Maximilian Eder Awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship

The European Union has awarded Dr Maximilian Eder a highly competitive
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship. Over the next two
years, he will collaborate with Prof Dr Helle Sjøvaag at the University of
Stavanger (Norway). The project, funded with €250,000, explores how
scandals unfold in European media and what this reveals about journalists'
roles in democracy.

In an era in which digital intermediaries and political propaganda
increasingly shape public discourse, Eder's research focuses on the
important issue of mediatised scandalisation. Combining large-scale
quantitative and qualitative content analysis with semi-structured
interviews with journalists in three European countries, the project will
address three key questions:

• Which types of misconduct and norm transgressions are scandalised by journalists?
• How do mediatised scandals evolve across time and media systems?
• What economic, political, and societal pressures do journalists face when reporting on such cases?

By integrating these perspectives, Eder's work aims to advance
understanding of the interplay among economic, political, and societal
contexts in contemporary European media, and to illuminate journalism's
crucial democratic function in mediating scandals.

"Receiving the MSCA Fellowship is both an honour and an opportunity to
contribute new insights into journalism's role in scandal reporting," says
Dr Eder. "Understanding how and why scandals are reported helps us see how
media systems shape the boundaries of public debate across Europe."
By hosting this fellowship, the University of Stavanger continues to
strengthen its position as an innovative research hub in Norway, supporting
novel projects that address vital questions for European journalism.