Irina Lock
Biographic Data
| ID | 4036995 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Irina Lock |
| GIVEN NAMES | Irina |
| FAMILY NAME | Lock |
| SIGNATURE | LOCK I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Friedrich Schiller University Jena |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0524-3330 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Fifty Years of Diversity in Communication and Media Studies (1974–2023): The Intertwined Trends in Geographic, Gender, and Methodological Representation
This study explored trends of diversity in Communication and Media Studies (CMS) between 1974 and 2023 through an automated content analysis of journal publications. An increasing proportion of first-authors from non-WEIRD countries and non-U.S. WEIRD countries was found alongside a declining proportion of U.S.-based scholars (WEIRD refers to “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic”). The visibility of women first-authors grew ma…
Of Scams and Failures: Analyzing International Environmental NGOs’ Narratives After COP 29
Argumentation strategies in lobbying: The discursive struggle over proposals to regulate Big Tech
Purpose This study investigates, through a case study where organisations held opposing lobbying objectives, the argumentation strategies employed by organisations in their lobbying. Big Tech companies lobbied against proposed online harm regulations in the UK, with their objectives clashing with public interest groups with a health focus, who advocated for broader regulations. The research explores the functional relationship between these argum…
Types, methods, and evaluations of artificial intelligence (AI) in public communication research in the early phases of adoption: A systematic review
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become pervasive in everyday life, and with the publication of large language models such as ChatGPT especially relevant in the context of media and public communication. This paper synthesizes the conceptualizations, types, methods, and evaluations of AI in public communication in the early phases of innovation adoption, before the broad public discussion around generative AI set in. We conducted a systematic rev…
Automated Communication’s Impact on Strategic Communication: Implications from a Systematic Review
The Rise of Autonomous Agents? A Content Analysis of How Agency is Constituted in Trade Journal Coverage of Automated Communication Phenomena
Argumentation strategies in lobbying: Toward a typology
Purpose This paper develops a typology of argumentation strategies used in lobbying. Unlike in other strategic communication functions such as crisis or risk communication, such typologies have not been proposed in the sub-field of public affairs. Design/methodology/approach The article synthesises the strategic communication, political communication and policy studies literature and employs exchange theory to explain the communicative-strategic …
Divergent Views and Common Values: Comparing Sustainability Understandings Across News Media, Businesses, and Consumers
Sustainability has become a widely used term in public discourse, yet it is connected to a variety of meanings with diverging implications for possible societal, political, and economic solutions. This study identifies and compares how sustainability is constructed by news media, businesses, and consumers to reveal gaps that may hinder mutual understanding when striving for sustainable development. A quantitative content analysis of 282 Dutch new…
The watchdog role in the age of Big Tech – how news media in the United States and Germany hold Big Tech corporations accountable
The unprecedented power of Big Tech corporations and the complexity of regulating them requires considering the role of news media as a corporate accountability mechanism. The aim of this article is to examine news media’s watchdog role through a performative lens, extending it to the corporate context by looking at three manifestations of performance: media visibility, way of coverage, and sourcing patterns. Based on a longitudinal quantitative …
Stepping on Toes? Role Dynamics between Journalists and Lobbyists Regarding Big Tech’s Accountability Agenda
The expanding political role of Big Tech(nology) corporations has triggered concerns about the role of the media in holding corporate power to account. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of role dynamics between journalists and lobbyists toward the agenda for Big Tech’s responsibilities. Based on semi-structured interviews with European journalists ( n = 15) and lobbyists representing large technology corporations ( n = 15), we use…
Automated Visual Analysis for the Study of Social Media Effects: Opportunities, Approaches, and Challenges
To advance our understanding of social media effects, it is crucial to incorporate the increasingly prevalent visual media into our investigation. In this article, we discuss the theoretical opportunities of automated visual analysis for the study of social media effects and present an overview of existing computational methods that can facilitate this. Specifically, we highlight the gap between the outputs of existing computer vision tools and t…
Automated Visual Content Analysis (Avca) in Communication Research: A Protocol for Large Scale Image Classification with Pre-Trained Computer Vision Models
The increasing volume of images published online in a wide variety of contexts requires communication researchers to address this reality by analyzing visual content at a large scale. Ongoing advances in computer vision to automatically detect objects, concepts, and features in images provide a promising opportunity for communication research. We propose a research protocol for Automated Visual Content Analysis (AVCA) to enable large-scale conten…
