Our partners from the Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies (CMC) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the University of Klagenfurt (AAU) presented a paper at this year’s REZFO 2026 – Annual conference of the section “Reception and Effects Research” within the German Commnication Association (DGPuK), University of Klagenfurt, Austria.

They presented central findings from the DIACOMET project under the title “Ambivalenzen öffentlicher Kommunikation: Exklusionsmechanismen und Partizipationspotenziale in hybriden Kommunikationsräumen” (“Ambivalences of public communication: Mechanisms of exclusion and potential for participation in hybrid communication spaces”).

Their contribution explored how hybrid communication environments can both restrict and enable public participation, highlighting the structural and discursive tensions that shape contemporary public communication.