ABSTRACT
Concerning election campaigning research, Germany can be considered as a special case for several reasons: first, Germans are rather reluctant to use social media and generally less interested in news-related participation as well as political campaigning online (Hasebrink and Hölig 2013; Bernhard, Dohle, and Vowe 2014). Second, Germans are generally cautious to embrace new and individualised news services broadly. Germany’s media system reflects the country’s federal structure: a comparably strong regional press market, several regional public broadcasters, regional and national commercial operators, and national press titles shape the media landscape. Traditional mass media have also taken the lead online: Germans seem to be rather loyal to established news sources. Third, Germany’s political system is described as a ‘party-driven democracy’ (Esser and Hemmer 2008) with a fairly stable set of influential parties.
