Funktionen von Unsicherheitsthematisierungen in journalistischen Medien

Abstract

Theoretical and methodological approaches of discourse analysis in the wake of Foucault
focus on how knowledge is constituted in discourses. They are therefore well suited for
investigating the epistemic status of knowledge, and thus also uncertain knowledge and ignorance.
However, discourse research does not offer specialized analytical approaches to media discourses
with their specific boundary conditions and inherent logics, while at the same time in
practice many analyses deal with media products. Some writers even bemoan a “media oblivion”
in discourse theory. This article aims to demonstrate how theoretical approaches in communication
studies can help to specify the role of journalists as discourse producers and participants,
as well as journalistic production principles. In the empirical part of the article, the scientifically
ambiguous knowledge about burnout is used as an example to show ten discursive-communicative
functions that the thematization of epistemic uncertainty can have in journalistic articles.