In recent decades, the prevalence of negative communication has intensified across the world. In this article, we seek to understand the mechanisms that spread negativity about a unified Europe. We study the specific conditions under which negative party communication boosts media visibility, focusing on the role of country-specific party conflicts on European Union integration. Our analysis is based on content analysis data of parties’ press releases and media coverage in the 12 weeks preceding the 2014 European Parliamentary elections in seven (...) countries. We find that EU-negative party communication by and large does not matter for party visibility in the media, though the results provide scant evidence that cross-national differences relate to a country’s party conflict. (shrink)

Im Mittelpunkt dieser Studien steht der philosophische Begriff der Begegnung, der auf die Erfahrung zurückgeht, dass sich das eigene Selbstsein einem Beitrag von aussen verdankt. Auch hundert Jahre nach der mit Bubers Ich und Du zu markierenden Entstehung der Dialogik ist 'Begegnung' ein in der Philosophie unverarbeiteter Begriff geblieben. In diesem Buch wird ein prinzipieller Neuansatz durch eine Gesamtschau der Philosophie Robert Spaemanns versucht. Indem die noch kaum freigelegte Kohärenz des vielschichtigen Werks dieses bedeutenden Denkers des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts (...) entfaltet wird, tritt eine philosophische Beschreibungsebene des Ereignisses der Begegnung zutage. (shrink)

This paper advances the research on personalization of political communication by investigating whether this process of focusing on politicians instead of political issues plays a role on Twitter. Results of a content analysis of 5,530 tweets posted in the run-up to the German federal election provide evidence that Twitter communication refers more often to politicians than to issues. However, tweets containing personal characteristics about political leaders play only a marginal role. When distinguishing among different groups of actors on Twitter (journalists, (...) politicians, citizens), we find that citizens focus more on candidates than do journalists or politicians. Investigating the impact of a televised debate on Twitter communication, we observe that this person-centered event puts the focus on individual politicians instead of issues. (shrink)