Issue 26/2 published
Dear Colleagues, Authors, and Readers,
We are pleased to present the second issue of 2026, featuring three research articles in our General Section as well as a contribution in our Book Review Section. Before turning to the contents, we are delighted to share some good news from our journal community: the SComS Best Paper Award 2025 goes to Guillaume Zumofen (University of Bern) for his article "Bringing content into the equation: Using a Wordscores method to compare the effect of newspaper and television on vote choice in referendums" (Vol. 25, Issue 1). We warmly congratulate him and sincerely thank the jury and everyone involved in the pre-selection process.
The General Section opens with a contribution by Sarah Marschlich (University of Amsterdam), Michelle Möri, and Quirin Ryffel (both University of Zurich), who examine the working conditions, job satisfaction, and career perspectives of early-career scholars in communication science. Drawing on Herzberg's two-factor theory and social cognitive career theory and combining focus groups with a survey at Swiss higher education institutions, the study paints a mixed picture: scholars value the autonomy and intellectual breadth of academic work, yet struggle with heavy workloads and the uncertainty of temporary contracts—memorably captured in the image of academia as a "very narrow one-way street."
The second article, by Louis Schäfer, Mirco Saner, Guido Keel, and Vinzenz Wyss (all Zurich University of Applied Sciences), presents the first systematic empirical investigation of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) in the Swiss media sector. Conducted as part of the National Action Plan for the Safety of Media Professionals and drawing on Weischenberg's onion model, the study combines expert interviews with a nationwide survey. It shows that while documented SLAPP cases remain rare and the phenomenon itself is contested, even legitimate legal claims can drain newsroom resources, disrupt editorial routines, and foster self-censorship.
The third contribution, by Maija Ozola-Schade (Technische Universität Ilmenau), adopts a long-term comparative perspective on immigration coverage in Western Europe. Building on Downs's issue attention cycle and an original dataset spanning two decades (2001–2020) of newspaper coverage from six countries, the article traces how the 2015 migration surge triggered a strong but temporary convergence in salience and themes before national differences re-emerged.
The issue is complemented by a book review by Nicole Bizzotto (University of Zurich) of Alberto Acerbi's Tecnopanico: Media digitali, tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate, which charts an empirically grounded middle path through the debate on the risks of digital media.
As always, we would like to sincerely thank the authors for their contributions, the reviewers for their thoughtful and constructive feedback, and our editorial and publishing partners for their continued commitment to the journal. We hope you enjoy reading this issue.
