In her article “Media repertoire of young adults before elections”, Gisela Reiter, Teaching & Research Associate at the Journalism & Media Management study programs at FHWien der WKW, analysed and evaluated the results of studies on the subject of information procurement in the run-up to political elections. From the results she was able to derive three recommendations for action, especially for public media.
Article by Gisela Reiter published in the ORF series “TEXTE – öffentlich-rechtliche Qualität im Diskurs”
In the summer semester of 2019, shortly after the European elections, 34 people aged between 18 and 29 were interviewed about their individual media usage behavior as part of a course at the Journalism & Media Management study programs at FHWien der WKW. The interview guideline included questions on the current and former media repertoire and associated media usage routines. In general, questions were asked about trust and mistrust in the media, as well as expectations towards journalists and their social role.
The evaluation summarizes three instructions for action, especially for public media: Firstly, the young adults recommend a media mix and the provision of information directly on the parties’ websites. Secondly, it is TV confrontations and moving image offerings that have a lasting impact on the decisive impression of the top candidates. Thirdly, the social media appearance of the parties is relevant and also the offer to orientate oneself via wahlkabine.at seems to play an important role in this age group.
In addition to the article by Gisela Reiter, the issue also contains articles by authors such as Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle, Bertram Barth, Natascha Zeitel-Bank, Saskja Schindler, Jakob-Moritz Eberl, Günther Ogris, Peter Filzmaier, Gabriele Melischek Josef Seethaler and Stephen Cushion.