📣 Weekly Spotlight 💡 Seien Sie am Dienstag, 22. September, beim Auftaktvortrag von Prof. Michael Latzer im Rahmen unserer öffentlichen Vortragsreihe „Wie Digitalisierung und Künstliche Intelligenz unsere Gesellschaft verändern“ dabei.

💡We are pleased to invite you to our public lecture series, “How Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence Are Changing Our Society.” Starting September 22, international experts will share new perspectives and discuss current issues every week.

A new study finds that fact-checking often has limited coverage, arrives too late, and reaches too few people to keep up with political misinformation. Corrections can still provide useful information, but they often don't reach enough people in time to have their greatest impact.

Political Fact-Checking Efforts are Constrained by Deficiencies in Coverage, Speed, and Reach

Fact-checking has been promoted as a key method for combating political misinformation. Comparing the spread of election-related misinformation narratives along with their relevant political fact-c...

tandfonline.com

New study from Kenya finds a deepfake's impact depends not just on the video itself, but also on the comments surrounding it. They found that skeptical comments reduced the deepfake's influence, while comments that didn't question its authenticity made it more persuasive.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

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Today is the opening day of the #World #Cup. ⚽ I'm super excited to announce our passion project paper (with Thomas Schincariol and @morganwack.bsky.social), "Football Empires: Simulating the Effects of Colonialism on the 2026 World Cup"! Check it out here: doi.org/10.31235/osf... (see more info👇)

Happy to have received the @sgkm.bsky.social Dissertation Prize 2026 for my thesis “Not All Those Who Navigate Are Lost: Self-Determined Patients Facing Mental Health Misinformation in Online Communities for Mental Health Symptoms” funded by @snf-fns.ch and defended at @usi.ch 🎉 hit me up for a copy

I have a new #paper available as a preprint on #OSF! 📰 This study introduces "MQ-Class" to tackle two key methodological challenges in measuring #media #ideology : 🟦detecting subtle forms of news bias 💻📱 🟦integrating #human #expertise with LLMs👩‍🔬👨‍🔬 (See more below!) doi.org/10.31235/osf...

📢 Call for Papers: first Annual Digital Publics Conference 📅 21–23 October 2026 | Digital Society Initiative, University of Zurich 👉 To submit: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/BxVnAMyxNh ❗Deadline for abstract submissions is 31 May 2026❗Acceptance notifications will be sent by early july.

Looking for something to read after the long week? Check out our new preprint "Fact-Checks Can Help Inoculate LLMs Against Disinformation"! osf.io/preprints/so... Read a brief summary below -> /1

📊 New preprint with @evavogel.bsky.social @morganwack.bsky.social @esserfrank.bsky.social: we tested whether you can batch-classify multiple texts in a single LLM prompt without losing coding accuracy. Short answer: yes, up to about 100 items per prompt. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2604.03684

Researchers waste 80% of LLM annotation costs by classifying one text at a time

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly being used for text classification across the social sciences, yet researchers overwhelmingly classify one text per variable per prompt. Coding 100,000 te...

arxiv.org

Title: "Ban, Improve, or Ignore? Social Media Regulation From a Communication Research Perspective". Last week I gave my inaugural lecture at University of Zurich, @ikmz.bsky.social. Now online on YouTube.

Ban, improve, or ignore? Social Media Regulation from a Communication Research Perspective

YouTube video by Prof. Dr. Tobias Dienlin

youtu.be

Monday next week, 5 pm, I’ll deliver my UZH inaugural lecture. Title: „Ban, improve, or ignore? Social Media Regulation from a Communication Research Perspective“ The talk is open to the public: you can join either on-site or via live-stream. Details, see: www.uzh.ch/de/events/ag...

Today, we presented the main results of the mental health days study 2025 (N = 8.177). Results > In May 2025, Austria implemented a nationwide smartphone-ban at schools > Compared to 2024, smartphone use went down by 30 mins > Life satisfaction went up (5.36 to 5.52) > Depression sank (15% to 12%)

We just wrapped an energizing 2-day workshop in Nuremberg - the first in-person meeting of the full PROMISE team! Hosted by our colleagues at Friedrich-Alexander University, the meetup marked a first milestone in our 3-year international project. (1/4)

Interesting unpacking of deepfakes: - darkfakes - glowfakes - foefakes - fanfakes “A blanket approach to “fighting deepfakes” risks treating satirical content the same as malicious attacks” @morganwack.bsky.social & co in @techpolicypress.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/scrutinizing...

📢Fantastic job-opportunity at the #UZH department for communication and media research @ikmz.bsky.social: Professorship in Communication Studies with a focus on Change and Innovation in Communication 100% 😍 Deadline for applications: December 17, 2025. jobs.uzh.ch/offene-stell...

UZH: Professur für Kommunikationswissenschaft mit dem Schwerpunkt Wandel und Innovation in der Kommunikation

An der Universität Zürich ist auf den 1. August 2027 eine Professur für Kommunikationswissenschaft mit dem Schwerpunkt Wandel und Innovation in der Kommunikation zu besetzen. Die künftige Stelleninhab...

jobs.uzh.ch

Generative AI deepens the digital divide in Switzerland and is increasingly becoming part of everyday life. The latest findings of the World Internet Project – Switzerland 2025 are now online 🤖 ✨ ➡️ mediachange.ch/news/187

Welcome to #IKMZ, Paloma Gimenez Gil! 🎉 Paloma, a journalist and comms specialist will research how the UBS takeover of Credit Suisse was framed in global financial media. She joins us from Sept 2025–Aug 2026 under the supervision of Prof. Nadine Strauß. Welcome, Paloma!

