Portrait
Zhengyi Xu is a PhD student and Research & Teaching Assistant in the Political Communication Division, Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich.
Research Interests
His research focuses on news consumption and political engagement, with a particular interest in how news negativity and news avoidance relate to well-being, and how people navigate and engage with politics in the context of today’s complex news environment.
Educational Background
He completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communication Science at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2017–2023). During his Master’s studies, he focused particularly on news consumption and the effects of paywall strategies on user behaviour. Prior to that, he had obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Sichuan University, China (2014).
Publications
Xu, Z., Thurman, N., Berhami, J., Strasser Ceballos, C., & Fehling, O. (2025). Converting Online News Visitors to Subscribers: Exploring the Effectiveness of Paywall Strategies Using Behavioural Data. Journalism Studies, 26(4), 464–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2438229
Presentations
Thurman, N., Xu, Z., Fehling, O., Berhami, J., Strasser Ceballos, C., Wilczek, B., & Weigert, M. (2024). Effects of newspaper publishers’ paywall strategies on whether online visitors start and finish the subscription journey, 10th European Communication Conference (ECREA 2024), 24–27 September 2024, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Thurman, N., Xu, Z., Fehling, O., Berhami, J., Strasser Ceballos, C., Wilczek, B., & Weigert, M. (2024). How local newspaper publishers can use paywall strategies to nudge readers to enter and exit the subscription funnel, MeCCSA Innovations in Local News Media seminar series [online], 20 March 2024.
Teaching
BA Research Seminar “News Use and Political Engagement”, HS2025–FS2026, 2 semesters, 2 SWS.