Between Aspirations and Algorithms

Today, algorithms play a part in deciding which topics gain visibility – and which do not. For journalists, particularly in the field of social media, they have become a key but largely unpredictable factor. During her doctoral studies, media studies doctoral candidate Vanessa Kokoschka is investigating how algorithms influence journalistic decisions – precisely where quality journalism faces particular challenges: on social media. Using climate change as an example, Kokoschka also explores the question of how complex topics can still be made accessible to young people at all, and how the ‘broccoli method’ can help in this regard.

At the heart of Vanessa Kokoschka’s work lies a simple yet far-reaching question: how do algorithms influence editorial decision-making? Specifically, she examines social media formats dealing with climate policy and climate science – on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, i.e. where young users in particular consume news.

To this end, Kokoschka observed the work of Deutsche Welle in Berlin as an ‘embedded scientist’, where the ‘Planet A’ series is produced for TikTok and YouTube. She also took a close look at the editorial team behind the WDR Instagram series ‘klimaneutral’ in Düsseldorf. Both teams work almost exclusively for digital platforms. “Although individual pieces of content are later adapted for linear broadcasting,” explains the young researcher. “However, the primary channel for these editorial teams is clearly social media.” To gain as complete a picture as possible, Kokoschka also carried out a comprehensive content analysis of climate journalism formats on social media and conducted a series of interviews with journalists from various media organisations for her doctoral thesis.

Kokoschka is particularly interested in how editorial teams interpret metrics: bounce rates, reach, and user engagement through clicks or comments. “Which metrics are considered relevant? What conclusions are drawn from them? And how do these insights inform future content production?” Vanessa Kokoschka outlines the key questions of her research. During editorial meetings, she observed how figures become frameworks for interpretation – and how these interpretations give rise to new editorial decisions.

It becomes clear that editorial teams operate in a climate of great uncertainty. “Nobody knows exactly how the algorithms work, yet many work processes are geared towards them,” says Kokoschka. She describes this relationship as a mixture of pragmatism and constant guesswork – often characterised by trial and error. In one of the expert interviews Kokoschka conducted for her doctoral thesis, an editor therefore compared today’s view of algorithms to the medieval image of God: if things go well, you’ve done everything right and are rewarded for it; if things go badly, you’ve angered the algorithm and are punished.

Vanessa Kokoschka reports that the sense of unease caused by the ‘omnipotence’ of algorithms was particularly acute during a period when Instagram temporarily throttled political content. Reach figures fell noticeably, whilst the pressure on editorial teams increased. “As a result, strategies were developed to regain attention: more polarising opening lines, prominent political figures, and provocative imagery.”

Kokoschka emphasises that this approach does not necessarily go hand in hand with a dumbing down of content. Often, eye-catching elements serve merely as a “lure”, for example as the first slide in a carousel post. Only then does the actual journalistic content follow – fact-based and adhering to traditional journalistic quality criteria.

Another trick in the daily battle for attention is the ‘broccoli method’: just as parents hide healthy vegetables in meals, editorial teams try to present climate issues in such a way that they are not immediately ‘penalised’ by algorithms. “Terms such as ‘climate crisis’ or ‘climate change’ are avoided without losing the substance of the message,” observes Kokoschka. The broccoli remains – it’s just not sitting out in the open on the plate, but stirred into a purée in a ‘snackable’ form.

One finding from Kokoschka’s work is therefore the realisation that a distinction must be made between packaging and content: whilst algorithms influence the structure, layout and opening lines of articles, editorial control over the subject matter remains – at least in quality media – with the editorial teams. Even content that is clearly going to have a limited reach continues to be produced – out of a sense of journalistic responsibility.

“Algorithms are neither a promise of salvation nor a doomsday scenario,” concludes Vanessa Kokoschka. “They are framework conditions that journalism must navigate. How well editorial teams manage this depends less on the code of algorithms than on the editorial decisions that are made anew by people every day.”

A detailed article on this topic can be found in our science magazine impact: https://impact.h-da.de/