Media content research

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The media content research is a branch of communication and media studies . The focus of media content research is on mass media disseminated public media content , which includes the entire repertoire of media messages found in newspapers and magazines, radio and television, on the Internet and in other media. So there is a multitude of different media messages and forms of presentation.

aims

Media content research aims to examine the transformation of reality into media reality by analyzing media content. In addition, she researches the selection process when creating media content, tries to draw conclusions from the media content on the conditions in which it was created, and to make statements about the effect of media content on the recipient and / or communicator . Heinz Bofandelli writes about this in his book Medieninhaltsforschung : "From a journalistic or media-sociological perspective the question is asked: Which content with which reference to reality is transported through the media?"

Investigations

In investigations into media content research, the methods of content analysis , but also text analysis, play an essential role. A distinction must be made between the (media) sociological perspective, which mainly focuses on the structures of the media content, and the journalistic perspective, with reference to the formal and creative aspects of media messages.

Examples of content structures:

  • Media culture and changing values
  • Crime and violence
  • Environment, science, technology and risks

Examples of formal-design structures:

  • Comprehensibility and redundancy
  • Forms of presentation and format analyzes
  • Media performance

The subject of media content or statements research is on the one hand the content of the media itself, but also the way in which it is conveyed in different forms of presentation, such as journalistic forms of presentation, genre or formats. The investigations of media content research range from current radio and television programs as well as program history in radio and television, via the Internet, content from online appearances of classic media, to messages that are exchanged in charts or newsgroups and exchanged via e-mails or SMS .

literature

  • Heinz Bonfadelli: Medieninhaltsforschung , Konstanz: UVK-Verl.-Ges., 2002
  • Heinz Bonfadelli: Media content , In: Günter Bentele , Hans-Bernd Brosius , Otfried Jarren (Ed.): Public communication. Handbook of Communication and Media Studies. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag 2003, pp. 79-100.