Debating Glyphosate: A Macro Perspective on the Role of Strategic Communication in Forming and Monitoring A Global Issue Arena Using Inductive Topic Modelling
Stakeholders debate issues of public interest in global online issue arenas, but political decision makers decide on these macro issues at national and supranational levels. A better understanding of the role of organizations in forming and monitoring such issue debates is necessary, given the influence of public affairs activities and media debates on politicians’ and public opinion. However, such a macro perspective is largely missing. This stu…
Back to the Roots? The Applications of Communication Science Theories in Strategic Communication Research
Recently, the field of strategic communication has been criticized for lacking a coherent theoretical synthesis. Recognizing that strategic communication is a sub-discipline of communication science, we study how the field is anchored in the corpus of established communication theories – including social science, interpretative, and critical approaches. To describe the use, development, and context of communication theories in strategic communica…
Traveling frames: How corporate and civil society actors try to influence public administration and courts in a case on nuclear emission data in Switzerland
This paper focuses on the framing strategies lobbyists apply to influence public policy in a case on nuclear emission data in Switzerland. Framing analysis is at the heart of communication science and has been applied in lobbying settings, but framing theory has not yet been fine‐tuned to the specificities of public affairs research. This qualitative case study gives insights into the dominant frames seven actors ranging from corporations to nong…
Framing “the Public Interest”: Comparing Public Lobbying Campaigns in Four European States
How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the p…
Gauging the Rigor of Qualitative Case Studies in Comparative Lobbying Research. A Framework and Guideline for Research and Analysis
Engaging in comparative lobbying research is a challenging task, because public affairs is complex and highly context‐dependent. Thus, qualitative case studies have been researchers' primary choice. However, the case method has been subject to much debate surrounding its rigor, in terms of reliability, internal validity, and generalizability, and particularly its potential for theory building. To propose a framework for researchers conducting lob…
The game-changing potential of digitalization for sustainability: Possibilities, perils, and pathways
Politicized CSR: How corporate political activity (mis‐)uses political CSR
In this article, we posit that corporate political activities (CPA) such as lobbying make use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to advance instrumental goals. We juxtapose the theoretical foundations of the normative concept of political CSR and the strategic notion of nonmarket strategy to show that they are in opposition conceptually regarding the role of corporations in public policy. Using a systematic theoretical comparison along seve…
Theorizing stakeholders of sustainability in the digital age
Where Grass Has No Roots: The Concept of ‘Shared Strategic Communication’ as an Answer to Unethical Astroturf Lobbying
As researchers pursue connections between strategic communication and management, they need to critique practices to develop norms that increase strategic communication’s long-term contribution to society. Norms of strategic communication are shaped by socially constructed standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and guide how strategic communication fosters organization-public relationships (OPR). Such norms are particularly important …
Automated Visual Analysis for the Study of Social Media Effects: Opportunities, Approaches, and Challenges
To advance our understanding of social media effects, it is crucial to incorporate the increasingly prevalent visual media into our investigation. In this article, we discuss the theoretical opportunities of automated visual analysis for the study of social media effects and present an overview of existing computational methods that can facilitate this. Specifically, we highlight the gap between the outputs of existing computer vision tools and t…
The game-changing potential of digitalization for sustainability: Possibilities, perils, and pathways
Where Grass Has No Roots: The Concept of ‘Shared Strategic Communication’ as an Answer to Unethical Astroturf Lobbying
As researchers pursue connections between strategic communication and management, they need to critique practices to develop norms that increase strategic communication’s long-term contribution to society. Norms of strategic communication are shaped by socially constructed standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and guide how strategic communication fosters organization-public relationships (OPR). Such norms are particularly important …
Automated Visual Content Analysis (Avca) in Communication Research: A Protocol for Large Scale Image Classification with Pre-Trained Computer Vision Models
The increasing volume of images published online in a wide variety of contexts requires communication researchers to address this reality by analyzing visual content at a large scale. Ongoing advances in computer vision to automatically detect objects, concepts, and features in images provide a promising opportunity for communication research. We propose a research protocol for Automated Visual Content Analysis (AVCA) to enable large-scale conten…
Back to the Roots? The Applications of Communication Science Theories in Strategic Communication Research
