Sina Blassnig, Dr.
Oberassistentin / Senior Research and Teaching Associate
Phone: +41 44 634 46 91
Room number: AND 3.52
Table of contents
Biographical Note
Sina Blassnig is Senior Research and Teaching Associate in the division International & Comparative Media Research at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) since January 2020. She was also a lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern (Switzerland) in the spring semester of 2020.
She studied Communication Science and Political Science (B.A., M.A.) from 2009 to 2015 at the University of Zurich. After her studies, she worked as Research and Teaching Assistant at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). She received her doctorate with summa cum laude distinction for her dissertation on populist online communication in 2020.
During her doctorate, she was a visiting scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in July 2019. From March to July 2023, she will be a visiting scholar at the Amsterdam School of Communication (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam.
Her fields of interest are political communication, digital journalism, and digital information behavior. Across these fields, she is particularly interested in how the digitalization has changed the interactions among politicians, journalists, and citizens. Currently, she is researching the role of algorithmic news recommender systems in digital journalism and political communication, and how such systems influence both the supply and demand sides of high-choice information environments. Alongside she is working in various projects on digital hate speech, citizens’ media use and information behavior in digital information environments.
Curriculum vitae
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2023 (March – July) |
Visiting scholar at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), Amsterdam, the Netherlands |
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2020 – present |
Senior Research and Teaching Associate (Oberassistentin) at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), University of Zurich, Switzerland |
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2020 (February – July) |
Lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Bern, Switzerland (part-time) |
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2020 |
PhD (Dr. phil) in Media and Communication Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Summa cum laude. |
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2019 (July) |
Visiting scholar at the Smart Family Institute of Communications, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel |
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2016 – 2019 |
Research and Teaching Assistant and Doctoral Student at the IKMZ, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
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2013 – 2015 |
MA in Communication Science and Media Research (Major) and Political Science (Minor), University of Zurich, Switzerland |
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2013 |
Junior Communications Manager at swissnex San Francisco |
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2012 |
Communications Intern at the Communications Office of the Government Council, Canton of Zurich |
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2010 – 2015 |
Various positions as Student Research Assistant at the Institute of Mass Communication & Media Research, Divisions: International & Comparative Media Research and Media & Politics, University of Zurich |
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2009 – 2012 |
BA in Communication Science and Media Research (Major), Political Science (1st Minor), and Theory and History of Photography (2nd Minor), University of Zurich, Switzerland |
Teaching and Research Interests
Political communication, especially populism, political actors’ online self-presentation, digital media and algorithmic technologies, and the changing role of citizens
Digital journalism and media production, especially algorithmization of news, AI in newsrooms, changing media logics, audience orientation, and user perceptions of and trust in news
Media use and media effects, especially user reactions and comments, hate speech, online search patterns, digital information behavior
Research Grants
| 2022 | Digital Hate Speech in Switzerland: A Multi-Method Study on the Subjective and Objective Confrontation with Hate Speech in the Everyday Life of Swiss Internet Users (with Dominique Wirz, University of Fribourg), Federal Office of Communication, Switzerland |
| 2020 | The Information Path to a Vote: Comparing Online Information Patterns of Young Voter Groups in Swiss Voting Campaigns (with Eliza Mitova, Nico Pfiffner, & Michael Reiss), Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich |
| 2020 | The Role of News Recommender Systems in High-Choice Media Environments (co-written with Frank Esser, Anikó Hannák, & Claes de Vreese), Research grant, National Research Program “Digital Transformation” (NRP77), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) |
Publications
Activities and Offices
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Since 2022 |
Representative for the Political Communication Division of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SGKM) |
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Since 2016 |
Member of the Public Affairs Commission of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, Section Zurich/Schaffhausen (SRG ZH SH) |
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2020 – 2023 |
Coordination committee for organizational development of the Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
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2020 – 2022 |
Student and early career representative of the Political Communication Division of the International Communication Association (ICA) |
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2019 – 2022 |
Junior faculty representative (Mittelbausprecherin) at the Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
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2016 – 2018 |
Substitute Member of the Management Committee of COST Action IS1308 on “Populist Political Communication in Europe” URL: http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/isch/IS1308 |
Member of the International Communications Association (ICA), European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), German Communication Association (DGPuK), Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SGKM)
Grants & Awards
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2020 |
SCM Top Paper Shortlist, Affiliate Journal-Session, International Communication Association (ICA), Gold Coast (AUS)/virtual due to COVID-19, 2020 |
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2020 |
Best dissertation award, Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SGKM). |
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2018 |
GRC Travel Grant by the University of Zurich for a research stay at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Host researcher: Prof. Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt |
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2016 |
Semester Award by the University of Zurich for outstanding scholarly work for the Master's thesis with the title „Populist Communication in the Self-Presentation of Politicians. A Comparative Analysis of Talk Shows, Facebook, and Twitter in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States.“ |
Teaching
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Lectures |
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Media Production & Media Management (BA), University of Zurich |
HS 2022 |
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Introduction to Communication Science and Media Research (BA), University of Zurich |
HS 2017, 2020, 2021 |
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Introduction to Social Science, Session on Communication Science and Media Research (MA), University of Zurich |
HS 2021 & 2022 |
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Seminars |
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Algorithms in Political Communication (MA), University of Zurich |
FS & HS 2022 |
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News Recommender Systems in Digital Democracies (BA), University of Zurich |
FS 2021 |
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Digital Political Communication between Likes, Shares & User Comments (BA), University of Bern and University of Zurich |
FS 2018, 2020 |
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Research Seminars & Supervision of BA-Theses |
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Elections 2019: Political Communication in Switzerland (Co-teaching, BA), University of Zurich |
HS 2019 & FS 2020 |
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Populist Communication in Digital Times, (Co-teaching, BA), University of Zurich |
HS 2018 & FS 2019 |
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Successful Populists Across Europe: What Role do the Media Play? (Co-teaching, BA), University of Zurich |
HS 2016 & FS 2017 |
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HS = Herbstsemester (Fall Semester); FS = Frühlingssemester (Spring Semester) |
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