10.07.2026
Conference Report: Prof. Dr. Annett Heft and her Team at the ICA in Kapstadt
From June 4 to 8, 2026, the 76th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) took place in Cape Town, South Africa. The theme of this year's conference was "Communication and Inequalities in Context".
The Media and Public Sphere Division of the Institute for Research on Right-Wing Extremism (IRex) was represented by Annett Heft, Phoebe Maares and Kilian Bühling with a total of 9 lectures. The Team consisting of Xixuan Zhang (Weizenbaum Institut, Berlin), Annett Heft und Yangliu Fan (Freie Universität, Berlin) was also delighted to receive the „Top Student Paper Award“ for their work „Disagreeing but Cohesive? An Embedding-based comparative analysis of climate discourse dynamics on Reddit“!
The following Research was presented on the Conference:
“Disagreeing but Cohesive? An Embedding-Based Comparative Analysis of Climate Discourse Dynamics on Reddit,” presented by Xixuan Zhang, Annett Heft, and Yangliu Fan: This award-winning paper examines discourse dynamics in three climate change communities on Reddit. To do so, the researchers developed a model that analyzes text features and the progression of discussions. This model measures how debates unfold, identifies disagreements, and examines how participants interact with one another.
“Studying Digital Activism in the Age of Big Data: A Systematic Review of Online Protest Research,” presented by Annett Heft, Valerie Hase, Merja Mahrt, Stephanie Geise, Julia Niemann-Lenz, and Miriam Milzner: This paper addresses the question of whether computational social science (CSS) enriches research on online protests or leads to new “blind spots.” By comparing CSS and non-CSS studies, the team was able to demonstrate how the “computational turn” influences the theoretical and methodological horizons of research on online protests.
„Tracing Characteristics and Dynamics of Conspiracy-Related Reporting in US Far-Right Hyperpartisan and Legacy Media“ presented by Annett Heft, Juni Schindler, Kilian Buehling, and Curd Knüpfer: This paper examines the characteristics and dynamics of reporting on conspiracy theories in hyper-partisan far-right online media and traditional media in the United States. The findings provide detailed insights into how conspiracy theory content spreads within interconnected and hybrid news ecosystems.
„Differential appropriations of Telegram – Comparing political representatives’ communication on Telegram around the globe“ presented by Annett Heft, Pablo Jost, Emese Domahidi et al.: The focus of the article was on explaining the use of Telegram by key political figures and institutions in various countries around the world. The study is based on data on more than 10,000 key political figures from 31 countries representing a variety of contextual conditions.
„Digital Zombies: Reconstructing Deleted Telegram Messages via Snowball Bootstrap Imputation“ by Kilian Bühling: In his presentation on data loss in research on digital traces, Kilian Bühling introduced a novel method for locating deleted messages from public Telegram channels and making them usable for research: “Snowball Bootstrap Imputation.” The contributions and limitations of the method are illustrated through three case studies analyzing the activities of known anti-democratic or far-right actors on Telegram.
„Who is in and who is out? Audience perceptions of journalistic boundaries“ by Phoebe Maares, Kim Löhmann, Folker Hanusch and Daniel Nölleke: This article examines how audiences in Austria perceive the boundaries between traditional journalism and alternative actors such as influencers and podcasters. The study’s findings provide important insights into the changing understanding of journalistic legitimacy in a media landscape characterized by information overload.
Darüber hinaus wirkten unsere Forscher:innen an den folgenden Studien mit:
„Media practices of contradicting by far-right actors“ by Hanna-Sophie Ruess, Susanne Kinnebrock, Michael Johann, Christian Schwarzenegger and Annett Heft
“Bridging Languages and Platforms: Building a Valid Keyword-Based Dictionary for Comparative Research on Contentious Issues” by Fabienne Lind, Miriam Milzner, Daniel Thiele and Annett Heft
„Doing dissent by acting on media: Materially shaping practices of contradicting on online platforms and digital infrastructures“ by Christina Haritos, Sigrid Kannengießer, Annett Heft, Margreth Lünenborg and Carola Richter.
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