Franziska Riel is a freelance Americanist and experienced political communicator with a professional record in academia, public relations, and political institutions. Combining her interests in political communication and American politics, she has focused her research on presidential rhetoric and bipartisan challenges aspiring from the two-party-system. During a research stay in Washington D.C., in the summer of 2018, she engaged with journalists, professors, and media representatives thereby broadening her understanding of the media's portrayal of and subsequent impact on political action. Those insights also informed her master thesis which compared presidential discourses on bipartisanship in news conferences in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama eras, finding a significant pattern of shared bipartisan agendas and grievances. Franziska continues to research the impact of political rhetoric on bipartisanship and transatlantic relations. She holds a master's degree from the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies in Berlin and bachelor's degrees in American studies and international development from the University of Vienna. She is a Salzburg Global Seminar 2020 American Studies Program Fellow.