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During the early phase of the Covid-19 crisis, televised speeches and press conferences were one of the preferred means of government communication. They emphasized the urgency and severity of the situation and allowed actors to lead news coverage. While in the immediate phase of the crisis these press conferences were also directed at the general public, their original function was, of course, to inform and influence media coverage. The article investigates how government press conferences were received in newspapers in the first phase of Covid-19, answering two research questions: Did a rally-around-the-flag effect occur among journalists during Covid-19? And how did government press conferences influence salience and sentiment in newspaper opinion pieces? To answer these questions, I draw on a unique dataset, including transcripts of all Covid-19 press conferences in five European countries between January and July 2020, as well as opinion pieces from tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. Based on a mix of automated and manual content analysis, the results reveal how factors such as country context, newspaper type, and the progress of a pandemic can influence how the government agenda is reflected in the media in times of crisis.

During the early phase of the Covid-19 crisis, televised speeches and press conferences were one of the preferred means of government communication. They emphasized the urgency and severity of the situation and allowed actors to lead news coverage. While in the immediate phase of the crisis these press conferences were also directed at the general public, their original function was, of course, to inform and influence media coverage. The article investigates how government press conferences were received in newspapers in the first phase of Covid-19, answering two research questions: Did a rally-around-the-flag effect occur among journalists during Covid-19? And how did government press conferences influence salience and sentiment in newspaper opinion pieces? To answer these questions, I draw on a unique dataset, including transcripts of all Covid-19 press conferences in five European countries between January and July 2020, as well as opinion pieces from tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. Based on a mix of automated and manual content analysis, the results reveal how factors such as country context, newspaper type, and the progress of a pandemic can influence how the government agenda is reflected in the media in times of crisis.

During the early phase of the Covid-19 crisis, televised speeches and press conferences were one of the preferred means of government communication. They emphasized the urgency and severity of the situation and allowed actors to lead news coverage. While in the immediate phase of the crisis these press conferences were also directed at the general public, their original function was, of course, to inform and influence media coverage. The article investigates how government press conferences were received in newspapers in the first phase of Covid-19, answering two research questions: Did a rally-around-the-flag effect occur among journalists during Covid-19? And how did government press conferences influence salience and sentiment in newspaper opinion pieces? To answer these questions, I draw on a unique dataset, including transcripts of all Covid-19 press conferences in five European countries between January and July 2020, as well as opinion pieces from tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. Based on a mix of automated and manual content analysis, the results reveal how factors such as country context, newspaper type, and the progress of a pandemic can influence how the government agenda is reflected in the media in times of crisis.

Right-wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right-wing populism’s anti-pluralist and conflict-centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right-wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right-wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right-wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right-wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People-centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti-immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy.

Right-wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right-wing populism’s anti-pluralist and conflict-centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right-wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right-wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right-wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right-wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People-centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti-immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy.

Right-wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right-wing populism’s anti-pluralist and conflict-centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right-wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right-wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right-wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right-wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People-centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti-immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy.

Right-wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right-wing populism’s anti-pluralist and conflict-centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right-wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right-wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right-wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right-wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People-centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti-immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy.

Right-wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right-wing populism’s anti-pluralist and conflict-centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right-wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right-wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right-wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right-wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People-centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti-immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy.

Podoplanin (Pdpn), a brain-tumor-related glycoprotein identified in humans and animals, is endogenously expressed in several organs critical for life support such as kidney, lung, heart and brain. In the brain, Pdpn has been identified in proliferative nestin- positive adult neural progenitor cells and in neurons of the neurogenic hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), a structure associated to anxiety, critical for learning and memory functions and severely damaged in people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The in vivo role of Pdpn in adult neurogenesis and anxiety-like behavior remained however unexplored. Using mice with disrupted Pdpn gene as a model organism and applying combined behavioral, molecular biological and electrophysiological assays, we here show that the absence of Pdpn selectively impairs long-term synaptic depression in the neurogenic DG without affecting the CA3-Schaffer’s collateral-CA1 synapses. Pdpn deletion also enhanced the proliferative capacity of DG neural progenitor cells and diminished survival of differentiated neuronal cells in vitro. In addition, mice with podoplanin gene disruption showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in experimentally validated behavioral tests as compared to wild type littermate controls. Together, these findings broaden our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms influencing hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in vivo and reveal Pdpn as a novel molecular target for future studies addressing general anxiety disorder and synaptic depression-related memory dysfunctions.

