Dr Franz Reiter, BA MA

Mitarbeiter

Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck
Department of Media, Society and Communication
Grey Bear, Universitätsstraße 5-7, A-6020 Innsbruck

Office 1S18, 1st floor

+43-512-507/73607

franz.reiter@uibk.ac.at

ORCD IDGoogle ScholarResearchGate

Franz Reiter has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Media, Society and Communication since June 2024. He was a Predoc Researcher at the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna from 2019 to 2023. He completed his doctorate there in 2024 with his dissertation on "Dirty Campaigning in Electoral Communication: Perceptions and Effects". In it, he investigated the perception and effects of dirty campaigning on aspects relevant to democracy, such as political trust, evaluations of politicians and emotions towards the election campaign.

His dissertation was funded by the Uni:docs scholarship for excellent doctoral students and received the Article of the Year Award in Mass Communication and Society, among others.

Franz Reiter's research focuses on election campaigns, media use, social media, political participation, political communication and quantitative methods.

He has published in leading international journals, e.g. Digital Journalism, Social Science Computer Review, Mass Communication and Society, Politics and Governance, and American Behavioural Scientist.

Focal points
  • Political communication
  • Election campaign
  • (Social) media
  • Impact research
  • Quantitative methods
Research projects
  • LEADER project "Tirol participates: Participatory communication at municipal level" (Co-PI with Uta Rußmann, duration: 05/2024 - 06/2025)
    Funding: € 70,433 from Regional Management Innsbruck-Land
  • Uni:docs Fellowship Programme for excellent doctoral students for the dissertation topic: "Dirty Campaigning in Electoral Communication: Perceptions and Effects" (duration: 10/2019-09/2022)
    Funding: Three-year Praedoc position; 18,000 € research funding

Awards

  • 2023 Paper of the Year Award for the publication "'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly': A Panel Study on the Reciprocal Effects of Negative, Dirty, and Positive Campaigning on Political Distrust". Mass Communication and Society (co-author: Jörg Matthes).

Articles in professional journals

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2024). On the Immoral Campaign Trail: Conceptualisation, Underlying Affective Processes, and Democratic Outcomes of Perceived Dirty Campaigning. American Behavioural Scientist, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642241240335

Reiter, F., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2023). Explaining Attitude-Consistent Exposure on Social Network Sites: The Role of Ideology, Political Involvement, and Network Characteristics. Social Science Computer Review, 41(4), 1207-1226. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393211056224

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2023). Correctives of the Mainstream Media? A Panel Study on Mainstream Media Use, Alternative Digital Media Use, and the Erosion of Political Interest as Well as Political Knowledge. Digital Journalism, 11(5), 813-832. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1974916

Matthes, J., Nanz, A., Kaskeleviciute, R., Reiter, F., Freiling, I., Neureiter, A., Stubenvoll, M., Sherrah, S. E., Juricek, S., Munzir, A. A., & Noronha, I. (2023). The Way We Use Social Media Matters: A Panel Study on Passive Versus Active Political Social Media Use and Affective Polarisation. International Journal of Communication, 17(0), Article 0.

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2022). How Partisanship Matters: A Panel Study on the Democratic Outcomes of Perceived Dirty Campaigning. Politics and Governance, 10(4), 247-260. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i4.5672

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2022). "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly": A Panel Study on the Reciprocal Effects of Negative, Dirty, and Positive Campaigning on Political Distrust. Mass Communication and Society, 25(5), 649-672. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2021.1934702

Contributions to edited volumes and encyclopaedias

Reiter, F. (2021). Negative Again? An Empirical Analysis of Negative Campaigning by the ÖVP in the 2017 National Council Election Campaign [Negative Again? An Empirical Analysis of Negative Campaigning of the ÖVP in the Austrian Parliamentary Election Campaign 2017]. In B. Metzler, J. Himmelsbach, D. Bertel, D. Schmid, N. Grohs, & P. Nigitsch (Eds.): (Deutungs-)Macht des Öffentlichen. Contributions to the third under.docs conference on communication (pp. 223-232). danzig & unfried.

Presentations at conferences

Reiter, F., & Freiling, I. (2023, May). "I Believe It's True": How Mainstream Media and Right-Wing Alternative Media Use Fuel Belief in Climate Change Truth Claims. Presentation to the Mass Communication Division at the (hybrid) 73rd annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 25-29, Toronto, Canada.