Recently, the field of strategic communication has been criticized for lacking a coherent theoretical synthesis. Recognizing that strategic communication is a sub-discipline of communication science, we study how the field is anchored in the corpus of established communication theories – including social science, interpretative, and critical approaches. To describe the use, development, and context of communication theories in strategic communica…
Politicized CSR: How corporate political activity (mis‐)uses political CSR
In this article, we posit that corporate political activities (CPA) such as lobbying make use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to advance instrumental goals. We juxtapose the theoretical foundations of the normative concept of political CSR and the strategic notion of nonmarket strategy to show that they are in opposition conceptually regarding the role of corporations in public policy. Using a systematic theoretical comparison along seve…
Gauging the Rigor of Qualitative Case Studies in Comparative Lobbying Research. A Framework and Guideline for Research and Analysis
Engaging in comparative lobbying research is a challenging task, because public affairs is complex and highly context‐dependent. Thus, qualitative case studies have been researchers' primary choice. However, the case method has been subject to much debate surrounding its rigor, in terms of reliability, internal validity, and generalizability, and particularly its potential for theory building. To propose a framework for researchers conducting lob…
Stepping on Toes? Role Dynamics between Journalists and Lobbyists Regarding Big Tech’s Accountability Agenda
The expanding political role of Big Tech(nology) corporations has triggered concerns about the role of the media in holding corporate power to account. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of role dynamics between journalists and lobbyists toward the agenda for Big Tech’s responsibilities. Based on semi-structured interviews with European journalists ( n = 15) and lobbyists representing large technology corporations ( n = 15), we use…
Theorizing stakeholders of sustainability in the digital age
Where Grass Has No Roots: The Concept of ‘Shared Strategic Communication’ as an Answer to Unethical Astroturf Lobbying
As researchers pursue connections between strategic communication and management, they need to critique practices to develop norms that increase strategic communication’s long-term contribution to society. Norms of strategic communication are shaped by socially constructed standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and guide how strategic communication fosters organization-public relationships (OPR). Such norms are particularly important …
The game-changing potential of digitalization for sustainability: Possibilities, perils, and pathways
Politicized CSR: How corporate political activity (mis‐)uses political CSR
In this article, we posit that corporate political activities (CPA) such as lobbying make use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to advance instrumental goals. We juxtapose the theoretical foundations of the normative concept of political CSR and the strategic notion of nonmarket strategy to show that they are in opposition conceptually regarding the role of corporations in public policy. Using a systematic theoretical comparison along seve…
Framing “the Public Interest”: Comparing Public Lobbying Campaigns in Four European States
How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the p…
Gauging the Rigor of Qualitative Case Studies in Comparative Lobbying Research. A Framework and Guideline for Research and Analysis
Engaging in comparative lobbying research is a challenging task, because public affairs is complex and highly context‐dependent. Thus, qualitative case studies have been researchers' primary choice. However, the case method has been subject to much debate surrounding its rigor, in terms of reliability, internal validity, and generalizability, and particularly its potential for theory building. To propose a framework for researchers conducting lob…
Back to the Roots? The Applications of Communication Science Theories in Strategic Communication Research
Recently, the field of strategic communication has been criticized for lacking a coherent theoretical synthesis. Recognizing that strategic communication is a sub-discipline of communication science, we study how the field is anchored in the corpus of established communication theories – including social science, interpretative, and critical approaches. To describe the use, development, and context of communication theories in strategic communica…
Traveling frames: How corporate and civil society actors try to influence public administration and courts in a case on nuclear emission data in Switzerland
This paper focuses on the framing strategies lobbyists apply to influence public policy in a case on nuclear emission data in Switzerland. Framing analysis is at the heart of communication science and has been applied in lobbying settings, but framing theory has not yet been fine‐tuned to the specificities of public affairs research. This qualitative case study gives insights into the dominant frames seven actors ranging from corporations to nong…
Automated Visual Content Analysis (Avca) in Communication Research: A Protocol for Large Scale Image Classification with Pre-Trained Computer Vision Models
The increasing volume of images published online in a wide variety of contexts requires communication researchers to address this reality by analyzing visual content at a large scale. Ongoing advances in computer vision to automatically detect objects, concepts, and features in images provide a promising opportunity for communication research. We propose a research protocol for Automated Visual Content Analysis (AVCA) to enable large-scale conten…
