Political Communication

The Political Communication Division studies the processes, structures and effects of political communication. We focus on three central themes: News Use, Political Participation and Populism.

In the area of news consumption, we analyse how and why people consume or avoid news - and what consequences this has for political knowledge. We pay particular attention to the tension between knowledge gain and harm to well-being through using overtly negative news.

In the area of political participation, we investigate the extent to which access to news - whether through established media or social platforms - or the deliberate avoidance of news influences political engagement. We analyse how different forms of news use shape participation in political decision-making processes and voting decisions, with a particular focus on national elections and referenda in Switzerland.

Our focus on populism is on understanding the news use behaviour of populist  citizens. We analyse how trust in different news sources and the importance of group identities manifest themselves in this context. We also look at the role of public, social and alternative media.