Tim Schatto-Eckrodt

University of Münster | WWU · Institute of Communication Studies

Conspiracy theories are a social phenomenon that has been researched by several academic fields: From philosophy, historical and cultural science, to psychological research, conspiracy theories are and have been a topic of interest for many scholars. Taking a political communication perspective, this entry outlines the different approaches to defin...

Replication studies in computational communication science (CCS) play a vital role in upholding research validity, ensuring reliability, and promoting transparency. However, conducting such studies in CCS often proves challenging due to the data environments’ dynamic nature and the complexities surrounding data and software sharing. To shed light o...

Consuming conspiracy theories erodes trust in democratic institutions, while conspiracy beliefs demotivate democratic participation, posing a potential threat to democracy. The proliferation of social media, especially the emergence of numerous alternative platforms with minimal moderation, has greatly facilitated the dissemination and consumption...

Representation and diversity are salient issues in the democratic discourse worldwide and by extension within the field of journalism studies. With the field’s recent introspection into the role of gender and race in academia came a need for empirical data, supporting the efforts of scholars working on improving journalism study’s diversity, both i...

Social media platforms, such as Instagram, are regularly misused for spreading covert (Islamic) extremist propaganda. Affect and emotion are central tools used in extremist propaganda, but there is little research into the combined employment of different social media elements, such as hashtags, visuals, and texts, in the context of propaganda. Thi...

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by a massive flood of “fake news”, conspiracy theories, and distorted information more generally. Alternative news media have been accused of contributing to this pollution the information sphere. In this article, we argue that audiences with a counter-hegemonic, ideologically biased worldview a...

Sampling content on social media is often done through the programming interfaces (APIs) of the platforms, where researchers only have limited access to, and knowledge of, the mechanisms by which the platforms provide them with the data they analyze. One of the, as of yet, understudied problems with sampling on social media are the e ects of delete...

Extremist:innen greifen zunehmend auf dunkle Sozialen Medien zurück. Der Begriff der dunklen sozialen Medien umfasst verschiedene Typen alternativer Sozialer Medien (soziale Kontermedien wie Gab, kontextgebundene alternative Soziale Medien wie VKontakte, Fringe Communities wie 4Chan), ebenso wie verschiedene Typen dunkler Kanäle (ursprünglich priva...

Dark social media has been described as a home base for extremists and a breeding ground for dark participation. Beyond the description of single cases, it often remains unclear what exactly is meant by dark social media and which opportunity structures for extremism emerge on these applications. The current paper contributes to filling this gap. W...

Online comments and contributions from users are not always constructive nor rational. This also applies to content that is directed at journalists or published on journalistic platforms. So-called ‘dark participation’ in online communication is a challenge that journalists have to face because it lowers users’ perceived credibility of media brands...

Menschen sind soziale Wesen. Das aufgrund der gesundheitlichen Gefährdungssituation durch das neuartige Coronavirus geltende Gebot der sozialen Distanzierung (social distancing), die nachdrückliche Aufforderung zuhause zu bleiben (stay at home) sowie die in vielen Ländern erlassenen Regelungen zu Kontaktverboten und Ausgangssperren stellen daher ei...

In recent times, distorted information has frequently been discussed as a serious problem for democracies. There are concerns that such information spreading via social media may lead to severe effects, such as a decline in social cohesion. Apart from platforms and journal-istic organizations, users play a decisive role in preventing the spread of...

Online media offer unprecedented access to digital public spheres, largely enhancing users' opportunities for participation and providing new means for strengthening democratic discourse. At the same time, the last decades have demonstrated that online discourses are often characterised by so-called 'dark participation' the spreading of lies and in...

The recognition of excessive forms of media entertainment use (such as uncontrolled video gaming or the use of social networking sites) as a disorder is a topic widely discussed among scientists and therapists, but also among politicians, journalists, users, and the industry. In 2018, when the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to include the...

Comments in designated sections of newspaper websites and on social media platforms are the most prominent form of user participation in journalism, offering the opportunity to connect to the audience. Yet, rising levels of dark participation in the form of hate speech, disinformation, and strategic attempts to influence public opinion, provide new...

The unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge for news media around the globe. While journalism is meant to process yet unknown events by design, the dynamically evolving situation affected all aspects of life in such profound ways that even the routines of crisis reporting seemed to be insufficient. Critics noted tende...

The outbreak of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that hit the world in 2020 led not only to a global pandemic with thousands of deaths around the globe but also to a globald spread of conspiracy theories and medical falsehoods, a dangerous 'infodemic' as the World-Health Organization labelled it. Mass media reports and initial studies suspect...

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had severe political, economic, and societal effects, it has also affected media and communication systems in unprecedented ways. While traditional journalistic media has tried to adapt to the rapidly evolving situation, alternative news media on the Internet have given the events their own ideological spin. Such...

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had severe political, economic, and societal effects, it has also affected media and communication systems in unprecedented ways. While traditional journalistic media has tried to adapt to the rapidly evolving situation, alternative news media on the Internet have given the events their own ideological spin. Such...

The endemic spread of misinformation online has become a subject of study for many academic disciplines. Part of the emerging literature on this topic has shown that conspiracy theories (CTs) are closely related to this phenomenon. One of the strategies deployed to combat this online misinformation is confronting users with corrective information,...

In addition to the increased opportunities for citizens to participate in society, participative online journalistic platforms offer opportunities for the dissemination of online propaganda through fake accounts and social bots. Community managers are expected to separate real expressions of opinion from manipulated statements through fake accounts...

“Fake news” is an expression that became popularized during the 2016 U.S. election. The rather inflationary use of the term since then has changed its meaning, making it an ambiguous and difficult concept. The term is currently used both as (a) a derogatory term denouncing media and journalism; and (b) an umbrella term for various forms of wrong, m...

Mit der quasi allgegenwärtigen Präsenz des (mobilen) Internets geht zum einen ein großes demokratisches Potential einher: Ganz nach Habermas' Theorie der deliberativen Demokratie können sich Bürger_innen online frei über relevante Themen informieren und in einen Diskurs eintreten, der zu einem gemeinsamen Konsens führt. Auf der dunklen Seite der di...

Participatory formats in online journalism offer increased options for user comments to reach a mass audience, also enabling the spreading of incivility. As a result, journalists feel the need to moderate offensive user comments in order to prevent the derailment of discussion threads. However, little is known about the principles on which forum mo...

False Information - Real Problems? Political anger, ineffecacy, trust and populist votes. High-Density Poster presenting data from a large random-quota study in Germany addressing (a) the association between the self-reported exposure to distorted information and the usage of alternative online news, feelings of political anger and appraisals of p...

“Fake News” is an expression that became popularized during the 2016 US election. The rather inflationary use of the term since then has changed its meaning, making it an ambig-uous and difficult concept. The term is currently used both as (a) a derogatory term de-nouncing media and journalism; and (b) an umbrella-term for various forms of wrong, m...

Der Begriff »Fake News«, zu Deutsch »falsche Nachrichten«, wird derzeit von Akteur*innen auf allen Seiten des politischen Spektrums genutzt. Die einen werfen damit den etablierten Medien vor, nicht objektiv zu berichten, die anderen beschreiben damit den Einzug von politischer Propaganda in den medialen Alltag. Zu politischen Zwecken lancierte Nach...