Constructive journalism. Empirical analyses of the potential effects of a new form of journalism

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marcus Maurer
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 512131520

Political media coverage focuses on problems and conflicts and is therefore strongly negative in tone. The consequences of this problem-focused reporting for the public range from negative emotions such as fear and anger to negative and polarized judgments about politics and a reluctance to participate in solving social problems. As an alternative to established, problem-focused journalism, constructive journalism has therefore been discussed for several years, which aims to discuss not only political and social problems but also successes and possible solutions to social problems and in this way should not only promote social engagement, but at the same time promote trust in journalism. However, if one looks at the previous research on constructive journalism, it becomes clear that 1) there is no systematically developed definition of constructive journalism, 2) the possible effects of constructive journalism have hardly been theoretically reflected and 3) hardly any systematic research on the effects of constructive journalism and its prerequisites and boundary conditions was carried out. Based on a working definition of constructive journalism as journalism that reports in a balanced and factual manner on socially relevant problems and ways to solve them, the aim of the project applied for here is a) to theoretically model the effects of constructive journalism on the emotions, cognitions and behavior (intents) of the recipients and b) to empirically examine these effects as well as their prerequisites (content and use of constructive journalism) and boundary conditions (characteristics of issues and recipients). This is to be done in three modules: Module A (content) uses a manual quantitative content analysis to examine how media that classify themselves as constructive journalism report on socially relevant topics and how this differs from the reporting of established news media. In Module B (potential use), an experimental survey is used to determine the size of the audience that prefers constructive journalism to problem-centric media reporting in a concrete decision-making situation and on which boundary conditions this depends. The core of the project is Module C (effects), in which the specific effects of the various dimensions of constructive journalism (balance, matter-of-factness, presenting solutions) on different issues and on people with different predispositions are to be examined with the help of a 2x2x2x2-factorial experimental design. The fourth module D (publications and transfer) serves to communicate the project results in science, journalism and society.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants