Volume 58 (2025), Edition 2

The collapse of the SPD, Green Party, and FDP coalition government on November 6, 2024, marked the beginning of a short but intense federal election campaign. The parties had just under four months to convince voters before the election date on...

Election research faces growing challenges: on the one hand, increasingly volatile voter behavior requires sensitive instruments, while on the other hand, declining voter turnout makes reliable polls difficult. This article analyzes three data...

For 76 years, political parties have presented their election manifestos prior to each federal election. In order to help voters, political parties should present their positions clearly and understandably. However, will the parties have succeeded...

This article discusses the high relevance of visual communication before outlining the role of advertising in different contexts. It also sets out normative requirements for election campaign communication. The text focuses specifically on the...

Political targeting is a frequently used tool in digital election campaigns. Targeting is based on the collection and aggregation of personal data belonging to social media users and results in the identification of groups of people who are...

Since Donald Trump’s re-election as US president, the way social media functions, debates and discourse thereon have changed significantly. Several platform operators are breaking away from established fact-checking structures and procedures. This...

Young people are increasingly informing themselves with regard to current events via social media. Against this backdrop a digital divide can be observed and the question of equity in participation arises: How can fair access to news be ensured for...

Comment sections offer great democratic potential but are often criticized for the low quality of the discussions they generate. Against that backdrop, this study examines 4,062 social media comments to determine which factors influence the...

Few things challenge reporters as much as large-scale international research—both in terms of investigative journalism as well as from a media-ethical perspective. This article provides a glimpse behind the scenes of a European research team that...

Religious influencers are shaping a new form of religious communication in the digital space. Thereby, sometimes contradictory dynamics can be observed: while influencers emphasize their closeness to everyday life and their followers, clergy...