Media Reality & Effects

Research

The division is engaged in several large national research projects, in particular some funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Federal Department of Communication; but smaller and more applied research projects are undertaken as well. Examples of current projects are:

• Analysis and Evaluation of Media Content: How is green biotechnology presented and framed by the media in Switzerland? What can be said about the quality of coverage of local affairs through a comparison of public and private local radio and television stations?
• Environmental Science and Risk Communication: The division was engaged between 1996 and 2004 within a large international research project, funded by the EU, analyzing media coverage of biotechnology and researching processes of opinion formation. At the moment, an additional study, funded by the Swiss Science Foundation, is underway, focusing on green biotechnology.
• Evaluations of Public Information Campaigns: Several small and applied research projects have been completed e.g. for the Canton Zurich and the Federal Department of Health (BAG).
• Children, adolescents and media are a special emphasis in the division since the early seventies, here questions of media access, media use and media socialization are explored. Recently, a large project funded by the Swiss Science Foundation was finished; this project compared uses and functions of media by young people from immigrant backgrounds with that of Swiss adolescents.