Research interests

• Journalistic source transparency
• Journalistic news in social media
• Journalistic gatekeeping
• Experimental designs
• Quantitative content analysis
• Virtual Reality
• Innovation in journalism
• Sports communication

Short CV

2010-2015: Studies of Communication Science and Political Science at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Helsinki, M.A. degree in Media and Political Communication.
2012-2015: Student Assistant at the researchgroup Communication Theory and Media Effects Research (Prof. Dr. Barbara Pfetsch)
Oct. 2015-Aug. 2016: Research Associate at FU Berlin, partly in the third-party funded project of the German Chancellery “Scientific analysis of the citizen dialogue on quality of life – Gut leben in Deutschland” (Prof. Dr. Annie Waldherr).
Oct. 2016-Mar. 2022: Research Associate at the Department of Communication at the University of Münster in the “Online-Communication” research group (Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt). Work on a dissertation project titled “Journalistic gatekeepers in social media: An empirical analysis of news dissemination by journalists based on event and article characteristics”. Furthermore, part of the research team of the “Virtual Reality and GameLab”.
Since Apr. 2022: Research Associate at the Department of Communication at the University of Münster in the “Journalism Studies” research group (Prof. Dr. Nina Springer).

Conference contributions

Teaching

• Summer term 2024: Selection in journalism
  (seminar, approx. 15 students, M.A. Communication Science and M.A. Strategic Communication, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2023/24: Experimental designs in communication research
  (methods seminar, approx. 10 students, M.A. Communication Science and M.A. Strategic Communication, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2023/24: Introduction to scientific work in the field of communication science
  (lecture, approx. 220 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2023: Data analysis and data presentation
  (exercise, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2022/23: Introduction to scientific work in the field of communication science
  (lecture, approx. 150 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2022/23: Journalistic news in social media
  (research seminar, approx. 15 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2022: Data analysis and data presentation
  (Exercise, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2021/22: Introduction to scientific work in the field of communication science
  (lecture, approx. 150 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2021: Journalistic news in the social media
  (Online research seminar, approx. 10 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2020/21: Introduction to scientific work in the field of communication science
  (online lecture, approx. 150 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2020: Growing up with flatscreens and smartphones: Cultivation theory
  (online seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Studies, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2019/20: Introduction to scientific work in the field of communication studies
  (lecture, approx. 150 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2019: Growing up with flatscreens and smartphones: Cultivation theory
  (seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Studies, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2018/19: Self-measurement, the quantified self, and the communication of lifestyle in winter sports
  (research seminar with excursion abroad, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2018/19: Public sphere in the News Feed: News and debates in social media
  (seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2018/19: Introduction to scientific work in the field of communication studies
  (lecture, approx. 150 students, B.A. Communication Studies, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2018: Growing up with flatscreens and smartphones: Cultivation theory
  (seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Studies, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2017/18: Public sphere and social feeds: What content, news and discussions can be found on Facebook, Twitter et al.?
  (seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2017: Growing up with flatscreens and smartphones: Cultivation theory online and offline
  (seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Winter term 2016/17: Media effects in the context of politicians and products: Effects of current news coverage on the audience
  (seminar, approx. 20 students, B.A. Communication Science, University of Münster)
• Summer term 2016: Introduction to empirical communication research
  (seminar, approx. 40 students, B.A. Journalism and Communication Studies, Free University Berlin)

Memberships and other scientific activities

• Member of the International Communication Association (ICA)

• Member of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)

• Summer term 2024 – summer term 2025: Program Coordinator for the Master programs M.A. Communication Studies and M.A. Strategic Communication (on parental leave)

• 2018-2020: Member of the comission for research and young academics at the faculty 06 at the University of Münster

• Reviewer for scientific associations like the ICA

• Reviewer for international scientific journals, i.e.: Media and Communication; SC|M- Studies in Communication and Media

Dissertation

Wehden, Lars-Ole. (2023). Journalistische Gatekeeper in den Sozialen Medien: Eine empirische Analyse der Nachrichtenverbreitung durch Journalist*innen anhand von Ereignis- und Meldungsmerkmalen. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-40257-0.

From a normative perspective, the reception of a diverse news diet leads to a number of desirable effects for society. Lately, social media has emerged as an important way to access journalistic news. For some people, they are now the most important or even the only source of news. Therefore, it is important to assess whether the news overview that is presented there is as diverse and well-balanced as the one that is presented in other news sources. Some scholars voice concerns, that in social media especially soft news content may be dominant. This could result in less shared topics that can be discussed in society – which would most likely have negative consequences.

For that reason, it is relevant to find out which criteria influence the selection of news that is executed by various gatekeeping actors within social media and how this might influence the composition of the news overview that is presented there. Journalistic actors still serve as powerful gatekeepers within social media, next to other actors from society and members of the audience. However, the selection criteria that lead journalists when deciding which articles they should present on the social media pages of their outlets has only been analyzed sporadically. Therefore, this thesis aims to identify event and message criteria (e.g. news factors, topics, formal aspects) that influence journalistic news selection processes in social media. Furthermore, the variety of the resulting journalistic news overview in social media will be compared to its counterpart on journalistic news websites. Finally, it is also the aim of this study to look for criteria that influence the overall sharing and interaction numbers that journalistic articles receive in social media. The executed research design combines qualitative  interviews with experts from journalistic practice (N = 27) with a content analysis in the form of an input-output-comparison of journalistic news articles (N = 1 258).

The results show, that the news overview that is presented by journalistic actors in social media is almost as diverse as the one on the websites. However, some topics receive fewer social media coverage (i.e. foreign politics, economy). At the entrance gate of social media, news factors seem to exhibit only a small additional influence. Rather, formal aspects are more important here. This seems to hint at an adoption of journalistic story important cues by the editors of the journalistic social media pages.

Finished Projects

Scientific Analysis of the Citizen Dialog on Quality of Life “Gut leben in Deutschland – was uns wichtig ist” [Living well in Germany- What matters to us?] – Contract research for the Chancellery of Germany (2015-2016)

As part of the governmental strategy “Gut leben in Deutschland, was uns wichtig ist” more than 200 group discussions were conducted in the year of 2015. Moreover, citizens had the opportunity to send their ideas on quality of life to the government via an online form or a postcard. The scientific analysis of about 200 group discussion protocols, 2.500 online documents and 4.500 postcards was carried out by a team led by Prof. Barbara Pfetsch and Dr. Annie Waldherr in cooperation with the software engineering company CiD GmbH. The further team consisted of Peter Miltner, Sophia Ostner, Lars-Ole Wehden and Daniela Stoltenberg. The analysis consisted of qualitative and quantitative content analysis with the help of the text mining software Topic Analyst by CiD GmbH. The results have been documented in a scientific report and formed the base of the Report on Life Quality by the German Government (2016).

Links

• The scientific report online
• The final report of the government can be accessed here