International & Comparative Media Research

Research and teaching activities in this division focus on the area of international and comparative research in media and communication studies. The division’s work emphasizes socially relevant issues related to journalism and news, political communication, media systems and media cultures, as well as innovations in the methodology of comparative research designs.

Research and teaching: fields of interest

With respect to research and teaching in the field of journalism and news, the division is interested in professional cultures and media cultures in general as seen from a cross-national perspective. A particular emphasis is placed on comparing journalistic practices and occupational standards, editorial structures of media organizations, as well as the professional orientations of journalists. In addition, the division is involved in the investigation of media content and media effects across countries by focusing on news messages, story formats, topic priorities and issue dynamics in media coverage.

In the field of political communication, the role of the mass media in communication activities by governments, in election campaigns and political processes as a whole, is analyzed by way of looking at cross-national settings. Due to the advantageous geographic location of Switzerland in the middle of Europe, a special emphasis is placed on a European perspective. This regional focus becomes particularly obvious in the division’s research agenda that is concerned with the news coverage of the European institutions, the news management techniques of EU institutions, and the Europeanization of media systems, media cultures and public spheres. Another main area of interest is the field of crisis and war communication, with special attention paid to the escalating and de-escalating role of media in international crises and multicultural conflicts.

Research and teaching in the area of media systems and cultures is concerned with questions at multiple levels of analysis. On the macro level, the division is involved in efforts to extend the scope of existing typologies of established media systems, the development of new typologies for systems undergoing structural change and comparisons of the causes and effects these transformation processes have on society. Another important focal point is the exploration of journalistic cultures and political communication cultures from a comparative and multilevel point of view.

With respect to innovations in the methodology of comparative research designs, the division actively engages in the ongoing discussion on methodological issues in comparative and cross-cultural communication and media research. In this particular area, the division’s activities focus on typical hypotheses and research questions in comparative studies, characteristic macro-level and medium-range theories, the logic of comparison, forms of comparative research designs (including configurative and causal designs), problems of operationalization and equivalence, as well as methods and sources of data collection.

International cooperation

Due to its inherently cross-national and comparative focus, the division and its members devote special attention to their participation in international cooperation and collaborative projects with colleagues from all over the world. Ongoing collaborative activities involve scholars from member states of the European Union (e.g., Great Britain, Netherlands, Sweden) as well as from several universities in the United States. In addition, division members maintain work-relationships with colleagues in regions and countries as diverse as Latin America (e.g. Brazil and Mexico), Africa (e.g. South Africa and Uganda), Asia (e.g. China and Indonesia), the Arab world and the Middle East (e.g. Egypt and Israel), as well as Australia, Fiji and Russia.

The lecturers and researchers in the International & Comparative Media Research division are active members of the leading international organizations of in the field, such as the International Communication Association (ICA), International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). The division’s members are internationally recognized for their prolific publication activities, as well as for their active involvement in the boards of scholarly associations and academic journals.