With her contribution “Media under pressure – The Austrian corruption scandal and the trust in media coverage” Gisela Reiter (Teaching & Research Associate at FHWien of WKW) presented current study results at the RIPE@2022 conference in Vienna. She also participated in an international roundtable discussion about “Challenges for Politics and Education for Youth and Media in Europe”.
The conference, organized by the University of Vienna in cooperation with the ORF Public Value Competence Center, took place from September 18-21, 2022 under the title “Between the Fourth Estate and the Fifth Power: Conservation and Innovation in PSM Journalism”. In contrast to usual conferences, RIPE focuses on close cooperation in thematic working groups with the aim of presenting jointly developed theoretical positions and perspectives for the research field of Public Service Media (PSM).
In her contribution, Gisela Reiter presented the results of a qualitative study conducted immediately after the Austrian advertising affair in fall 2021. Participants between the ages of 18 and 30 were asked about the presumed influence of politics on the media, the credibility of survey studies and the relevance of public media. The results show a strikingly high acceptance of the proximity of journalism and politics. This also applies to public service media, which are trusted more in this context than private media providers. In this context, the advertising affair is seen as a positive example that direct political influence on reporting (in a tabloid medium) and the falsification of survey results do not go unpunished in Austria.
At the roundtable discussion on the last day of the conference, Gisela Reiter was joined by Friso Roscam Abbing (Fundamental Rights Agency), Majlinda Aliu (Television Kosovo), Klaus Unterberger (ORF Public Value Competence Center) and Florian Malcher (Youth Press Austria). The central claims were better visibility of public service offerings and a stronger focus on medialiteracy and the concept of public value as an important cornerstone of democratic societies.