Modelling media functions in emerging transformation processes by comparing actor constellations and structural conditions in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in North Africa 2011

该研究项目侧重于1988年东欧和2010/2011年在东欧和北非的转型进程的开始，旨在找出媒体在瓦解威权政治结构方面所发挥的作用。研究人员假设，大众媒体可以在政治政权的转变中产生动员冲动。然而，这种冲动的存在取决于特定的结构条件和纳入媒体系统的行为者星座和行为者的做法。基于对媒体和转型、公共领域和反公共理论以及社会运动的研究，研究人员建立了一个创新的理论框架，将以系统为中心的方法与以行为者为中心的方法相结合。该项目的目的是：1)对媒体职能进行基于理论的实证比较，考虑到不同国家的结构条件、行为者群体和媒体逻辑，1988/1989年东欧三个过渡国家(匈牙利、波兰、罗马尼亚)和北非2010/2011年(突尼斯、埃及、利比亚)的媒体职能有助于形成反公共部门。2)利用比较结果，归纳构建了大众传媒在新兴政治转型过程中的作用模型。为了实现这一目标，系统地结合了几种方法。从文献和文件分析开始，我们将从中得出结构条件，然后是内容分析，我们将确定相关行为者并对其进行分类。在实证研究的最后一步，这些演员将在专家访谈中被问及他们的动机和媒体导向。因此，实地研究提供了材料，可以用来从经验上证实该模型的各种理论维度。

The research project focuses on the beginning of the transformation processes in Eastern Europe in 1988/1989 and in North Africa in 2010/2011 and aims to find out which role was played by media in breaking-up the authoritarian political structures. The researchers assume that mass media can have a mobilizing impulse in the transformation of political regimes. However, the existence of such an impulse depends on specific structural conditions and actor constellations incorporated in the media system and actors' approaches. Based on research on media and transformation, theories of the public sphere and the counter-public as well as on social movements the researchers build an innovative theoretical framework, combining system- and actor-centred approaches. The aim of the project is to 1) present a theory-based, empirical comparison of media functions that helped to form a counter-public in three transitional countries of Eastern Europe in 1988/ 1989 (Hungary, Poland, Romania) and North Africa 2010/2011 (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya) by taking into account the structural conditions, actor constellations and media logics in the different countries. 2) inductively build a model of the effects of mass media in emerging political transformation processes using the results of the comparison. In order to achieve the objectives, several methods are systematically combined. Starting with a literature and document analysis from which the structural conditions will be derived, a content analysis follows with which we will identify and classify the relevant actors. In the last step of the empirical research, these actors will be asked about their motivation and media orientation in expert interviews. The field research thus provides the material with which the various theoretical dimensions of the model can be empirically substantiated.