Podoplanin (Pdpn), a brain-tumor-related glycoprotein identified in humans and animals, is endogenously expressed in several organs critical for life support such as kidney, lung, heart and brain. In the brain, Pdpn has been identified in proliferative nestin- positive adult neural progenitor cells and in neurons of the neurogenic hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), a structure associated to anxiety, critical for learning and memory functions and severely damaged in people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The in vivo role of Pdpn in adult neurogenesis and anxiety-like behavior remained however unexplored. Using mice with disrupted Pdpn gene as a model organism and applying combined behavioral, molecular biological and electrophysiological assays, we here show that the absence of Pdpn selectively impairs long-term synaptic depression in the neurogenic DG without affecting the CA3-Schaffer’s collateral-CA1 synapses. Pdpn deletion also enhanced the proliferative capacity of DG neural progenitor cells and diminished survival of differentiated neuronal cells in vitro. In addition, mice with podoplanin gene disruption showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in experimentally validated behavioral tests as compared to wild type littermate controls. Together, these findings broaden our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms influencing hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in vivo and reveal Pdpn as a novel molecular target for future studies addressing general anxiety disorder and synaptic depression-related memory dysfunctions.

Podoplanin (Pdpn), a brain-tumor-related glycoprotein identified in humans and animals, is endogenously expressed in several organs critical for life support such as kidney, lung, heart and brain. In the brain, Pdpn has been identified in proliferative nestin- positive adult neural progenitor cells and in neurons of the neurogenic hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), a structure associated to anxiety, critical for learning and memory functions and severely damaged in people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The in vivo role of Pdpn in adult neurogenesis and anxiety-like behavior remained however unexplored. Using mice with disrupted Pdpn gene as a model organism and applying combined behavioral, molecular biological and electrophysiological assays, we here show that the absence of Pdpn selectively impairs long-term synaptic depression in the neurogenic DG without affecting the CA3-Schaffer’s collateral-CA1 synapses. Pdpn deletion also enhanced the proliferative capacity of DG neural progenitor cells and diminished survival of differentiated neuronal cells in vitro. In addition, mice with podoplanin gene disruption showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in experimentally validated behavioral tests as compared to wild type littermate controls. Together, these findings broaden our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms influencing hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in vivo and reveal Pdpn as a novel molecular target for future studies addressing general anxiety disorder and synaptic depression-related memory dysfunctions.

Podoplanin (Pdpn), a brain-tumor-related glycoprotein identified in humans and animals, is endogenously expressed in several organs critical for life support such as kidney, lung, heart and brain. In the brain, Pdpn has been identified in proliferative nestin- positive adult neural progenitor cells and in neurons of the neurogenic hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), a structure associated to anxiety, critical for learning and memory functions and severely damaged in people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The in vivo role of Pdpn in adult neurogenesis and anxiety-like behavior remained however unexplored. Using mice with disrupted Pdpn gene as a model organism and applying combined behavioral, molecular biological and electrophysiological assays, we here show that the absence of Pdpn selectively impairs long-term synaptic depression in the neurogenic DG without affecting the CA3-Schaffer’s collateral-CA1 synapses. Pdpn deletion also enhanced the proliferative capacity of DG neural progenitor cells and diminished survival of differentiated neuronal cells in vitro. In addition, mice with podoplanin gene disruption showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in experimentally validated behavioral tests as compared to wild type littermate controls. Together, these findings broaden our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms influencing hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in vivo and reveal Pdpn as a novel molecular target for future studies addressing general anxiety disorder and synaptic depression-related memory dysfunctions.

