Abstracts M&K 4/2009

Sabine Trepte/Benjamin Boecking: What do opinion leaders know? Analysing the construct validity of opinion leadership in terms of political knowledge [Was wissen die Meinungsführer? Die Validierung des Konstrukts Meinungsführerschaft im Hinblick auf die Variable Wissen]

In this paper we propose that the knowledge of opinion leaders (in their area of interest) has, to a certain extent, always been taken for granted by communication scholars. We investigate what opinion leaders really know and discuss the results of a laboratory study (N=215). The respondents of this study were assessed according to ratings on opinion leadership, their knowledge and media use. We suggest that opinion leaders can be differentiated into ‘informed opinion leaders’, who know a lot in their area of interest, and ‘uninformed opinion leaders’. In terms of media use, we found that informed opinion leaders consume more print media outlets than uninformed leaders. The results are discussed in terms of their implications to construct validity and measurement of opinion leadership.

Keywords: opinion leaders, knowledge, influence, mass media, multi step flowresearch

Thomas Hanitzsch/Josef Seethaler: Worlds of Journalism: A comparison of the journalistic cultures of 17 countries [Journalismuswelten. Ein Vergleich von Journalismuskulturen in 17 Ländern]

This article reports on the initial findings from a wide-ranging comparison of journalistic cultures in 17 different countries. In total, 1,700 journalists in 17 countries were interviewed with regards to their professional orientation. The questions focused on the journalists’ understandings of their professional roles, the epistemological foundations of their practice, as well as the ethical imperatives of journalism in their country. The findings reveal that those role models characterised by detached and non-involvement stances of the journalists are accepted world-wide. Moreover, journalists in nearly all countries stressed that the categories of reliability and factualness of information, as well as strict impartiality and neutrality are important professional values. There is little agreement, however, on the significance of interventionist aspects of the journalistic work. Here, journalists in Western countries largely disagree with their colleagues in transitional societies. Distinct national differences also exist with regards to the role of subjectivity in reporting, as well as the separation of facts and opinion.

Keywords: journalism culture, institutional roles, epistemologies, ethical ideologies, journalists, survey, comparative research, cross-national research

Helmut Scherer/Hannah Schmid/Michael Lenz/Rico Fischer: Purely a Matter of Taste? Cinema Visits as Tools for Social Differentiation [Reine Geschmacksache? Der Kinobesuch als Mittel zur sozialen Abgrenzung]

Several studies have shown that certain media outlets can be used as tools for social distinction. According to Bourdieu, differences in taste can be traced back to different capital resources. Particularly in postmodern societies with their high standards of living, the importance of cultural capital as a source of distinction increases, while economic resources become less important. An intentional consumption of certain media can be regarded as an activity to enhance one’s cultural capital or as a judgement based on taste and deriving from capital resources. In this article, Bourdieu’s assumptions are tested using paper-and-pencil surveys (N=354) that compare an arthouse movie theatre audience (with, presumably, more distinct cultural experience) with the audience of a mainstream movie theatre. The results of the analysis confirm Bourdieu’s claims and demonstrate that individuals with stronger cultural capital resources select the more exclusive arthouse movie theatre, thereby emphasizing a distinct differentiation.

Keywords: Bourdieu, distinction, cinema, movie theatre, cultural capital, media use, media consumption

Christina Schachtner: Knowledge and Gender: Cyberspace as a place for gender-relevant knowledge [Wissen und Gender. Der Cyberspace als genderrelevanter Wissensraum]

Virtual knowledge spaces are far from neutral with regards to gender. Even in Cyberspace, gender is a significant category when it comes to the way knowledge and reality are constructed. This article starts off by defining and discussing notions of space, knowledge and gender. I thereby intend to establish a theoretical framework to approach my research question asking for the role of gender in Cyberspace. The analysis reveals that the significance of gender, indeed, is ambiguous. Notably, patriarchal structures are intensified; taking the form of an industrialisation of knowledge (Liessmann 2006). At the same time, reality-transcending trends can be also observed; as digitally supported ‘technologies of the self’ (Michel Foucault 1993) show. However, both reality-reproducing as well as reality-transcending trends are closely intertwined with the specific structure of virtual knowledge spaces. Finally, I discuss which conceptions of self accompany the ‘technologies of the self’ in Cyberspace; drawing links to current debates about discourses of the self.

Keywords: knowledge, gender, cyberspace, technologies of the self

Joan Kristin Bleicher: From television programme to navigation? Organizing principles in Internet television [Vom Programm zur Navigation? Ordnungsmodelle des Internet-Fernsehens]

Since the 1980s, hitherto existing schedules and structures of German television programming have changed due to the increasing differentiation in channels and target groups. This development has reached a new phase with the introduction of Internet television and video. Various strategies to control audience reception practices can be observed in such diverse services like online TV stations, platforms, web portals, arrangements and websites of offline TV stations; thus modifying TV’s central organizing principle, its schedule. In this article, I describe the development of organizing principles in contemporary Internet television from the perspective of media studies’ field of programming research. Starting with an account of the organizing principles of both analogue and digital TV today, I examine how these existing principles dissolve in favour of different forms of hybridisation with navigation models of the Internet. In doing so, I am referring to existing analyses of important aspects of Internet television and its current changes.

Keywords: IPTV, Internet, television, programming development, programming services, models of arrangement, navigation, EPG, video platform