With the development of a dual broadcasting market and intensified competition in the print and online market, considerable media diversity has emerged in Austria. But quantity does not guarantee quality. How, then, should the quality and value of the media be rated? Do they adequately fulfill their societal function in a democratic system? Do different perceptions of democracy call for different conceptualizations of media quality? Do different types of media fulfill different functions within a democratic society, thus facing different quality demands? On behalf of the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR), CMC has developed a study design for a quality monitoring of news reporting, firstly applied in 2014 on 36 Austrian media outlets. In a next step, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), democratic media performance is compared across the German-speaking countries. An additional project, funded by the RTR, deals with the quality and the public value of community media.

Funding

Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR): Studies on "Quality of Austrian News Media Reporting" (2013-2015; Codebook) and "Public Value of Non-Commercial Broadcasting" (2018)

Erste Bank: Study on "Media Quality in Austria" (2013-2014)

Cultural Department of the City of Vienna: "Media Monitoring" (2013-2014)

Austrian Science Fund (FWF): Studies on "Media Performance and Democracy" (2018-2022)

fjum - forum journalismus und Medien Wien: "Public Value of Non-Commercial Broadcasting" (2019)

CMC Staff

Maren B. M. Beaufort (Deputy Project Leader, Contact)

Klaus Bichler (2014-2015)

Katharina Biringer (since 2019, study on "Public Value of Non-Commercial Broadcasting")

Wolfgang Dick (2014-2015, Project Management)

Rosmarie Hergouth (2014-2015)

Josef Seethaler (Project Leader, Contact)

Andreas Riedl (2018-2023)

Corinna Wenzel (2014-2015)

Antonia Luisa Wolfram (Project Assistance, 2018-2019)

Coders:

Study on "Media Quality in Austria":Valentina Dopona, Sascha Béla Duken, Manuel Ecker, Sebastian Hofer, Evelyn Itkin, Hanna Möller, Andreas Riedl, Sarah Siemers, Johanna Steiner, Anja Wiegand, Gundula Zabinsky

DACH-Project on "Media Performance and Democracy": Katharina Biringer, Valentina Dopona, Marion Kogler, Alexandra Krämer, Markos Mpadanes, Ricardo Parrilla, Jonas Paintner, Antonia Wolfram

RTR project on "Public Value of Non-Commercial Broadcasting": Sophie Angerhöfer, Katharina Biringer

Congress Organisation

Medien und Demokratie im Zeichen der Digitalisierung [Media & democracy during times of digitalization] (with "Netzwerk Medienstrukturen"), Florence [online], 14-15 October 2021

Media Performance and Social Inclusion. Preconference to the 71th ICA Annual Conference (with the University of Zurich), online, 27 May 2021

Media Performance and Democracy – The Debate Continues. Preconference to the 67th ICA Annual Conference (with the University of Zurich), San Diego, 25 May 2017

Media Performance and Democracy. Preconference to the 66th ICA Annual Conference (with the University of Zurich), Fukuoka, 9 June 2016

Publications and Lectures