Dr. Niels G. Mede

Science Communication Researcher

Literate and critical? Characterizing users of alternative scientific media


Journal article


Lena Zils, Florian Wintterlin, Julia Metag, Niels G. Mede, Mike S. Schäfer
Science Communication, 2025


Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
Zils, L., Wintterlin, F., Metag, J., Mede, N. G., & Schäfer, M. S. (2025). Literate and critical? Characterizing users of alternative scientific media. Science Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470251323525


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Zils, Lena, Florian Wintterlin, Julia Metag, Niels G. Mede, and Mike S. Schäfer. “Literate and Critical? Characterizing Users of Alternative Scientific Media.” Science Communication (2025).


MLA   Click to copy
Zils, Lena, et al. “Literate and Critical? Characterizing Users of Alternative Scientific Media.” Science Communication, 2025, doi:10.1177/10755470251323525.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{zils2025a,
  title = {Literate and critical? Characterizing users of alternative scientific media},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Science Communication},
  doi = {10.1177/10755470251323525},
  author = {Zils, Lena and Wintterlin, Florian and Metag, Julia and Mede, Niels G. and Schäfer, Mike S.}
}

Science is of crucial importance in contemporary societies. Concurrently, legacy news media outlets are losing their position as the main fora for discussing and providing information on science and politics. In the hybrid media system, a broader range of news media have emerged. Among them are alternative news media, which position themselves as corrective voices to “mainstream” news media—including when it comes to reporting on science. In this context, our focus is on individuals who come into contact with science-related information via alternative news media. We draw on the “Science Barometer Switzerland,” a nationally representative online survey of attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about science and research in Switzerland conducted in 2022 (n = 1,122), to investigate science- and media-related predictors of the use of alternative news media to access information about science. Our results indicate that the clear majority—more than two-thirds—of the Swiss population do not use alternative news media as sources of science-related information. Respondents who do use alternative news media were more confident about their scientific and media literacy and viewed themselves as information elites who are highly skeptical of established societal elites. However, they do not seem to reject the scientific system in principle.