Last week, DIID spokesperson Prof Dr Marc Ziegele took part in the 29th Altenberg Forum Church and Politics on the topic of ‘Shaken foundations? Extremism in our society’. He took part in a panel discussion with NRW Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul, Prof Dr Sabrina Krauss (SRH University NRW) and Prelate Dr Karl Jüsten (Commissariat of the German Bishops) in front of around 200 interested guests.
The discussion focussed on the role of the media and social networks in the spread of extremist movements. Prof. Dr Ziegele emphasised that the mechanisms of social media promote fragmentation and polarisation. Controversial and emotionally charged content has a high news value and thus reinforces extremism. He emphasised that the AfD makes targeted use of social media, in particular TikTok, where it has more followers than all other parties combined. The party uses this platform strategically to reach young people and to be perceived as authentic.
At the same time, Ziegele criticised the fact that other parties often have little presence and are unprofessional in their social media strategy. Radicalisation is further accelerated by the ‘self-chosen bubbles’ in social networks, as controversial topics and scandals dominate the media discourse. Many AfD voters do not feel represented in society and seek this attention online.
There is no general recipe against disinformation, radical content and conspiracy theories online, Ziegele concluded. Constructive journalism could be an answer: ‘But constructiveness needs time and space, which is not provided for when using social media.’
A recording of the discussion can be found here: https://lnkd.in/ezYS9H5G. A report on the discussion with some pictures is available here. https://lnkd.in/e9G-yjwt
Ansprechpartner
Prof. Dr. Marc Ziegele (Speaker)
Board, Communication Studies, DIID-Team
Marc Ziegele has been Professor of Communication and Media Studies at HHU-Düsseldorf since February 2024. He previously held the Junior Professorship for Communication and Media Studies with a focus on “Political Online Communication”. At the same time, he is head of the junior research group “Deliberative Discussions on the Social Web” funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Previously, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Journalism at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and studied media economics at the same institute. His research focuses on participation and discussions of citizens on the Internet. In the junior research group based at DIID, he is investigating measures to improve the quality and impact of users’ public discussions about political media topics – so-called online public-political connection communication.
It also researches the causes and consequences of media trust as well as various aspects of citizens’ social web use at the interface of communication science and psychology.
Marc Ziegele was elected speaker of the Institute by the DIID General Assembly in December 2023.