ABSTRACT

Antisemitism is a prototype of racially inspired hatred against minorities and a highly moral issue, particularly in Germany. Against this background, this qualitative study explored role conceptions and enactments among German journalists covering antisemitism. Interviews with 21 journalists indicated that their normally passive role conception became more interventionist when reporting on antisemitism. This more active role was enacted through a high frequency of reporting on antisemitic incidents, intensive research on the motivational backgrounds of antisemitic violence, and high levels of reflection on their word choices and the potential effects of media coverage on public opinion, the Jewish community, and potential imitators of violence. Our findings suggest conditions under which journalists may demonstrate interventionism in favor of minorities, which are as follows: (a) key events in history, (b) the national issue culture; (c) the degree to which issue characteristics make it ethically questionable for journalists to strictly follow a news media logic, (d) the concurrence of discrimination against minority members and attacks on journalists, and (e) journalists’ conviction that the issue at stake indicates a dangerous transformation of a country’s society.

摘要

反犹太主义是针对少数群体和高度道德问题的种族煽动仇恨的原型，尤其是在德国。在这种背景下，这项定性研究探索了德国新闻工作者关于反犹太主义的角色构想和成文法则。对21名记者的采访表明，他们在报道反犹太主义时通常被动的角色构想变得更具干预性。通过频繁报道反犹太事件，对反犹太暴力的动机背景进行深入研究，对他们的词汇选择以及媒体报道对公众舆论，犹太社区的潜在影响进行高度反思，从而发挥了更加积极的作用。以及潜在的暴力模仿者。我们的发现提出了记者可以表现出有利于少数群体的干预主义的条件，这些条件如下：（a）历史上的重要事件，（b）民族问题文化；（c）问题特征在多大程度上使新闻工作者严格遵循新闻媒体的逻辑在道德上值得怀疑；（d）同时存在歧视少数群体成员和攻击新闻工作者的行为，以及（e）新闻工作者坚信问题已成问题表示一个国家的社会正在发生危险的转变。