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

该研究项目重点关注1988/1989年东欧和2010/2011年北非转型过程的开始，旨在找出媒体在打破威权政治结构中发挥了何种作用。研究人员认为大众媒体可以对政治体制的转变产生动员冲动。然而，这种冲动的存在取决于特定的结构条件和媒体系统中纳入的行动者群以及行动者的方法。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，结合了以系统和行动者为中心的方法。该项目的目的是：1）通过考虑不同国家的结构条件、行动者群和媒体逻辑，对1988/1989年东欧（匈牙利、波兰、罗马尼亚）和2010/2011年北非（突尼斯、埃及、利比亚）三个转型国家帮助形成反公共的媒体功能进行基于理论和实证的比较。 2）利用比较结果归纳建立大众媒体在新兴政治转型过程中的影响模型。为了实现这些目标，系统地结合了多种方法。从文献和文档分析开始，从中得出结构条件，然后进行内容分析，我们将识别相关参与者并对其进行分类。在实证研究的最后一步，这些行动者将在专家访谈中被问及他们的动机和媒体取向。因此，实地研究提供了可以通过经验证实模型的各种理论维度的材料。

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.