📣 Wir laden Sie herzlich zu unserer öffentlichen Vortragsreihe „Wie Digitalisierung und Künstliche Intelligenz unsere Gesellschaft verändern“ ein. Gastredner:innen geben spannende Einblicke in die aktuelle Digitalisierung der Gesellschaft und in Künstliche Intelligenz.

Everyone agrees that quality matters – but what does “good” #evaluation actually mean?! Join our international lunchtime talk on the evaluation of science communication to discuss standardisation and perspectives from research and practice. Register now: eveeno.com/497479374 #SciComm

📢New publication📢 @tobiasdienlin.com shows that social media has a small but negative effect on well-being. Other activities like listening to music (+8%) or relaxing (+6%) have stronger effects. Impacts vary by age, gender, and country with younger users & men reporting stronger negative effects 🌍

Tobias Dienlin@tobiasdienlin.com · last yr.

Asking the users themselves, how does social media affect their well-being? In a large-scale study we find: Social media has a negative but small effect. Other aspects s/a listening to music appear more relevant. Effects differ across users and countries. 🧵1/6 www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1177/...

💡 Am 23.09.2025 präsentiert @sfuerst.bsky.social in Winterthur die Ergebnisse der ersten schweizweiten Befragung von Medienschaffenden zu #KünstlicheIntelligenz im Journalismus. Mit Podiumsdiskussion & Apéro für weiteren Austausch und Networking😍 www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

💡Wie verändert #KI den Schweizer #Journalismus? | Silke Fürst

💡Wie verändert #KI den Schweizer #Journalismus? Wir laden zur Präsentation  zentraler Studienergebnisse ein – und freuen uns auf eine spannende Podiumsdiskussion! Am 23. September 2025 um 18:00 Uhr p...

linkedin.com

🎉 Congratulations to PD Dr. Sarah Geber, who has been appointed to a professorship in Media & Communication Studies at the University of Mannheim😍 She joined the Department of Media & Communication Studies in August 2025. All the best as you begin this new chapter🎉 www.ikmz.uzh.ch/de/news/2025...

New directors #IKMZ🎉😍 After 5 years of dedicated service, @mss7676.bsky.social & @markeisenegger.bsky.social have stepped down as co-directors of the department. Their leadership has shaped IKMZ in meaningful ways, and we’re deeply grateful for their commitment!

We are happy to announce @friemel.bsky.social as the new co-director of the @ikmz.bsky.social together with @esserfrank.bsky.social. We are looking forward to all they’ll bring to the department and the broader university community. Congratulations, and welcome to your new role! 🎉

🔍 Looking for an interesting and informative book to add to your summer reading list? 📕 Check out "Wired Wisdom: How to Age Better Online" from @eszter.com and @palfrey.org!

Eszter Hargittai@eszter.com · last yr.

I just love seeing copies of our book out in the world! What a fantastic experience it was to write this with John @palfrey.org. I love the tone that our blended work struck. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Thrilled to finally see this paper out in print several years after @schafer.bsky.social and I started this project alongside @ikennedy.bsky.social, @beeeeeers.bsky.social, @emmaspiro.bsky.social & @katestarbird.bsky.social! Unfortunately the detrimental policies we discuss remain relevant.

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · last yr.

Legislating Uncertainty: New paper about the 2020 election, showing how laws in certain states (specically laws that delayed the counting of mail-in ballots) increased uncertainty about election results and contributed to rumoring about election integrity: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🎉 Congratulations to @nielsmede.bsky.social on his new role as Assistant Professor at Wageningen University & Research! The tenure-track position focuses on communication in life science contexts! Wishing you all the best in this exciting next chapter! 👏 www.ikmz.uzh.ch/de/news/2025...

🆕 CheckNews is expanding! The media literacy platform now offers free explainer videos in its new Science Chat series — tackling key topics around digitalization, media, and democracy. #MediaLiteracy #DigitalEducation #ScienceCommunication #CheckNews #fög #uzh More information ⬇️ shorturl.at/7QnaT

🎥 Die Medienkompetenz-Plattform CheckNews erweitert ihr Angebot! | fög – Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft UZH

🎥 Die Medienkompetenz-Plattform CheckNews erweitert ihr Angebot! Neben Lerninhalten und Webinaren gibt es mit dem «Science Chat» neu frei verfügbare Erklärvideos zu verschiedenen Themen rund um Digita...

linkedin.com

📢 New publication! @sfuerst.bsky.social published together with colleagues a special issue entitled “„Öffentliche, Transdisziplinäre und Transformative Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft” 📢 #OpenAccess More information⬇️ www.linkedin.com/posts/silke-...

Welchen gesellschaftlichen Auftrag hat die Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft in Zeiten multipler Krisen & gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche ❓ Das heute erschienene Themenheft „Öffentliche… | Silke ...

Welchen gesellschaftlichen Auftrag hat die Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft in Zeiten multipler Krisen & gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche ❓ Das heute erschienene Themenheft „Öffentliche, Transdis...

linkedin.com