From February 4 to 6, 2026, the DGPuK division conference “Communication & Politics” will take place in Hamburg on the topic of “Democratic resilience as a task for political communication in an unstable world.” As part of the event, Henri Mütschele, research associate in the CAIS research program “Transformation of Digital Democratic Discourses,” and his co-authors present their conference contribution “Qualität oder Quantität? Wie Nachrichtennutzungsmuster und Klimaschutz-Argumentrepertoires in den Vereinigten Staaten, Spanien und Deutschland zusammenhängen” (EN: Quality or quantity? How news usage patterns and climate action argument repertoires are related in the United States, Spain, and Germany) on February 5.
In their contribution, Henri Mütschele and his co-authors examine how different patterns of news consumption influence the size and thematic diversity of citizens’ arguments regarding climate action. Based on an online survey conducted in the United States, Spain, and Germany, they identify distinct news user profiles and analyze how these profiles relate to both the number and thematic focus of the justifications provided. The results show that quality-oriented users and “journalistic omnivores” possess broader argument repertoires, while alternative media users tend to have more one-sided repertoires and more frequently refer to climate change denial or conspiracy myths. The findings highlight that news consumption patterns shape citizens’ argumentative capacities and suggest that increasing reliance on alternative or lower-quality media may undermine the deliberative quality of public discourse.
The complete conference program can be found here:
https://www.conftool.net/polkomm26/sessions.php