New AlterPublics results presented in Münster and Stuttgart by PI Eva Mayerhöffer

After being invited by fellow researchers from the University of Münster and the University of Stuttgart, Eva Mayerhöffer, Associate Professor and PI of AlterPublics, travelled to Germany at the end of May to present brand new results.

The presentation in Münster was held in Professor Thorsten Quandt's master's seminar on post-journalism. It revolved around one of the current works in progress: the complex relationship between alternative news media and the "mainstream".

Two perspectives on the "mainstreamness" of alternative media were presented. Firstly, the journalistic perspective based on a study of the referencing practices of alternative news media by Eva Mayerhöffer and Dr Annett Heft from Freie Universität Berlin. Secondly, the public sphere perspective and the project's current work on alternative news environments across social media platforms and the mainstream orientation of the actors within these environments.

In Stuttgart, the primary topic was the project's research on alternative news-sharing networks before and during the Covid-19 pandemic – in Denmark, Sweden, Austria, and Germany. One of the main findings the AlterPublics PI could present was that the outbreak of covid-19 caused movements in the partisan landscape on social media but did not transcend traditional left and right-wing boundaries per se.

These results were also presented at the ICA conference a few days later.