Anne Schulz is Assistant Professor of Political Communication at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich.

Focus in research & teaching

She is a communication scholar specializing in political communication, journalism studies, and media psychology. Her research examines how digital media environments shape the ways people engage with news and information, and what these developments mean for democratic participation.

A central focus of her work is understanding how citizens can stay informed in increasingly complex and often negative information environments while sustaining their well-being. Through the SNF-funded Negative News Project (SNF Starting Grant 2025), she investigates the prevalence and consequences of negativity in news, how negative news affects both political knowledge and mental well-being, and how innovations in news production and technology can help people remain informed without becoming overwhelmed. 

Another focus of her research is the relationship between news avoidance and political participation, including participation in elections and referendums. She examines why citizens selectively disengage from news, whether as a response to information overload, emotional strain, distrust, or lack of interest, and how these different forms of avoidance affect democratic engagement.

Her dissertation focused on populism and the relationship between populist attitudes and engagement with news. Drawing on comparative research across 11 countries, she examined how populist citizens use and trust news, and how these patterns differ across media systems and political contexts. Dissertation Anne Schulz

In other work she studies trust in news, news literacy, alternative media, local journalism, and public service media. From 2022 to 2023, she co-led the DSI Information Abundance Project with Dr. Sophia C. Volk. Her work is interdisciplinary and internationally comparative, with projects focusing on Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and beyond.

Professional background

Anne Schulz studied communication science and psychology at the universities of Erfurt (B.A.) and Zurich (M.A.) from 2007 to 2014. After her studies, she worked as a research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). She received her doctorate with summa cum laude in May 2019 for her dissertation on populist citizens' news use in 11 countries. In 2019 she worked as a research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford (UK) and was, among other things, co-author of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report in 2020 and 2021. In the 2022 spring term she was also Lecturer at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern (Switzerland).

Publications and Awards

Anne Schulz has published in various journals, including New Media & Society, Communication Research and Journal of Communication. She has received awards for her work, including the Kaid Sanders Prize for the best article of 2019 in the field of political communication from the International Communication Association. You can find her publications in her Google Scholar profile.

Geber, S., Schulz, A., Schäfer, M.S., & Friemel, T.N. (2026). Presumed media influence and support for social media bans: The roles of social and elite-based validation. New Media & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261467611

Dan, V., Russmann, U., Müller, P., & Schulz, A. (2026). Strategic Continuity and Evolving Toolkit: Electoral Competition Revisited. Media and Communication, 14, Article 12572. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.12572

Schulz, A., Volk, S. C., Blassnig, S., Kessler, S. H., Marschlich, S., Nguyen, M. H., Stahel, L., & Strauß, N. (2025). Information Overload and Information Appreciation Across News, Entertainment, and Personal Communication: Scale Development and Application. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 5. https://doi.org/10.51685/jqd.2025.018

Fletcher, R., Andı, S., Badrinathan, S., Eddy, K. A., Kalogeropoulos, A., Mont'Alverne, C., Robertson, C. T., Ross Arguedas, A., Schulz, A., Toff, B., & Nielsen, R. K. (2025). The link between changing news use and trust: Longitudinal analysis of 46 countries. Journal of Communication, 75(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae044

Volk, S. C., Schulz, A., Blassnig, S., Marschlich, S., Nguyen, M. H., & Strauß, N. (2024). Selecting, avoiding, disconnecting: a focus group study of people’s strategies for dealing with information abundance in the contexts of news, entertainment, and personal communication. Information, Communication & Society, 28(1), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2358167

Schulz, A., & Volk, S. C. (2023). Zwischen Wertschätzung und Überlastung – Wie Schweizerinnen und Schweizer die Fülle von Informationen und Angeboten erleben. Ergebnisbericht des Information Abundance Projekts der Digital Society Initiative. Zürich: Universität Zürich. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-239383

Schulz, A., Fletcher, R., & Nielsen, R. K. (2022). The role of news media knowledge for how people use social media for news in five countries. New Media & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221108957

Müller, P., & Schulz, A. (2021) Alternative media for a populist audience? Exploring political and media use predictors of exposure to Breitbart, Sputnik, and Co. Information, Communication & Society, 24, 277-293. 10.1080/1369118X.2019.1646778

Schulz, A., Wirth, W., & Müller, P. (2020). We Are the People and You Are Fake News: A Social Identity Approach to Populist Citizens’ False Consensus and Hostile Media Perceptions. Communication Research, 47, 201-226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218794854

Schulz, A., Müller, P., Schemer, C., Wirz, D. S., Wettstein, M., & Wirth, W. (2018). Measuring Populist Attitudes on Three Dimensions, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 30(2), 316–326. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edw037

Müller, P., Schemer, C., Wettstein, M., Schulz, A., Wirz, D.S., Engesser, S. and Wirth, W. (2017). The Polarizing Impact of News Coverage on Populist Attitudes in the Public: Evidence From a Panel Study in Four European Democracies. Journal of Communication, 67, 968-992. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12337

Schulz, A., & Rössler, P. (2012). The Spiral of Silence and the Internet. Selection of Online Content and the Perception of the Public Opinion Climate in Computer-Mediated Communication Environments. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24, 346–367. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/eds022