Political Communication

#176: Media Systems, Digital Media, and the Hybridity Cycle, with Prof. Daniel Hallin

October 18, 2024 Academics

Professor Daniel C. Hallin, Distinguished Professor of Communication at UC San Diego, shares his thoughts on media systems and how digital media relates to the concept. We discuss the components of a ‘system’ and current debates around the concept of ‘hybridity’ in media studies. This leads to a broader discussion of conceptual stretching, media capture, and how single case studies can be made comparative through dialogue with existing scholarship. 

The recording took place while Prof. Hallin was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Communication and Media at Lund. 

Here are the two articles we discuss in the episode: 

Comparative Research, System Change, and the Complexity of Media Systems (2020)
The Concept of Hybridity in Journalism Studies (2023)

#150: Swedish Elections 2022, Political Communication, and Social Media, with Dr. Nils Gustafsson

September 9, 2022 Academics

Dr. Nils Gustafsson, Senior Lecturer of Strategic Communication at Lund University, discusses the run-up to the 2022 Swedish Elections and then findings from his research. First, we chat about the main political issues that Swedes are voting on, as well as how political parties and party leaders are digital campaigning on social media. Then, Dr. Gustafsson shares findings from three of his research projects. We discuss how Facebook was viewed as a tool for participation when it first became widely adopted in Sweden, how rejection sensitivity might affect political expression online, and how media narratives about polarization in Swedish media have changed over time.


Here are links to the two published studies we discuss in the episode:


The Subtle Nature of Facebook Politics: Swedish Social Network Site Users and Political Participation (2012)

A Social Safety Net? Rejection Sensitivity and Political Opinion Sharing among Young People in Social Media (2018)

#136: Right-Wing Alternative Media and Republican Party Social Media Engagement, with Dr. Curd Knüpfer and Mike Cowburn

November 28, 2021 Academics

Dr. Curd Knüpfer (Assistant Professor) and Mike Cowburn (PhD Candidate), from the JFK Institute for North American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, discuss their research on right-wing alternative media. We start out by discussing what right-wing alternative media are, and how they are transnationally linked across Western democracies. Then, we explore Mike and Curd’s ongoing work into how Members of Congress’ social media engagement with these sites may be predictors of political positionality. We also look at how Republican Members of Congress’ use of the fake news label also relates to their political ideology.

 

The (published) studies discussed in the episode are:

 

Beyond Breitbart: Comparing Right-Wing Digital News Infrastructures in Six Western Democracies

 

Toward a Transnational Information Ecology on the Right? Hyperlink Networking among Right-Wing Digital News Sites in Europe and the United States

 

Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label: Ideological Differences in Republican Representative Use on Twitter