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2022, August). How Partisanship Matters: A Panel Study on the Democratic Outcomes of Perceived Dirty Campaigning. Presentation to the Political Communication Division at the 105th Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), August 3-6, Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Matthes, J., Nanz, A., Kaskeleviciute, R., Reiter, F., Freiling, I., Neureiter, A., Stubenvoll, M., Sherrah, S. E., Juricek, S., Munzir, A. A., & Noronha, I. (2022, May). The Way We Use Social Media Matters: A Panel Study on Passive Versus Active Political Social Media Use and Affective Polarisation. Presentation to the Mass Communication Division at the (hybrid) 72nd annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 26-30, Paris, France.

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2022, May). How Dirty Campaigning Affects Democratic Outcomes: Examining Dimensions, Processes, and Contingent Conditions. Presentation to the Political Communication Division at the (hybrid) 72nd annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 26-30, Paris, France.

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2021, May). Perceived Dirty Campaigning in Politics: Conceptualisation, Measurement, and Democratic Outcomes. Presentation to the Political Communication Division at the (virtual) 71st annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 27-31.

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2021, May). "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". A Panel Study on the Reciprocal Effects of Negative, Dirty, and Positive Campaigning on Political Distrust. Presentation to the Mass Communication Division at the (virtual) 71st annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 27-31.

Reiter, F., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2020, August). What explains diverse opinion exposure on social network sites? Investigating the role of ideological extremity, political involvement, and network characteristics. Presentation to the Political Communication Section at the (virtual) ECPR General Conference, August 24-28.

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2020, May). Correctives of Mainstream Media? A Panel Study on Mainstream Media Use, Alternative Media Use, and the Erosion of Political Interest. Paper accepted for presentation at the ICA 2020 pre-conference "From the rise of alternative media to the (dis)engagement of MSM: Making sense of the new political news environment and its audiences", May 21.

Reiter, F. (2020, May). Positive, negative, and dirty campaigning in the news: A longitudinal content analysis. Paper accepted for presentation at the (virtual) ICA 2020 pre-conference Journalism Studies Graduate Student Colloquium, May 21.

Reiter, F. (2019, November). Positive, Negative, and Dirty Campaigning in Electoral Communication: Perceptions, Content, and Effects. Presentation at the 2nd Graduate Conference of the Austrian Political Science Association (ÖGPW), November 28-29, Vienna, Austria.

Reiter, F. (2018, November). Ziele von Negative Campaigning der ÖVP im Nationalratswahlkampf 2017 [Targets of Negative Campaigning of the ÖVP in the Austrian Parliamentary Election Campaign 2017]. Presentation at the 6th ÖGPW Day of Political Science, November 29-30, Innsbruck, Austria.

Reiter, F. (2018, November). Inner-Party Divison of Labor of Negative Campaigning der ÖVP im Nationalratswahlkampf 2017 [Inner-Party Division of Labour of Negative Campaigning of the ÖVP in the Austrian Parliamentary Election Campaign 2017]. Presentation at the 9th NapoKo-Kolloquium, November 15-17, Mainz, Germany.

Reiter, F. (2017, October). Negative Again? An Empirical Analysis of Negative Campaigning by the ÖVP in the 2017 National Council Election Campaign [Negative Again? An Empirical Analysis of Negative Campaigning of the ÖVP in the Austrian Parliamentary Election Campaign 2017]. Poster-presentation (work in progress) at the 3rd under.docs conference '(Deutungs-) Macht des Öffentlichen', October 19-21, Vienna, Austria.

Activities

Membership in professional societies

  • German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (DGPuK)
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
  • International Communication Association (ICA)
  • Austrian Society for Political Science (ÖGPW)
Peer review activities

Ad-hoc reviews for journals

  • Human Communication Research, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Journal of Computational Social Science, Media Psychology, Political Communication, Politics and Governance, Social Media + Society, The International Journal of Press/Politics
  • Conferences: AEJMC, ICA

Organisation of conferences and workshops

2025

  • Annual conference of the specialist group "Communication and Politics" (DGPuK), "AK Politics and Communication" (DVPW) and "Political Communication" (SGKM) (together with Uta Rußmann and Viorela Dan)

26-28 February 2025, Innsbruck, Austria

Third Mission

2021

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