Debating Glyphosate: A Macro Perspective on the Role of Strategic Communication in Forming and Monitoring A Global Issue Arena Using Inductive Topic Modelling
Stakeholders debate issues of public interest in global online issue arenas, but political decision makers decide on these macro issues at national and supranational levels. A better understanding of the role of organizations in forming and monitoring such issue debates is necessary, given the influence of public affairs activities and media debates on politicians’ and public opinion. However, such a macro perspective is largely missing. This stu…
Automated Visual Analysis for the Study of Social Media Effects: Opportunities, Approaches, and Challenges
To advance our understanding of social media effects, it is crucial to incorporate the increasingly prevalent visual media into our investigation. In this article, we discuss the theoretical opportunities of automated visual analysis for the study of social media effects and present an overview of existing computational methods that can facilitate this. Specifically, we highlight the gap between the outputs of existing computer vision tools and t…
Argumentation strategies in lobbying: Toward a typology
Purpose This paper develops a typology of argumentation strategies used in lobbying. Unlike in other strategic communication functions such as crisis or risk communication, such typologies have not been proposed in the sub-field of public affairs. Design/methodology/approach The article synthesises the strategic communication, political communication and policy studies literature and employs exchange theory to explain the communicative-strategic …
Divergent Views and Common Values: Comparing Sustainability Understandings Across News Media, Businesses, and Consumers
Sustainability has become a widely used term in public discourse, yet it is connected to a variety of meanings with diverging implications for possible societal, political, and economic solutions. This study identifies and compares how sustainability is constructed by news media, businesses, and consumers to reveal gaps that may hinder mutual understanding when striving for sustainable development. A quantitative content analysis of 282 Dutch new…
The watchdog role in the age of Big Tech – how news media in the United States and Germany hold Big Tech corporations accountable
The unprecedented power of Big Tech corporations and the complexity of regulating them requires considering the role of news media as a corporate accountability mechanism. The aim of this article is to examine news media’s watchdog role through a performative lens, extending it to the corporate context by looking at three manifestations of performance: media visibility, way of coverage, and sourcing patterns. Based on a longitudinal quantitative …
Stepping on Toes? Role Dynamics between Journalists and Lobbyists Regarding Big Tech’s Accountability Agenda
The expanding political role of Big Tech(nology) corporations has triggered concerns about the role of the media in holding corporate power to account. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of role dynamics between journalists and lobbyists toward the agenda for Big Tech’s responsibilities. Based on semi-structured interviews with European journalists ( n = 15) and lobbyists representing large technology corporations ( n = 15), we use…
Argumentation strategies in lobbying: The discursive struggle over proposals to regulate Big Tech
Purpose This study investigates, through a case study where organisations held opposing lobbying objectives, the argumentation strategies employed by organisations in their lobbying. Big Tech companies lobbied against proposed online harm regulations in the UK, with their objectives clashing with public interest groups with a health focus, who advocated for broader regulations. The research explores the functional relationship between these argum…
Types, methods, and evaluations of artificial intelligence (AI) in public communication research in the early phases of adoption: A systematic review
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become pervasive in everyday life, and with the publication of large language models such as ChatGPT especially relevant in the context of media and public communication. This paper synthesizes the conceptualizations, types, methods, and evaluations of AI in public communication in the early phases of innovation adoption, before the broad public discussion around generative AI set in. We conducted a systematic rev…
Automated Communication’s Impact on Strategic Communication: Implications from a Systematic Review
The Rise of Autonomous Agents? A Content Analysis of How Agency is Constituted in Trade Journal Coverage of Automated Communication Phenomena
Fifty Years of Diversity in Communication and Media Studies (1974–2023): The Intertwined Trends in Geographic, Gender, and Methodological Representation
This study explored trends of diversity in Communication and Media Studies (CMS) between 1974 and 2023 through an automated content analysis of journal publications. An increasing proportion of first-authors from non-WEIRD countries and non-U.S. WEIRD countries was found alongside a declining proportion of U.S.-based scholars (WEIRD refers to “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic”). The visibility of women first-authors grew ma…
Of Scams and Failures: Analyzing International Environmental NGOs’ Narratives After COP 29
Political science (13 works) · Public relations (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Media Studies and Communication (5 works)