Prof. Knüpfer is Associate Professor of Political Communication at the Digital Democracy Center of the University of Southern Denmark.

Summer Semester 2024

Lecturer, Master Course: Political Communication and Public Sphere, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Political Systems and Media Regimes, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/ IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin.

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: B.A. Colloquium Economics/History/Politics/Sociology, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin.

Winter Semester 2023/24

on research leave

Summer Semester 2023

Lecturer, Master Course: Analyzing Right-Wing Media Content, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Political Communication in the US: An Introduction, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin.

Winter Semester 2022/23

Lecturer, Master Course: Content Analytical Research Methods & Climate Change Communication, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/ IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Democracy, Disinformation, and Deception, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin.

Summer Semester 2022

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Political Communication in the US: An Introduction, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin.

Winter Semester 2021/22

-on parental leave-

Summer Semester 2021

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Political Systems and Media Regimes, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin.

Lecturer, Master Course: Political Communication and the American Public Sphere, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/ IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin

Winter Semester 2020/21

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Democracy, Disinformation and Deception, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin.

Lecturer, Master Course: Theories of Press-State Relations and Content Analytical Research Methods, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute/ IfPuK, Freie Universität Berlin

Summer Semester 2020

Lecturer, Bachelor Course: Political Systems and Media Regimes, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin

Lecturer, Master Course: Fictions and Metaphors of Truth, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin.

Winter Semester 2019/20

Lecturer, Master Course: Mediated Information and Political Deliberation Processes, Political Science, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin

Lecturer, lecture series: Popular Culture, Media and Politics in the U.S, Political Science. John F. Kennedy-Instituet, Freie Universität Berlin

Research Areas

• US media systems
• Political communication
• Frame contestation
• Right-wing alternative media
• Digital public sphere
• Transnational publics

ResearchGate Profile

Books / Theses

Knüpfer, C. B. (2015). Right-wing realities? News media fragmentation, conservatism, and the framing of U.S. foreign policy (microfiche) [Doctoral dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin]. http://d-nb.info/1074039734

Knüpfer, C. (2010). Ideen, die die Welt verzerren: Das Machtstreben der US-amerikanischen Neokonservativen seit 1989. (Publication of M.A. thesis on the neoconservative movement and U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War). Tectum Verlag, Marburg.

Journal articles

Knüpfer, C. and Hoffmann, M. (2024) ‘Countering the “Climate Cult” – Framing Cascades in Far-Right Digital Networks’, Political Communication, pp. 1–23. doi: 10.1080/10584609.2024.2332762.

Knüpfer, C. B., Schwemmer, C., & Heft, A. (2023). Politicization and Right-Wing Normalization on YouTube: A Topic-Based Analysis of the “Alternative Influence Network". International Journal of Communication. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20369/4381

Cowburn, M., & Knüpfer, C. B. (2023). The emerging fault line of alternative news: Intra-party division in Republican representatives’ media engagement. Party Politics, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688231157

Klinger, U., Lance Bennett, W., Knüpfer, C. B., Martini, F., & Zhang, X. (2022). From the fringes into mainstream politics: intermediary networks and movement-party coordination of a global anti-immigration campaign in Germany. Information, Communication & Society, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2050415

Heft, A., Knüpfer, C. B., Reinhardt, S., Mayerhöffer, E. (2020). Toward a transnational information ecology on the right? Hyperlink networking among right-wing digital news sites in Europe and the United States. The International Journal of Press/Politics. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1940161220963670

Knüpfer, C. B., Hoffmann, M. & Voskresenskii, V. (2020). Hijacking MeToo: Transnational dynamics and networked frame contestation on the far right in the case of the ‘120 decibels' campaign. Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1822904

Heft, A., Mayerhöffer, E., Reinhardt, S., & Knüpfer, C. B. (2019). Beyond Breitbart: Comparing right‐wing digital news infrastructures in six Western democracies. Policy & Internet. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.219

Bahador, B., Entman, R., & Knüpfer, C. B. (2019). Who’s elite and how the answer matters to politics. Political Communication (The Forum). https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2018.1548412

Knüpfer, C. B., & Entman, R. M. (2018). Framing conflicts in digital and transnational media environments. Media, War & Conflict, 11(4): 476–488. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635218796381

Knüpfer, C. B. (2018). Diverging projections of reality: Amplified frame competition via distinct modes of journalistic production. Journalism Studies, 9(4), 594-611.