Podoplanin (Pdpn), a brain-tumor-related glycoprotein identified in humans and animals, is endogenously expressed in several organs critical for life support such as kidney, lung, heart and brain. In the brain, Pdpn has been identified in proliferative nestin- positive adult neural progenitor cells and in neurons of the neurogenic hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), a structure associated to anxiety, critical for learning and memory functions and severely damaged in people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The in vivo role of Pdpn in adult neurogenesis and anxiety-like behavior remained however unexplored. Using mice with disrupted Pdpn gene as a model organism and applying combined behavioral, molecular biological and electrophysiological assays, we here show that the absence of Pdpn selectively impairs long-term synaptic depression in the neurogenic DG without affecting the CA3-Schaffer’s collateral-CA1 synapses. Pdpn deletion also enhanced the proliferative capacity of DG neural progenitor cells and diminished survival of differentiated neuronal cells in vitro. In addition, mice with podoplanin gene disruption showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in experimentally validated behavioral tests as compared to wild type littermate controls. Together, these findings broaden our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms influencing hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in vivo and reveal Pdpn as a novel molecular target for future studies addressing general anxiety disorder and synaptic depression-related memory dysfunctions.

Podoplanin (Pdpn), a brain-tumor-related glycoprotein identified in humans and animals, is endogenously expressed in several organs critical for life support such as kidney, lung, heart and brain. In the brain, Pdpn has been identified in proliferative nestin- positive adult neural progenitor cells and in neurons of the neurogenic hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), a structure associated to anxiety, critical for learning and memory functions and severely damaged in people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The in vivo role of Pdpn in adult neurogenesis and anxiety-like behavior remained however unexplored. Using mice with disrupted Pdpn gene as a model organism and applying combined behavioral, molecular biological and electrophysiological assays, we here show that the absence of Pdpn selectively impairs long-term synaptic depression in the neurogenic DG without affecting the CA3-Schaffer’s collateral-CA1 synapses. Pdpn deletion also enhanced the proliferative capacity of DG neural progenitor cells and diminished survival of differentiated neuronal cells in vitro. In addition, mice with podoplanin gene disruption showed increased anxiety-like behaviors in experimentally validated behavioral tests as compared to wild type littermate controls. Together, these findings broaden our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms influencing hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in vivo and reveal Pdpn as a novel molecular target for future studies addressing general anxiety disorder and synaptic depression-related memory dysfunctions.

Time-symmetric quantum mechanics can be described in the Weyl–Wigner–Moyal phase space formalism by using the properties of the cross-terms appearing in the Wigner distribution of a sum of states. These properties show the appearance of a strongly oscillating interference between the pre-selected and post-selected states. It is interesting to note that the knowledge of this interference term is sufficient to reconstruct both states.Quanta 2015; 4: 27–34.

Time-symmetric quantum mechanics can be described in the Weyl–Wigner–Moyal phase space formalism by using the properties of the cross-terms appearing in the Wigner distribution of a sum of states. These properties show the appearance of a strongly oscillating interference between the pre-selected and post-selected states. It is interesting to note that the knowledge of this interference term is sufficient to reconstruct both states.Quanta 2015; 4: 27–34.

Time-symmetric quantum mechanics can be described in the Weyl–Wigner–Moyal phase space formalism by using the properties of the cross-terms appearing in the Wigner distribution of a sum of states. These properties show the appearance of a strongly oscillating interference between the pre-selected and post-selected states. It is interesting to note that the knowledge of this interference term is sufficient to reconstruct both states.Quanta 2015; 4: 27–34.

Time-symmetric quantum mechanics can be described in the Weyl–Wigner–Moyal phase space formalism by using the properties of the cross-terms appearing in the Wigner distribution of a sum of states. These properties show the appearance of a strongly oscillating interference between the pre-selected and post-selected states. It is interesting to note that the knowledge of this interference term is sufficient to reconstruct both states.Quanta 2015; 4: 27–34.