News
Reports, Publications, Projects, Blog Posts & Podcasts from the Institute
Do We Still Need Public Broadcasting?
Jan-Hinrik Schmidt is a guest on the science podcast ‘Tonspur Wissen’ by Rheinische Post and Leibniz Association, where he talks with host Ursula Weidenfeld about the findings of the recently published cohesion study by ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio.
Challenges Faced by Public Service Broadcasting
ARD is celebrating its 75th anniversary and looking back on the past and ahead to the future in the program "DAS! Rote Sofa" with ARD Chairman and hr Director Florian Hager. In a film clip, media historian Dr Hans-Ulrich Wagner illustrates the challenges that have shaped public broadcasting, and continue to do so today.
Congratulations, Azade Kakavand!
We are delighted for Azade Kakavand! On September 19, she successfully defended her dissertation, "Technology Affordances, Social Media Platforms, and the Networked Far Right," at the University of Vienna. Prof. Dr. Annie Waldherr and Prof. Dr. Nicola Righetti supervised the dissertation. Dr. Eva Mayerhöffer and Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt served as the examiners.
Social Media: Harmful Enough to Require a Minimum Age?
Stephan Dreyer was a guest on the ARD podcast Die Justizreporter*innen, where he discussed social media bans for children and young people with reporters Egzona Hyseni and Philip Raillon. He warns against disproportionate interventions and emphasizes the ambivalent role of parents and the danger of negative side effects.
Social Cohesion and the Role of Public Service Media
ARD, ZDF, and Deutschlandradio—with scientific advice from Jan-Hinrik Schmidt—conducted a study to examine how the population perceives social cohesion and what role public broadcasters play in this. One finding was that more than half of respondents see them as making an important contribution to cohesion.
Claudia Lampert Appointed to Expert Commission
Dr. Claudia Lampert will be part of the expert commission appointed by the German federal government to examine the steps necessary for effective protection of children and young people in the media.
Glossary Entry on “Social Bots”
Dr. Gregor Wiedemann wrote a glossary entry on “social bots” for Diskursmonitor, a collaborative online platform that aims to educate and document strategic communication. This topic is marked by major controversy in academia, some of which has played out in public.
Diversity, Intersectionality, and Gender in Journalism
The third issue of M&K in 2025 is a special edition on "Diversity, Intersectionality, and Gender in Journalism," edited by Margreth Lünenborg, Ana-Nzinga Weiß, Yener Bayramoğlu, and Bernadette Uth. The nine articles are available open access on the Nomos eLibrary.
Positioning and Presentation of Articles in News Aggregators
In the study “Nudges for News Recommenders,” Dr. Nicolas Mattis, Lucien Heitz, Dr. Philipp K. Masur, Prof. Dr. Judith Möller, and Prof. Dr. Wouter van Atteveldt examine how the placement and presentation of environmental news in news aggregators can influence user behavior.
Event dates
Metaphor Analysis of the Meta-Journalistic Discourse on AI
23. October 2025Antonia Eichenauer will give a presentation entitled "It Could Be Different: Metaphor Analysis of Metajournalistic Discourse about AI” at the anniversary conference of the Center for Media, Communication, and Information Research (ZeMKI), “20 Years into the Future: What Is Our Vision of Media, Data, and Society?"
Digitalisation Research and Network Meeting 2025
6. November 2025The DigiMeet 2025 digitisation research and network meeting takes place online this year. It focuses on the topic of “Platform Governance & Power”. The interdisciplinary event aims to provide a forum for young researchers focusing on digitalization.
#LeibnizMediaLunchTalk
Fighting the Fortress with Arrows.
Civil Enforceability of Due Diligence Obligations for Large Online Services
11. November 2025
We welcome Dr. Katharina Wunner from the University of Bayreuth to this Leibniz Media Lunch Talk. She will speak about the civil enforceability of due diligence obligations for very large online services under Article 54 of the Digital Services Act (DSA).