Bennett, W. L., Segerberg, A., & Knüpfer, C. B. (2018). The democratic interface: Technology, political organization, and diverging patterns of electoral representation. Information, Communication & Society, 21(11), 1655-1680.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2016). Words left unspoken: The external forces shaping online discourse. American Studies Journal, 61. https://doi.org/10.18422/61-07

Book chapters

Knüpfer C. B., Pfetsch B., Heft A. (2020). Demokratischer Wandel, dissonante Öffentlichkeit und die Herausforderungen vernetzter Kommunikationsumgebungen. In: M. Oswald & I. Borucki (Eds.), Demokratietheorie im Zeitalter der Frühdigitalisierung (pp. 83-101). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2020). Technological innovation and bottom-up democracy – Acknowledging the crises and re-affirming the research agenda. In: I. Brittner, S.N. Meyer. & P. Schneck (Eds.), We the People? The United States and the Question of Rights (pp. 105-121). Winter Verlag, Heidelberg.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2020). Fragmentierung vs. Konsolidierung? Der digitale Strukturwandel im Mediensystem der USA und seine Auswirkungen auf die Politik. In: F. Böller, C. Haas, S. Hagemann, D. Sirakov, & S. Wagner (Eds.), Donald Trump und die Politik in den USA: Eine Zwischenbilanz (pp. 155–174). Nomos, Baden-Baden.

Pfetsch, B., Heft, A., & Knüpfer C. B. (2019). Transnationale Öffentlichkeiten in der Digitalen Gesellschaft: Konzepte und Forschungsperspektiven. In: J. Hofmann, et al. (Eds.), Politik in der digitalen Gesellschaft (pp. 83–101). Bielefeld, S.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2019). Die Medien in den USA. In C. Lammert, M. Siewert, & B. Vormann (Eds.), Handbuch Politik USA (pp. 1–16). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04125-0_20-2

Knüpfer, C. B. (2018). Trump als Medieneffekt: Der US Wahlkampf 2016, digitale Medien und das ‚vierte Zeitalter‘ der politischen Kommunikation. In W. Gellner & M. Oswald (Eds.), Die gespaltenen Staaten von Amerika: Die Wahl Donald Trumps und die Folgen für Politik und Gesellschaft (pp. 123–139). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-19923-4_6

Knüpfer, C. B. (2015). Die Medien in den USA: Vierte Gewalt oder politischer Akteur? In: C. Lammert, B. Vormann, & M. Siewert (Eds.), Handbuch Politik USA. Springer Verlag, Wiesbaden

Research reports & Working papers

Knüpfer, C. B. (2020). How right-wing alternative news sites in the U.S. depict Antifa. (Working paper, Weizenbaum Series, 8). Berlin: Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society - The German Internet Institute. https://doi.org/10.34669/wi.ws/8

Knüpfer, C. B. (2017). Nach der US-Wahl: Handlungsspielräume der deutsch-amerikanischen Kulturbeziehungen. (ifa-Edition Kultur und Außenpolitik). Stuttgart: ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen). https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-54691-4

Knüpfer, C. B. (2016). More money – more problems: The 2016 presidential election and the media. (Atlantische Themen 5/2016). Atlantische Akademie. https://www.atlantische-akademie.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/At-Themen/AT-5-2016/AA-R2E-No5.pdf

Research based articles & op-eds

Knüpfer, C. B. (2023, November 29). What is the Relationship of Digitalisation, Social Media, and the Liberal Script? SCRIPTS Arguments, 7(19). https://www.scripts-berlin.eu/publications/arguments/Digitalisation/Digitalisation_Knuepfer/index.html

Knüpfer, C. B., Entman, R. M. (2020, September 28). Fox News uses the word ‘hate’ much more than MSNBC or CNN. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/fox-news-uses-the-word-hate-much-more-than-msnbc-or-cnn-145983.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2020, June 24). Right-wing websites are demonizing ‘antifa.’ Here’s how they portray the threat. The Washington Post -- Monkey Cage. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/24/right-wing-websites-are-demonizing-antifa-heres-how-they-portray-threat/

Knüpfer, Curd B. (2019). Schneller, lauter, schriller. (Weizenbaum Institut Jahresbericht 2018-19, pp. 62-65). Weizenbaum Institut. https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/news/schneller-lauter-schriller/

Knüpfer, C. B. (2017, August 08). Selective perception: Explaining political communication under Trump. (Spotlight). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. www.fesdc.org/news-list/e/selective-perception-explaining-political-communication-under-trump/.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2015, October 07). Rechenkraft und Zweifel: Die Resistenz der digitalen Fehlinformation. Netzpolitik.org. https://netzpolitik.org/2015/rechenkraft-und-zweifel-die-resistenz-der-digitalen-fehlinformation/

Knüpfer, C. B. (2014). Counting on the American public to be informed on the TTIP/TAFTA talks? Don’t hold your breath. In: D. Cardoso, P. Mthembu, M. Venhaus, & M. Verde Garrido (Eds.) The Transatlantic Colossus: Global contributions to broaden the debate on the EU-US free trade agreement. Berlin.

Knüpfer, C. B. (2013, December 12). Dealing with a nuclear Iran: Focusing on ‘known unknowns’ (still) makes for poor policy. Atlantic-Community.org.