Research themes

Conflict Framing

Conflict and conflict framing are common in political messaging, news coverage and advertising. The prevalence of this kind of communication and how these attacks are received by the public are big topics in political communication research. While empirical evidence is mixed, it is often thought that mainly digital media plays a large role in the supposed polarization in society today. Scholars also worry that topics easily become politicized in this (digital) media environment when previously uncontested topics moved to the political sphere. Issues then become more salient among the public and opinions more polarized. Research within this subtheme includes studies on the politicization of climate change communication, conflict framing in political communication on social media in particular and the ability of digital media to (de)polarize.

Digital (Political) Campaigning

This subtheme focuses on the way politicians communicate with citizens online during election campaigns, and vice versa. With the rapid growth of the use of digital media, such as social media, this way of communication has fundamentally changed. New digital strategies, such as data-driven microtargeting, have transformed campaign communication, with significant implications for democracy. Within this subtheme, the DDD Lab brings together research on the effects of online political communication. We aim to understand how online political communication during elections affects citizens’ attitudes, opinions, and, eventually, voting behavior.

High-choice Media Environment

This subtheme focuses on the effects and implications of a high-choice media environment. The media landscape has undergone a fundamental transformation in the previous decades. Consumers now have more autonomy and can consume whatever media of their choice on various channels (e.g., social media, podcasts, and YouTube). While this freedom allows users to access content tailored to their interests, it also raises concerns about selective exposure. Citizens may increasingly favor soft news over hard news, potentially leading to lower awareness of public affairs. Plus, in a high-choice media environment it is harder to guarantee the quality and trustworthiness of news. Research within this subtheme includes studies on media contents and effects, issue diversity, trust in media, digital journalism and selective exposure.

Knowledge Resistance and News Avoidance

This subtheme focuses on the question how people deal with information from the media, how they decide on what they want to consume and believe and what the broader implications of those processes are in terms of politicization and polarization around themes such as climate change and vaccinations. Furthermore, mis- and disinformation are on the rise and some groups avoid the news, which is often linked to lower political interest and knowledge. Research investigates the content and effects of traditional and social media, the prevalence of mis- and disinformation, and the dynamics of politicization, polarization, and news consumption in an ever-changing media landscape.

Methodological Innovation

The digitalized information environment that is at the core of our research requires novel approaches to collect and analyze data. Researchers in the DDD Lab are using a wide array of  methods, including computational content analysis combined with panel surveys and ways to trace digital media use, such as experienced sampling methods. We also rely on more classical forms of content analysis, experimental methods and physiological measurement, such as eye-tracking. In most studies longitudinal aspects are central, as we focus on dynamics and change. Next to the using methods to answer substantial questions, we are also interested to further contribute to advance them and test their suitability in different contexts.