DFG-funded Project: Journalism Challenged: Understanding Performative Publics through Media Practice
in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Christoph Raetzsch (Aarhus University)
- Moe Kinoshita (Student Assistant)
Das Team des Forschungsprojekts 2023
Image Credit: Tim Gassauer
Project Duration: Three Years (started in May 2020)
Based on a practice- and gender-theoretical framework, the project investigates the emergence of performative publics around the #metoo debate in Germany (Case Study I) as well as gender-politically relevant discourse formations in the context of the Corona crisis (Case Study II).
Journalism has partly lost its exclusive function in society to set the agenda and accord relevance to issues of common concern. New kinds of actors, whether they are activists or private individuals, have emerged who are using quotidian digital media platforms to promote controversial issues and stir public debate in certain directions. These actors voice their views and concerns independently of journalism and actively promote the formation of new networks of like-minded actors. The resulting publics clearly show changing constellations of gendered structures of public articulation that mirror larger shifts in the complexity of publics and their conflictual, antagonistic and controversial character. The core interest of the project lies in investigating challenges to journalistic legitimacy and authority originating in and being structured by networked and digital communication between different actor groups, especially professional journalists, civic activists and individuals. These actors are regarded as equally involved in the specific emergence of what we call ‘performative publics’ (see Lünenborg & Raetzsch, 2018).
This mutual making of performative publics is addressed theoretically with the analytical concept of media practice and is traced empirically with a mixed-methods design. Instead of a dichotomous distinction between private and public, the project aims to address gradual distinctions of personal vs. public poles of articulation (‘layers of publicness’). Such a gradual distinction is especially needed to focus on the alternation of speaker and audience positions in contested public discourses around gender, but also between individual and institutionalised actors. Taken together, the theoretical concept of media practice shall be empirically developed and validated and establish a new methodology for similar research in German Media and Communication Studies on the margins and at the intersections of journalism with society.
Methodologically, the project aims to establish praxeological communication research in German communication science by combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Used are (semi-)automated network and content analyses as well as interviews and ethnography.
The project is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for three years and includes a cooperation with Axel Bruns (Queensland University Brisbane, Australia). It is led by Margreth Lünenborg (Freie Universität Berlin), in collaboration with Christoph Raetzsch (Aarhus University, Denmark).
Recent Publications
Margreth Lünenborg, Wolfgang Reißmann & Miriam Siemon (2023). Countering or Reinforcing (Gendered) Inequalities? Ramifications of the Covid-19 Pandemic in and Through Media. Media and Communication, 11(1), 86-90. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i1.6839
Miriam Siemon & Wolfgang Reißmann (2023). Negotiating Care Work: Gendered Network Structures of Pandemic Care Discourses on Twitter in Germany. Media and Communication, 11(1), 125-138. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i1.6032
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann & Margreth Lünenborg (2023): Das deutschsprachige #MeToo. Erste Ergebnisse einer Langzeitanalyse auf Basis von Twitterdaten. In E. Grittmann, K. Müller, C. Peil & J. Pinseler (Hrsg.), Medien und Ungleichheiten. (Trans-)Nationale Perspektiven auf Geschlecht, Diversität und Identität (S. 1-19). DGPuK e.V. https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.86843
Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon, Margreth Lünenborg & Christoph Raetzsch (2023). Making (female) health care work matter: The performative publics of #systemrelevant during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, 38(73), 73–99. https://doi.org/10.7146/mk.v38i73.128451
Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon, Margreth Lünenborg & Christoph Raetzsch (2022). Praxisprofile als mixed-methods Ansatz zur Analyse performativer Öffentlichkeiten: Vorschlag für eine relationale Journalismusforschung. Studies in Communication Sciences, 22(1), 69–88.
Wolfgang Reißmann, Moe Kinoshita, Miriam Siemon (2021). Frust, Solidarität und Aktivismus. Das Krisenhashtag #CoronaEltern. medien + erziehung, 65(2), 46-50.
Margreth Lünenborg, Christoph Raetzsch, Wolfgang Reißmann & Miriam Siemon (2020). Media Practice in performativen Öffentlichkeiten. Für eine praxistheoretische Positionierung der Journalismusforschung. In J. Schützeneder, K. Meier & N. Springer (eds.), Neujustierung der Journalistik/Journalismusforschung in der digitalen Gesellschaft. Jahrestagung der Fachgruppe Journalistik/Journalismusforschung der DGPUK 2019, S. 34-51. Eichstätt. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.70817
Christoph Raetzsch, Margreth Lünenborg (2020). “Anchoring Practices for Public Connection: Media Practice and Its Challenges for Journalism Studies.” International Journal of Communication (14): 2868–2886.
Margreth Lünenborg, Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon, Moe Kinoshita (2020). “#systemrelevance in one word? women” – The Need for Analyzing Gender(ed) Media Discourse. TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 26.08.2020. https://trafo.hypotheses.org/24843
Margreth Lünenborg (2019). “Affective Publics”. In Affective Societies. Key Concepts. Jan Slaby, Christian von Scheve (eds.), 319-329. Abingdon: Routledge.
