• Medientyp: E-Artikel
  • Titel: Opinion-leading media as indicators of a democracy at risk: The press and the rise of National Socialism between 1927 and 1932
  • Beteiligte: Seethaler, Josef; Melischek, Gabriele
  • Erschienen: SAGE Publications, 2023
  • Erschienen in: European Journal of Communication, 38 (2023) 1, Seite 77-94
  • Sprache: Englisch
  • DOI: 10.1177/02673231221111910
  • ISSN: 0267-3231; 1460-3705
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  • Beschreibung: The rise of National Socialism in the late 1920s and 1930s happened within democratic societies with well-developed media systems. This gives rise to whether an increasingly right-wing press climate aided the emergence of National Socialism. Based on a comparative analysis of post-election reporting in German and Austrian newspapers, this paper argues that changes in the spectrum of opinion-leading media and in the relations both between them and with the opinion-following media can serve as indicators of a democracy at risk. Utilizing sociometric theory, it is hypothesized that in times of severe democratic crisis, the gap between elite-dominated, opinion-leading media and mass newspapers widens; reciprocal orientation among the opinion-leading media is lessened; and, finally, the composition of this group changes in favour of radical political forces. There is empirical evidence for all assumptions, reflecting a growing significance of extreme right-wing positions in the political information environment.