Band 7

A Chance for Dialogical Journalism?

Social Web Practices and Handling of User Comments at Deutsche Welle

Ines Drefs

DOI 10.48541/dcr.v7.0 (SSOAR) | ISBN 978-3-945681-07-0 | Download Band 7

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction
1.1 Research interest
1.2 Research objectives
1.3 Methodological proceeding
1.4 Structure of the study

PART A: THEORY AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

2 Dialogue as a mandate: German international broadcasting
2.1 Profile of Deutsche Welle
2.2 Central functions
2.2.1 Public service function
2.2.2 Political function
2.2.3 Dialogical function
2.3 Summary and conclusion: Deutsche Welle as an instructive case study

3 Journalism as a facilitator of democratically relevant communication
3.1 Journalism and dialogue
3.1.1 Theoretical underpinnings of dialogue
3.1.2 Democracy-theoretical relevance of dialogue
3.1.3 Journalists’ role as dialogue mediators
3.2 Journalism and discourse
3.2.1 Theoretical underpinnings of discourse
3.2.2 Democracy-theoretical relevance of discourse
3.2.3 Journalists’ role as discourse advocates
3.3 Journalism and everyday talk
3.3.1 Theoretical underpinnings of everyday talk
3.3.2 Democracy-theoretical relevance of everyday talk
3.3.3 Journalists’ role as objective observers
3.4 Summary and conclusion: Ranking journalism concepts according to democratic standards

4 Journalism in the social web
4.1 Public sphere under social web conditions
4.2 Social web usage in professional contexts
4.3 Changing journalism-audience relations in the digital age
4.4 Communicative expectations and challenges of journalism in the social web
4.4.1 Output stage
4.4.2 Response stage
4.5 Journalism as a facilitator of democratically relevant communication in the social web
4.6 Summary and conclusion: Parallels between old and new expectations

5 Specified research interest
5.1 Case study: Methodological approach and objectives
5.2 Research questions and propositions
5.3 Multiple cases: DW German, DW English, and DW Russian on Facebook and YouTube
5.4 Summary and conclusion

6 Analytical framework and methodological design
6.1 Models of analysis
6.1.1 Identifying professional journalistic social web practices
6.1.2 Assessing social web communication with regard to democratic relevance
6.2 Research methods and instruments
6.2.1 Social web content analysis
6.2.2 Expert interview
6.2.3 Document analysis
6.2.4 Method combination

PART B: RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION

7 Journalistic social web usage at the output stage
7.1 Identity management
7.1.1 Making DW accessible: From single-handed to concerted action
7.1.2 Self-assured or torn? Reconciling international broadcasting functions with social web activity
7.1.3 Review of P1 and conclusion
7.2 Information management
7.2.1 Workflow: Who is in charge of what?
7.2.2 Social web output: Considerations and characteristics
7.2.3 Overarching challenges: Constant change and online security
7.2.4 Review of P2 and conclusion
7.3 Relationship management
7.3.1 Directly in charge: Relating to the social web audience
7.3.2 Indirectly in charge: Making the newsroom aware of social web audiences
7.3.3 Review of P3 and conclusion
7.4 Answer to RQ1

8 Democratic relevance of journalistic social web activity at the response stage
8.1 User comments
8.1.1 Where users largely fulfilled high democratic standards: Relevance and civility
8.1.2 Where users partly fulfilled higher democratic standards: Viewpoints, interrelation, argumentation
8.1.3 Where users rarely fulfilled higher democratic standards: Feedback, context information, metadiscussion
8.1.4 Interim conclusion
8.1.5 Answer to RQ2a
8.2 Journalistic handling of user comments
8.2.1 General approach: “Step back and let the discussion unfold on its own”
8.2.2 Where DW most likely fulfilled higher democratic standards: Civility
8.2.3 Where DW rarely fulfilled higher democratic standards: Feedback, context information, viewpoints, argumentation
8.2.4 Where DW engaged not at all: Relevance, interrelation, meta-discussion
8.2.5 Answer to RQ2b
8.2.6 Review of P4 and conclusion
8.2.7 Answer to RQ2

9 Conclusion and discussion
9.1 Theoretical implications of the findings
9.2 Practical relevance of the findings
9.3 Methodological reflections and future research

References

APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Summary
Appendix 2: Variables (quantitative content analysis)
Appendix 3: Codebooks
Appendix 4: Organization chart of Deutsche Welle (August 2012)
Appendix 5: Interview guide

Drefs, I. (2021). A Chance for Dialogical Journalism? Social Web Practices and Handling of User Comments at Deutsche Welle. Berlin: Digital Communication Research. doi:10.48541/dcr.v7.0

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