Central European Journal of Communication

Critical Discourse Analysis of Maximalist and Minimalist Lifestyles

Aneta Duda — 2025-08-20

This paper undertakes an analysis of two divergent strategies aimed at driving culture towards the extremes: one involving stark minimalism and the other, gaudy maximalism. The former approach is predominantly embraced by the avant-garde, who possess the means to surround themselves with an array of commodities, thereby creating a distinguishing factor in a world characterized by excess. Conversely, maximalism, the origins of which can be traced back to the conception of luxury as abundance, seeks to eliminate fear. This study investigates the representation of minimalism and maximalism in a vast corpus of English-language articles. The research addresses two questions: 1) How are the representations of lifestyles expressed in the most popular articles related to minimalism and maximalism? 2) What meanings do these representations convey? The findings of this study shed light on the discourse surrounding minimalism and maximalism, as well as the motivations and justifications for adopting these lifestyles.

Campaigning for European and National Elections

Delia Cristina Balaban — 2025-08-20

National elections – or “first-order elections” (FOEs) – are regularly the focus of research studying election campaigns, whereas supranational elections are often handled as “second-order elections” (SOEs). Social media tend to normalize existing power relationship and equalizing political competition during election. This paper analyzes political campaigns on Facebook during the European Parliament (EP) elections 2019 and the national elections held between 2020 and 2022 in Germany, Hungary, and Romania. From a cross-country perspective, the research investigates the volume of campaign content conducted on Facebook during the EP and the national elections. Results of a manual content analysis of (N=5934) posts of 20 political parties that gained seats in the EP and national parliaments suggest that Facebook contributes to equalizing political communication. However, the prevalent topics of the campaigns vary considerably across countries. Our research contributes to the discussion on normalization and equalization theses and addresses FOEs and SOEs from a comparative perspective.

To Be or Not to Be

Mariana Kitsa — 2025-08-20

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon known as the United Television Marathon (Telethon), which was launched after the beginning of the 2022 fullscale invasion of Russia into Ukraine. Ukraine’s leading nationwide TV channels joined together to inform citizens about events in the country—24/7—around the clock. However, despite the apparent advantages of such a phenomenon, the United Telethon has also been a subject of criticism due to noncompliance with journalistic standards and engagement. In our article, we analyzed the content of the telethon during the most significant events that took place in the Autumn of 2022. For the study, we chose separate slots for all the Ukrainian TV channels involved in the production of the television marathon. The subject of the study concerned the approaches to inviting guests to the audiovisual recording studios of the channels, the indicators (in percentage ratio) regarding specific categories of guests, the tendency of invitations to the guest studios of speakers from political parties, state organizations, and independent experts. The next stage was the analysis of the uniqueness and importance of the information broadcast on the telethon air. To find out how often Ukrainian media refer to information from the telethon as a primary source, we conducted a content analysis of Ukrainian online media regarding the sources of information they refer to in their materials.

Journalism and Populism

Magnus Tomas Kėvišas — 2025-08-20

Populism is defined by its perception and is used by discussants in political debates, and by commentators and academic observers when they intend to unmask or disqualify certain propositions, political attitudes, campaign platforms or manifestos of political parties. Although Lithuania’s media elites’ perceptions of populism matter because their filtering of contents impacts on public opinion, research has not investigated the topic. This study is based on the findings of a questionnaire and a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with selected Lithuanian media elites. The study reveals a pronounced divergence from the negative views of populism of large urban and regional newspapers, to the ambivalent views of local newspapers. The study speculates the use of contrasting reader-feedback mechanisms may be the cause of the divide. The study places the findings within the broader context of information methodology practices in the press in both Lithuania and other countries.

Unpacking Presidential Decisions to Use Force

Marta Kobylska — 2025-08-20

This article investigates the rhetoric of the enemy in former President William J. Clinton’s justifications for the use of force. It examines the links between two themes from the perspective of David Zarefsky’s persuasive definitions. The former President’s responses to international conflicts demonstrate that the enemy drives presidential military decisions. Clinton’s rhetoric shows that the descriptions of the enemy differ between presidential announcements of airstrikes and presidential statements of commitment of USA ground troops to the fight overseas. Content analysis of Clinton’s speeches regarding the use of force in Somalia, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, and Kosovo demonstrates these claims and indicates the role of language in the former President’s effort to lead the American public on the use of force in post-Cold War foreign policy.

Diversity for Sale?

Gianina Vulpe — 2025-08-20

In a region haunted by grave geopolitical tensions, Moldova’s nation branding is an overlooked research topic, despite the country’s long-standing self-promotion efforts. Addressing this gap, our article presents a critical discourse analysis of strategies undertaken by Invest Moldova Agency, the governmental institution in charge of Moldova’s brand communication. Here, beyond a traditional post-socialist melange of market-oriented and globalist discourse, we find a strategy to build a consistent self-image in high internal diversity. Although the presence of the separatist pro-Russian region of Transnistria disrupts the consistency of the image of Moldova as “transition society”, it also encourages the promoters to rethink the Soviet legacy. The article contributes to understanding commercial nationalism as a framework for managing political and cultural heterogeneity through commodification.

A Descriptive Inquiry of the PR Professionals in the Czech Republic

Markéta Kaclová — 2025-08-20

The paper addresses the scarcity of demographic data in the Czech PR market, aiming to inform both academic research and industry management. Drawing from established European surveys, the cross-sectional quantitative study from late 2022 responded by PR practitioners with diverse organization background investigates the composition of the Czech PR workforce, their gender distribution, levels of experience, ongoing education pursuits, and job roles. While estimating the total number of PR professionals remains challenging, 463 online survey respondents suggest a substantial presence. The average age aligns with global trends, with most professionals transitioning from the media industry and finding the quarter of the professionals, those youngest, starting directly in PR. Despite a high percentage of university graduates, a significant proportion abstains from further education, possibly due to time constraints or differing perceptions of continuing education. Notably, media relations remained the primary focus, followed closely by communication strategy development and copywriting.

Doing Privacy

Jakub Nowak — 2025-08-20

Acknowledging the notoriously ‘incomplete’ nature of privacy has little effect on the considerable expectations the notion implies. Self-determined privacy points to reflexivity, critical practice and tech literacy. While privacy scholarship illustrates those points and explains how agents constantly fail in meeting these expectations, we ask the inverse question. What are the limits of privacy? Interviewing Polish and German activists who engage in privacy-conscious social and professional relations, this qualitative study strives to understand how self-determined privacy is realized. Focusing on how individuals shape their privacies as social agents, including the motivations and contexts of their practices, our insights serve as a case study highlighting the challenges of realizing the everyday endeavor of privacy in datafied environments.

Rafał Leśniczak, Wizerunek prezydenta Andrzeja Dudy na łamach „Tygodnika Powszechnego” (2015-2020)

Tadeusz Kononiuk — 2025-08-20

Adam Szynol, Through the eyes of the chiefs. Regional press from the perspective of its (former) editors

Paweł Kuca — 2025-08-20

Counter Review - Ján Višňovský, Juliána Mináriková, Miroslav Kapec, Slovenský mediálny priemysel (Slovak Media Industry)

Andrej Školkay — 2025-08-20

Editors' Introduction

Agnieszka Stępińska — 2025-08-20

Ewa Nowak-Teter Wins the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024

Dagmara Sidyk-Furman — 2025-08-20

The 10th ECREA Conference “Communication & social (dis)order”

Agnieszka Stępińska — 2025-08-20

Through the Lens of the Media: Media Logic, Fear, AI

Norbert Merkovity — 2025-08-20