Margreth Lünenborg, Christoph Raetzsch (2018). “From Public Sphere to Performative Publics: Developing Media Practice as an Analytic Model”. In Media Practices, Social Movements, and Performativity: Transdisciplinary Approaches, Susanne Foellmer, Margreth Lünenborg, Christoph Raetzsch (eds.), 13-35. Abingdon: Routledge.
Christoph Raetzsch (2017). “Journalism Studies Beyond Journalism: A Critical and Appreciative Dialogue with Michael Schudson.” Journalism Studies 18(10): 1277-1292. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2017.1338151.
Christoph Raetzsch, Henrik Bødker (2016). “Journalism and the Circulation of Communicative Objects“. Special Issue on ‘Digital Circulation.’ Balbi, G., Delfanti, A., Magaudda, P. (eds.). Tecnoscienza. Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies 7(1): 129-148.
Workshops and Panels
Methodenvielfalt in der praxistheoretischen Kommunikationsforschung: Von (digitaler) Ethnographie bis Netzwerkforschung. Workshop im Rahmen der DGPuK-Jahrestagung 2022 (Berlin, Februar 2022)
Practice-Based Methodologies for Digital Journalism Studies – Panel im Rahmen der ICA-Konferenz 2021 (Denver/online, Mai 2021)
Women Keep Society Going in Times of Crisis: But Who’s Talking About it? Analyzing Global Discourses on Inequalities in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic – Panel im Rahmen der ICA-Konferenz 2021 (Denver/online, Mai 2021)
Presentations
Margreth Lünenborg, Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon (2023/11): ‘Vorwärts zu den Wurzeln?’ – Reflexionen zum feministischen Storytelling als Artikulationsform in digitalen Netzwerk-Öffentlichkeiten. (Nicht-)Binarität in Binären Strukturen – Zur digitalen Kommunikation von Identität und Vielfalt: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der DGPuK-Fachgruppen „Digitale Kommunikation“ und „Medien, Öffentlichkeit & Geschlecht“, Wien.
Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborg, Miriam Siemon (2023/05): Hybride Akteur:innen – (bald) die ‚neue Normalität‘? Grenzarbeiten im Spannungsfeld von Journalismus und feministischem Aktivismus. DGPuK-Jahrestagung, Bremen.
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborg (2022/10): Performative publics and the shifting role of journalism. The emergence of gender-related Covid-19 discourses in the German twittersphere, ECREA, Aarhus.
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborg (2022/05): Who Cares for Care-Givers? Care work, Covid-19, and Gendered Public Connection in the German Twittersphere, 72nd Annual ICA Conference, Paris.
Christoph Raetzsch, Margreth Lünenborg, Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon (2022/04): Understanding Performative Publics Through Practice Profiles. Media and Publics 2022, Roskilde.
Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon, Margreth Lünenborg, Christoph Raetzsch (2022/02): De- und rekontextualisierte „Beobachtungen“. Netzwerkanalyse und standardisierte Codierungen als Zooming- Out-Instrumente in einem Mixed-Methods-Design, Workshop „Methodenvielfalt in der praxistheoretischen Kommunikationsforschung, DGPuK-Jahrestagung, Berlin.
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborg (2021/11): Männer zeigen Frauen, was in der Krise zu tun ist? Eine Kombination aus automatisierter und qualitativer Bildanalyse zu Geschlechterverhältnissen in Corona-Diskursen auf Twitter. „Macht der Bilder – Bilder der Macht“, Jahrestagung der DGPuK-Fachgruppe Visuelle Kommunikation, Trier.
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborg, Christoph Raetzsch (2021/10): Grounding computational methods: How to map out practice profiles in performative publics. Workshop „Approaches to Media Practice and Digital Methods”, Aarhus.
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborg (2021/09): Zwischen #systemrelevant und #CoronaEltern. Geschlechterverhältnisse im Diskurs um (un)bezahlte Care-Arbeit während der Corona-Pandemie. „Medien und Ungleichheiten (Trans-)nationale Perspektiven auf Geschlecht, Diversität und Identität“, Gemeinsame Jahrestagung 2020 der Fachgruppen Interkulturelle und internationale Kommunikation und Medien, Öffentlichkeit und Geschlecht in der DGPuK, Magdeburg.
Miriam Siemon, Wolfgang Reißmann, Margreth Lünenborgh (2021/05): Who is “systemrelevant”? The negotiation of gendered care discourses in digital publics.“Engaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice”, 71st Annual ICA Conference, Denver [online].
Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon, Christoph Raetzsch, Margreth Lünenborg (2021/05): Practice profiles as method for analyzing performative publics. “Engaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice”, 71st Annual ICA Conference, Denver [online].
Wolfgang Reißmann, Miriam Siemon, Margreth Lünenborg (2021/04): Practice-based journalism research and computational methods. A multi-method approach for the analysis of performative publics.“#Kommunikation #(R)Evolution. Zum Wandel der Kommunikation in der digitalen Gesellschaft“, Dreiländertagung für Kommunikationswissenschaft, Zürich [online].
If you are interested in the project or in collaborating, please contact Margreth Lünenborg (margreth.luenenborg@fu-berlin.de).
