Dr. Phoebe Maares

Current research projects:

• From Core to Periphery: Boundaries of Journalism (PI: Prof. Folker Hanusch): Traditional journalism is coming under increasing pressure due to the emergence of new, often digital, actors that resemble journalism in their work, such as party media, corporate publishing, bloggers and influencers. This FWF-funded project examines how journalists, new journalism-like actors and audiences define the societal role of journalism and where they would draw the boundaries of journalism. URL: https://journalismstudies.univie.ac.at/research-projects/from-core-to-periphery/
• The Role of Community Membership in the Recognition of Journalistic Authority (Kaiserschild Foundation-funded project for early career researchers, CO-PIs Dr. Clara Juarez Miro, Dr. Phoebe Maares, Dr. Jonathan Hendrickx): In this study, we examine the role of proximity, authenticity and professionalism in the construction and legitimization of journalistic authority using the example of two communities around the Eurovision Song Contest and re:publica.

Finished research projects:

• Making the Home office work. Journalists' changing work practices and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic (PI: Dr. Daniel Nölleke): Project for early career researchers funded by the Kaiserschild Foundation, in which we examined the changed work situation of journalists during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  Article in Journalism in 2023
  Chapter in edited book in 2023

Other functions and activities (selection):

• Since 2022: Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Digital Journalism
• 2022–2025: Member of the institutional review board for research ethics (IRB-COM), Department of Communication, University of Vienna
• 2022–2024: Vice-Chair of the YECREA Network management team, the early career scholars’ (ECR) network of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
• 2019–2022: YECREA representative for the ECREA Journalism Studies Section

Professional Memberships:

• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), International Communication Association (ICA)

Grants and Awards:

• 2024: Travel Fund International Communication, Austrian Research Association, Austria
• 2024: Kaiserschild Advance Funding for Postdocs, Gemeinnützige Privatstiftung Kaiserschild, Austria
• 2022: Top Reviewer for the journal Digital Journalism
• 2020: Covid-19-Non-Standard Funding, Gemeinnützige Privatstiftung Kaiserschild, Austria
• 2019: Top Student Paper Award of the Journalism Studies Division of the International Communication Association for the conference paper “Showing off your social capital: Homophily of professional reputation and gender in journalistic networks on Twitter.“ (together with Esther Greussing & Fabienne Lind)
• 2018: Stipend for research costs (Förderungsstipendium nach dem StudFG), University of Vienna, Austria.
• 2015: Scholarship for academic excellence (Leistungsstipendium nach dem StudFG), University of Vienna, Austria
• 2012: Scholarship for academic excellence (Leistungsstipendium nach dem StudFG), University of Vienna, Austria

• Since May 2025: Postdoctoral research associate at IRex in the field of Media and Publics, University of Tübingen
• 2022–2025: Postdoctoral research associate in the project „From Core to Periphery: Boundaries of Journalism“, Journalism Studies Center (Prof. Folker Hanusch, PhD), Department of Communication, University of Vienna
• 2022: PhD (Dr. phil.) in Social Sciences: Communication, University of Vienna
• 2020–2022: Lecturer for Journalism Studies and Visual Communication Studies at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna
• 2016–2020: Predoctoral research associate at the Journalism Studies Center (Prof. Folker Hanusch, PhD), Department of Communication, University of Vienna
• 2015: M.A. (Mag. Phil) in Communication Science, University of Vienna
• 2013: B.A. (Bakk. Phil) in Communication Science, University of Vienna

Special issue

Perreault, Gregory/Foxman, Maxwell/Maares, Phoebe/Hase, Valerie (2025): Epistemologies of Digital News Production: Power and Technological Adaptation in Knowledge Production. Digital Journalism, 13(3): 351–361 doi: 10.1080/21670811.2025.2462539

Articles

Maares, Phoebe (2025): Real freelancers, contingent workers, and journopreneurs. Mapping atypical journalistic work in Western Europe. Journalism. doi: 10.1177/14648849251343519

Maares, Phoebe (2025): Tastemakers or Thought-leaders? Lifestyle influencers and boundaries of lifestyle journalism. Hanusch, Folker (Eds.). Handbook Lifestyle Journalism. Routledge

Juarez Miro, Clara/Maares, Phoebe/Hendrickx, Jonathan/Hanusch, Folker (2025): Understanding the Role of Community Membership in Journalistic Authority Claims: A Framework Informed by Boundary Work and Fan Studies. Communication Theory. doi: 10.1093/ct/qtaf010

Maares, Phoebe, & Perreault, Gregory (2025): True Crime Podcasting as Journalistic Heterodoxy: Boundary Practices and Journalistic Epistemology of a Heretic Interloper. Journalism Studies. doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2025.2486215

Maares, Phoebe/Banjac, Sandra/Nölleke, Daniel (2023): “The base from which you work and where you are anchored”: Newsrooms as places of community and identity. Journalism Studies, 24(13): 1611–1628. doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2023.2241074

Maares, Phoebe/Hanusch, Folker (2023): Understanding peripheral journalism from the boundary: A conceptual framework. Digital Journalism, 11(7): 1270–1291 doi: 10.1080/21670811.2022.2134045

Maares, Phoebe/Hanusch, Folker (2022): Interpretations of the journalistic field: A systematic analysis of how journalism scholarship appropriates Bourdieusian thought. Journalism, 23(4): 736–754. doi: 10.1177/1464884920959552

Nölleke, Daniel/Maares, Phoebe/Hanusch, Folker (2022): Illusio and disillusionment. Expectations met or disappointed among young journalists. Journalism, 23(2): 320-336. doi: 10.1177/1464884920956820

Maares, Phoebe/Hanusch, Folker (2022): Challenging the tourist gaze? Exploring Majority World countries Instagram influencer practices and the link to citizen travel journalism. In B. Korte & A.K. Sennefelder (Eds.). Travel / Writing and the media: Contemporary and historical perspectives (226–246). London, Routledge.

Maares, Phoebe/Banjac, Sandra/Hanusch, Folker (2021): The labour of visual authenticity on social media: Exploring producers’ and audiences’ perceptions on Instagram. Poetics, 84: 1–10. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101502

Maares, Phoebe/Lind, Fabienne/Greussing, Esther (2021): Showing off your social capital: Homophily of professional reputation and gender in journalistic networks on twitter. Digital Journalism, 9(4): 500–517. doi: 10.1080/21670811.2020.1835513

Maares, Phoebe/Hanusch, Folker (2020): Exploring the boundaries of journalism: Instagram micro-bloggers in the twilight zone of lifestyle journalism. Journalism, 21(2): 262–278. doi: 10.1177/1464884918801400