Browsing by Subject "Alternative media"

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How many people use alternative media in Germany and how can we measure it?
(2024) Klawier, Tilman
Digital media are often assumed to facilitate the production and spread of alternative news outlets. So far, however, it is quite unclear whether exposure to alternative media is a mass or a niche phenomenon. Although several studies attempted to measure alternative media use, these come to very different results. The present article aims to answer the general question of which methods measure alternative media exposure most accurately in order to approximate the number of alternative media users for the case of Germany. For this purpose, the study compares aggregate data from 27 studies comprising 34 measurements of alternative media exposure that were taken between 2015 and 2022. Moreover, the data analysis is complemented with a review of pertinent methodological literature. The study shows that although tracking measures do not capture all types of online media use, they do not appear to underestimate the number of alternative media users when compared to benchmark traffic data. From various self-report measures, those using lists of outlets with binary response options show the most similar results to tracking studies and the lowest levels of over-reporting. It is concluded that between 7% and 17% of Germans have at least sporadic contact with alternative media, while the number of weekly users is smaller and ranges between 2% and 4%. The share likely fluctuates over time in conjunction with current political events and developments. However, the data suggest that the alternative media audience did not grow over the past years. The article ends with a discussion of the potential impact of alternative media on society.
Intermedia agenda-setting from the far right? Three case studies on spillover effects by alternative media inGermany
(2023) Klawier, Tilman
Right-wing alternative media can increase their public impact if they succeed to set their issues on the mainstream media’s agenda. In three qualitative case studies, the present article explores whether and how such intermedia agenda-setting occurs in Germany. Special attention is given to spillover effects between different actors, both at the level of attention and tone towards the issues. Furthermore, the analysis of news articles is supplemented with Twitter data to account for the role of social media. Two of the case studies indicate that right-wing alternative media contributed to push pseudo-scandals into the mainstream. The analyses also reveal alternative news outlets with particular agenda-setting power and point to the crucial role of tabloid media as a bridge to the mainstream. The third study, however, which centered on the Global Compact for Migration, presents a case where intermedia agenda-setting failed. Against this background, the article discusses the conditions under which intermedia agenda-setting by right-wing alternative media is likely to occur and how journalists should deal with such attempts.
Public knowledge of alternative media in times of algorithmically personalized news
(2021) Klawier, Tilman; Prochazka, Fabian; Schweiger, Wolfgang
Citizens are likely to encounter various types of alternative media online, especially on algorithmically personalized news channels (APNC) like social network sites or search engines. It is unclear, however, to what degree they are aware of these outlets and familiar with the concept of alternative media. This study investigates the relation between exposure to alternative media and knowledge of them, taking the role of APNC into account. Analyzing representative survey data of German Internet users, we find a gap: While many individuals report to use alternative media, few of them are able to name alternative media titles matching scholarly conceptions. Although the use of APNC increases self-reported exposure to alternative media, it does not improve actual knowledge of them. All in all, many Internet users have little awareness of alternative media and do not clearly distinguish between different types of sources they come across online.