Abstract

Media quality reflects how journalistic news outlets should perform to fulfil their democratic functions and measures to what extent they do so. While studies in Austria provide insights on the status quo of media quality based on democratic theory, it is widely unknown which factors on the institutional and organizational level of news organizations as well as on the individual level of journalists support or impede the emergence of normatively required journalistic practices. This project addresses this question by focusing on political journalism in Vienna. Utilizing a triangulated research design consisting of a quantitative content analysis, a quantitative survey and qualitative newsmaking reconstructions, the project aims to explain which factors and mechanisms enable or endanger media quality in terms of normative media performance standards, but also the representation of specific groups of actors in the media. In doing so, it both theoretically and empirically bridges CMC's projects "The Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS)", which explores journalists' working reality, and "Media Performance and Democracy (MPD)", which monitors media quality in Austria.

Financing

Cultural Department of the City of Vienna

Connection to the project "Media Performance and Democracy" (2018-2022), supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

On behalf of the journalists who thankfully participated in the survey, the project donated to several charitable institutions as indicated by the participants. (St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute: 205€; Reporter without Borders: 141€; Amnesty International: 62€; UNICEF: 41€; Greenpeace: 30€; Vier Pfoten: 21 €)

 

CMC Staff

Andreas Riedl (Project Leader – Contact)

Christina Krakovsky (2021)

Research assistants: Alexandra Olszak & Marion Kogler (2020)

Cooperation Partners

Tobias Rohrbach, Université de Fribourg