Arista Beseler

Research Associate and PhD Student

Room HK14c 411
Dr.-Hans-Kapfinger-Str. 14c
94032 Passau

Phone: +49(0)851/509-3914

Since October 2020

Research Associate and Doctoral Student at the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region within the ERC Consolidator Grant Research Group: The Consequences of the Internet for Russia's Informational Influence Abroad (RUSINFORM) with Prof. Dr. Florian Töpfl at the University of Passau

October 2020 to September 2023

Teaching and Research Associate at the Chair of Science Communication with Prof. Dr. Hannah Schmid-Petri at the University of Passau

April 2020 to September 2020

Research Assistant at the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region within the ERC Consolidator Grant Research Group: The Consequences of the Internet for Russia's Informational Influence Abroad (RUSINFORM) with Dr. Florian Töpfl at the University of Passau
Research Assistant at the Chair of Science Communication with Prof. Dr. Hannah Schmid-Petri at the University of Passau

June 2019 to March 2020

Student Assistant at the Chair of Science Communication with Prof. Dr. Hannah Schmid-Petri at the University of Passau

2018 to 2020

Master's studies of Media and Communication at the University of Passau. Degree: Master of Arts. Master's thesis: Themen und Publikumsreaktionen im russischen Auslandsmedium RT Deutsch. Eine explorative, computergestützte Analyse der Berichterstattung auf Facebook

2015 to 2018

Bachelor's studies of Media and Communication at the University of Passau. Degree: Bachelor of Arts. Bachelor's thesis: YouTube als Kommunikationsplattform für die öffentliche Impfdiskussion. Eine quantitative Inhaltsanalyse deutschsprachiger YouTube-Videos

Toepfl, F. & Beseler, A. (2024). Wie die Herrschaftselite Russlands den Krieg kommuniziert – „Strategische Regierungskommunikation“ in einer personalistischen Autokratie. In M. Löffelholz, K. Schleicher & C. Trippe (Ed.), Krieg der Narrative: Russland, die Ukraine und der Westen (pp. 33-46). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111331508-003
Kravets, D., Beseler, A., Toepfl, F., & Ryzhova, A. (2024). The Kremlin-Controlled Search Engine Yandex as a Tool of Foreign Propaganda. Russian Analytical Digest, 313, 11–15. https://css.ethz.ch/en/publications/rad/rad-all-issues-and-articles/details.html?id=/n/o/3/1/no_313_russian_foreign_propaganda_in_occ
Beseler, A., & Toepfl, F. (2024). Conduits of the Kremlin's Informational Influence Abroad? How German-Language Alternative Media Outlets Are Connected to Russia's Ruling Elites. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241230284

Beseler, A., Schwind, M., Schmid-Petri, H., & Klimmt, C. (2023). Beyond the Freebie Mentality: A News User Typology of Reasonings About Paying for Online Content. Journalism Practice, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2023.2178025
Glazunova, S., Ryzhova, A., Bruns, A., Montaña-Niño, S. X., Beseler, A., & Dehghan, E. (2023). A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media. Internet Policy Review, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.14763/2023.2.1711
Toepfl, F., Kravets, D., Ryzhova, A., & Beseler, A. (2023). Who are the plotters behind the pandemic? Comparing Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Google search results across five key target countries of Russia’s foreign communication. Information, Communication & Society, 0(0), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2065213
Kravets, D., Ryzhova, A., Toepfl, F., & Beseler, A. (2023). Different platforms, different plots? The Kremlin-controlled search engine Yandex as a resource for Russia’s informational influence in Belarus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journalism. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849231157845
Toepfl, F., Ryzhova, A., Kravets, D., & Beseler, A. (2023). Googling in Russian Abroad: How Kremlin-Affiliated Websites Contribute to the Visibility of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories in Search Results. International Journal Of Communication, 17, 1126–1146.
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/19423/4042

Toepfl, F., Kravets, D., Ryzhova, A., & Beseler, A. (2022). Who are the plotters behind the pandemic? Comparing Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Google search results across five key target countries of Russia’s foreign communication. Information, Communication & Society, 0(0), 1-19.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2065213
Schmid-Petri, H., Bienzeisler, N. & Beseler, A. (2022). Effects of politicization on the practice of science. In T. Bolsen & R. Palm (Eds.), Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science - Molecular Biology and Clinical Medicine in the Age of Politicization (pp. 45-64). Cambridge, MA: Elsevier.

Beseler, A. B., & Schmid-Petri, H. (2020). Schutz durch Impfungen versus potentielle Risiken? Die Diskussion über das Thema „Impfen und Impfungen“ in deutschsprachigen YouTube-Videos. Medien und Kommunikationswissenschaft, 68(4), 428-446.

2023

Beseler, A., & Töpfl, F. (2023). Channels for the Kremlin's information influence abroad? How German-language alternative media are linked to Russia's ruling elites (in German). Presentation at the 2nd Science Conference of the German domestic intelligence services (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz). 05-06 September, Berlin.
Glazunova, S., Ryzhova, A., Bruns, A., Montaña-Niño, S., Beseler, A., & Dehghan, E. (2023). Deplatforming RT and Sputnik during the Russia-Ukraine war: A policy implementation audit in 10 countries. Presentation at the annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), 25- 29 May, Toronto, Canada.

Beseler, A. B., Schwind, M., Schmid-Petri, H., & Klimmt, C. (2022). Beyond the freebie mentality: A news user typology of reasonings about paying for online content. Presentation at the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), 26th to 30th of May, Paris.
Schmid-Petri, H., Bienzeisler, N., & Beseler, A. B. (2022). A Conceptualization of Politicization in the Context of Environmental Communication. Presentation at the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), 26th to 30th of May, Paris.
Toepfl, F., Ryzhova, A., Kravets, D., & Beseler, A. B. (2022). How misinformation as accessed through Google varies with input language and geolocation: A comparison of Covid-19 conspiracy narratives retrieved from five countries in response to Russian- versus English-language queries. Presentation at the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), 26th to 30th of May, Paris.
Beseler, A. (2022). Die Interaktion mit russischen Auslandsmedien online: das aktive Publikum von RT DE. PhD Workshop Video Presentation at the 67th Annual Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), 22nd to 24th of February, online.

Beseler, A. & Schmid-Petri, H. (2020). "Impfen, nein danke?" – Die Diskussion über das Thema "Impfen und Impfungen" auf YouTube. Presentation at the 65th Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), 10th to 12th of March, Munich.