From 4 to 8 June, Cape Town in South Africa will play host to the largest international conference in the field of communication studies: the 76th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA). The theme for this year’s conference is “Communication and Inequalities in Context”. Several researchers from the Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) will present their papers and showcase their work.
The Contributions of the HBI at a Glance
5 June 2026
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM, Bluebell (CTICC2, Level 3)
Session: HIGH-Density: Emotional Profiles and Engagement in Digital Communication
Presentation: A Longitudinal Approach to the Analysis of Social Media Engagement: The Case of Anger-Driven Climate-Skeptic Message Propagation During the 2021 German Elections
Authors: Stephanie Geise, Azade Kakavand, Aytalina Kulichkina, Yuru Li, Daisuke Nakamura, Paul Pressmann, Nicola Righetti, Petro Tolochko, Annie Waldherr
12:00 PM – 1:15 PM, 1.64 (CTICC1, Level 1)
Session: Political Participation and Engagement
Presentation: From Clicks to Action: Investigating the Relationship Between Climate News Exposure and Political Participation
Authors: Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Hendirk Meyer, Lisa Merten, Cornelius Puschmann, Patrick Zerrer
12:00 PM – 1:15 PM, 2.65-2.66 (CTICC1, Level 2)
Session: AI and Politics
Presentation: Will News Find Them With Generative AI? Exploring the Affordances and Potential of GenAI for News Consumption
Authors: Eva L. Knor, Lisa Merten, Judith Möller, Michael V. Reiss
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM, 2.44-2.46 (CTICC1, Level 1)
Session: HIGH-DENSITY: Polarized Politics 2
Presentation: Criminals or Heroes? How Media Portrayals of Climate Activists Shape Affective Polarization
Authors: Edda Humprecht, Lisa Merten, Cornelius Puschman, Clara Schultz
7 June 2026
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM, Protea (CTICC2, Level 1)
Session: Large Language Models, Artificial Intelligence, and Journalistic Output: Different Perspectives
Presentation: ChatGPT as a News Recommender System: Measuring Source Types and Diversity Across Different Interfaces
Authors: Robert Geislinger, Eva L. Knor, Katharina Kleinen von Königslöw, Laura Laugwitz, Lisa Merten, Laura Liebig, Juliane A. Lischka, Michael V. Reiss, Martin Semmann, Nadja Schaetz, Tim Schatto-Eckrodt, Justin Schröder
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM, Edward & Schappen (Westin, Mezzanine Level)
PARTNER PANEL: DGPuK – Inter- and Intra-Group Polarization Dynamics in the Climate Discourse: A Mixed-Method Perspective
Presentation: A Reinforcing Spiral? Online News Exposure and Polarization in the Climate Discourse
Authors: Edda Humprecht, Juhi Kulshrestha, Lisa Merten, Cornelius Puschmann, Helena Rauxloh, Sebastian Stier, Clara Schultz, Patrick Zerrer
8 June 2026
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM, 1.41 (CTICC1, Level 1)
Session: Political Discourse
Presentation: Normative Ideals and Empirical Realities: Viewpoint Diversity in the Discourse on German Arms Deliveries to Ukraine
Authors: Katharina Kleinen von Königslöw, Laura Liebig, Gregor Wiedemann
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM, 2.41-2.43 (CTICC1, Level 2)
Session: Journalistic Roles and Professional Milieus
Presentation: Mapping Global Repertoires of Journalistic Roles: Comparative Evidence From 74 Countries
Authors: Mia Grünewald, Folker Hanusch, Thomas Hanitzsch, Imke Henkel, Jan Fredrik Hovden, Corinna Lauerer, Wiebke Loosen, Seungahn Nah, Motti Neiger, Rui A. Novais, Jyotika Ramaprasad, Andreas A. Riedl, Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM, 2.64 (CTICC1, Level 2)
Session: Addressing Methodological Challenges in LLM-Enhanced Computational Communication
Presentation: LLMs and the Study of Media Content
Authors: Mario Haim, Michael V. Reiss