzipierten und artikulierten und das Thema 'bessere Bildung' ausgehandelt wurde. Des Weiteren wurde erschlossen, welche Qualität/ Rationalität sowie welche gesellschaftlichen Ziel- und Wertvorstellungen für den Protestdiskurs - differenziert nach Plattformen - kennzeichnend waren. Social Media, insbesondere Facebook, wurden als zentrale Medien der Kommunikation genutzt. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass die klassischerweise ohne öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit stattfindenden Debatten zur Selbstorganisation, Selbsterprobung und Selbstbestätigung der Protestbewegung somit bereits früh einer externen Evaluation ausgesetzt waren. Der Artikel identifiziert Indikatoren für den vorübergehenden Mobilisierungserfolg und für das Abflauen der Proteste." (Autorenreferat)

Der Beitrag versucht, die Ergebnisse der Beiträge des Sammelbands bzw. der ihnen zugrundeliegende Tagung hinsichtlich der Herausforderungen für die Kommunikationswissenschaft und den Europäisierungsprozess der Öffentlichkeit zu resümieren. Die Ausführungen stützen im wesentlichen ein Postulat von Ulrich Beck und Edgar Grande, die in ihrem Buch "Das kosmopolitische Europa" (2004) klagen, dass "Europa noch immer unverstanden, unbegriffen ist" und die Sozialwissenschaften ausdrücklich einbeziehen: "Am Beispiel Europas zeigt sich besonders deutlich, wie historisch wirklichkeitsfremd und stumpf unsere politischen Begriffe und das theoretische Instrumentarium der Sozialwissenschaften geworden sind - sind beide doch noch immer in dem Denkgebäude eines methodologischen Nationalismus gefangen". Die Autoren des Beitrag plädieren im Einklang mit dieser Diagnose dafür, "Europa neu zu denken". Die Tagung war in diesem Sinne auch die Suche nach der Perspektive einer eigenständigen, kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Europaforschung. Mit Beck betonen die Autoren abschließend, dass wir eine kritische Theorie der Europäisierung und ihrer Öffentlichkeit(en) benötigen, die von der schlichten Einsicht ausgeht: Gemeinsame Lösungen bringen mehr als nationale Alleingänge. (ICA2)

The diffusion of algorithms, robots, and artificial intelligence has sparked public debates regarding opportunities, risks, and responsibility for addressing problems and developing solutions. Since media cover and shape sociotechnical imaginaries, this study investigates the Austrian media discourses on responsibility in two domains of automation: social media algorithms and social companions. Using a machine learning approach, relevant articles were identified, followed by a manual comparative content analysis. The findings indicate that media coverage of social media algorithms tends to be more critical compared to social companions. In the debate about social media algorithms, journalists emerge as the most common speakers raising responsibility issues and primarily attributing them to Internet platform providers. Conversely, responsibility for social robotics is predominantly articulated by experts, considering it as a responsibility shared by society, economy, and research. Furthermore, the media present different perspectives on the agency and responsibility of social media algorithms and social robots themselves.

Imagining "big data" brings up a palette of concerns about their technological intricacies, political significance, commercial value, and cultural impact. We look at this emerging arena of public sense-making and consider the spectrum of press illustrations that are employed to show what big data are and what their consequences could be. We collected all images from big data-related articles published in the online editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post. As the first examination of the visual dimension of big data news reports to date, our study suggests that big data are predominantly illustrated with reference to their areas of application and the people and materials involved in data analytics. As such, they provide concrete physical form to abstract data. Rather than conceiving of potential ramifications that are more or less likely to materialize, the dominant mode of illustration draws on existing, though often trite, visual evidence.

Crowdmapping and geolocated protests form complex multilayered systems of communicated spaces and places that can only be partially grasped by the available literature. This article responds to these limitations by presenting a model for the analysis of the composition of space and place in networked geolocated activities. The model identifies the several forms of expression, opens four modes of analysis (representations, textures, structures, and connections), and allows the consideration of the communication devices involved, while highlighting the forms of power behind the social and cultural practices of protests and crowdmapping. The model is applied to the case of Voces25s, a protest action against the Spanish government's austerity measures in September 2012, which relied heavily on interactive, networked maps. Furthermore, the raised sensitivity for space and place as forms of social (in)justice opens a fertile empirical research agenda in the area of the governance of communicative spaces.

The experiment investigates visual framing effects of news stories on readers'(1) emotional response, (2) evaluation of communicative quality, (3) journalistic credibility and (4) objectivity, and (5) perception of actor representation. Three versions of a news report about the Gaza conflict were used. While the text remained the same, different images were added representing visual human-interest framing, visual political framing, and no visual framing. Visual human-interest framing elicited stronger emotional responses, higher values concerning the communicative quality, and had an impact on the perceived actor representation. No differences in objectivity and credibility were found among the three stimuli.