From Dallas to Berlin on Demand: The Transnationalization of Meaning? A multilevel replication study in Israel and Germany

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Joachim Trebbe
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 526027541

The research project aims to deliver a contemporary replication that is modelled after the ground-breaking Dallas audience study by Israeli researchers Tamar Liebes and Elihu Katz (1990). “The Export of Meaning: Cross-Cultural Readings of Dallas” examined the worldwide reception of a popular US television series among various socioethnic groups within Israel, the United States, and Japan. It confirmed the viewers’ ability to decode television content critically within their own homes, in their own words, and based on who they were. The proposed study aims to apply Liebes/Katz’ original research agenda in a new production and reception context of today’s streaming services. Content providers like Netflix have not only revolutionised traditional TV entertainment. They have also put Germany as a major player on the streaming scene with unforeseen success. The updated replication focuses on this shift and the transnational decoding of original German productions that are set in Berlin. A ‘Berlin on demand’ offers individuals viewer new foils to contrast or align their own lived realities with. The stream-screen city can promote inter- and intra-communal relations or oppose them. In the German-Israeli context, Berlin is both representative of a traumatic past and image of a multi-cultural and diverse metropolis, which the study will investigate from different points of view across Israel and Germany. The scientific team (communication science, transnational media, and comparative culture studies) is interdisciplinary and international. It will draw synergies from scholars in Berlin, Jerusalem, and Sydney. Empirically, the project design includes a multi-level data collection of content, production, and reception in each research location. The project applies a mixed-methods approach; combines qualitative data such as focus groups, a vital element to the Liebes/Katz study; and incorporates content analysis, expert interviews and big data network analysis (social media use). The outcome will be the development of a transnational content negotiation model via streaming to understand a knowledge revolution that is akin to the internet wave of the 90s. This replication is really a convergence study about shifting power relations yet to be fully understood by disciplines, wider public, and content providers. They involve new streaming technologies, Covid- 19 as a catalyst, and Europe as a content production hub — a trifecta that has evaded existing studies and industry. The extended replication creates a foundation with empirical grounding for further research. It will deliver a better grasp of the hidden mechanisms at work in the content culture market, where small countries or states with languages that are not traditional prestige languages like French or English may turn their alleged disadvantage into a competitive asset.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Lothar Mikos
• International Co-Applicant: Professorin Dr. Gisela Dachs