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Prof. Christian Baden

The Department of Communication and Journalism

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Prof. Christian Baden
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  • I am an associate professor at the Department of Communication and Journalism and the Smart Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, affiliated also with the Hebrew University's Center for Interdisciplinary Data Science Research (CIDR). My research focuses on the collaborative construction of meaning in dynamic, political public debates. Specifically, I study processes of contestation and the renegotiation of shared meanings, as well as those cultural and discursive resonance processes that render specific ideas intuitively plausible and account for their enduring, sometimes resilient presence in public discourse and contribute to political polarization and hostility. My publications have contributed to theory and methodology in research on framing, discourse dynamics, and the social and psychological process of sense making, consensus and contestation in a political public sphere. My methodological work combines techniques of qualitative discourse analysis and frame analysis with network-analytic perspectives and contemporary strategies for the automated processing of large-scale discourse. I am chair of the European-wide COST network OPINION, I am a member of the European research infrastructure project OPTED "Observatory for Political Texts in European Democracies", as well as the PROFECI project team on “Mediating the Future: The Social Dynamics of Public Projections”, and I operate the JAmCAT platform for automated text analysis. I am also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Communication, Communication Methods & Measures, International Journal of Press/Politics, Communication Research, Digital Journalism and Computational Communication Research.

    Prior to this, I have been part of the INFOCORE (“(In)forming Conflict Prevention, Response, and Resolution”) project consortium investigating the role of media in violent conflict, as well as a Marie Curie Fellow with a project focusing on frame resonance in violent discourse (RECORD): “Frame Justification and Resonance in Conflict-Related Discourse”). From 2009 to 2014, I worked as assistant professor at the Institute for Communication Studies at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich. My PhD dissertation “Communication, Contextualization and Cognition: Patterns and Processes of Frames' Influence on People's Interpretations of the EU Constitution”, defended at the University of Amsterdam (ASCoR) in 2010, develops a theory of frames within thought and discourse. Applying large-scale semantic network analysis, I have developed various techniques for detecting frames as latent, time-changing structures in complex debates. Other lines of my research include the psychology of discourse reception and sense making processes, the integration of visual information (and information processing) into theories of political discourse, and the study of the strategic construction of meaning in political debates (e.g., political public relations, propaganda). Most of my research deals with the meaning constructed to make sense of (political or violent) conflict and crisis in contemporary society (including European political debates, the financial crisis, war and conflict).

    I have taught courses on various aspects of strategic political communication, journalism and the public construction of meaning, as well as social science methodology and research practice. At present, I am teaching classes in conflict discourse and propaganda, plurality of meaning, online communication and computational text analysis.

     

    Other Pages

    Twitter - Google scholar - Academia.edu - Researchgate - ORCiD

     

    Appointments & Education

    The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    Noah Mozes Department of Communication & Journalism

    Associate Professor

    Senior.Lecturer

    Marie.Curie.Fellow

    2020 ...

    2016.2020

    2014.2016

     
    Weizenbaum Institute

    Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society Berlin
    Research Group "Digitalization and the Transnational Public Sphere"

    Visiting.Fellow

    2021.2022

     

    Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
    Department of Communication Studies

    Assistant.Professor

    Research.Associate

    2010.2014

    2009.2010

     

    University of Amsterdam
    The Amsterdam School of Communication Research

    • PhD Thesis: Communication, contextualization & cognition: Patterns & processes of frames' influences on people's interpretations of the EU Constitution
    • Supervised by Claes H. de Vreese

    Lecturer

    Doctoral.Student

    2007.2010

    2006.2010

     

    The London School of Economics & Political Science
    European Institute

    • MSc Thesis: What did communication contribute to the creation of credibility of the common currency?
    • Supervised by Stefan Collignon 
    MSc.Student2004.2005 

    Leipzig University
    Department of Political Science
    Department of Communication and Media Science

    • MA Thesis: Die politische Kommunikation der Europäischen Kommission im Erweiterungsprozess: Integration durch Kommunikation am Beispiel Polen
    • Supervised by Christian Fenner
    MA.Student1999.2004 
         

Recent Publications

  • Serial focus groups: A longitudinal design for studying interactive discourse
  • Affective forecasting in elections: A socio-communicative perspective
  • Persistent optimism under political uncertainty: The evolution of citizens’ political projections in repeated elections
  • Three gaps in computational text analysis methods for social sciences: A research agenda

Recent Presentations

  • The future is (ever) promising: Elected representatives direct and indirect action promises in routine parliamentary discourse
  • What are the chances? How media coverage and intrinsic tendencies shape voters’ probabilistic estimates about candidates’ electoral prospects in the two-round 2022 French presidential elections

Recent Working Papers

  • Common methodological framework: Content Analysis. A mixed-methods strategy for comparatively, diachronically analyzing conflict discourse
  • Vermessen von Verzerrungen: Qualitäten, Quantitäten und operationale Herausforderungen bei der automatisierten Erfassung von Media Bias
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