Research Unit Media Use and Media History

Information

The professorship was established as part of a Heisenberg grant by the German Research Foundation and is dedicated to research on media use and media history (including research and teaching on the history of communication research as a discipline).

In the area of research on media use, the main focus is on how media are used and the (individual and structural) consequences of media use. We consider both informative and entertaining media use, classic and digital media.

In the field of media and communication history, the focus is on the contemporary history of political communication. Theories of media and communicative change as well as the history of communication theories are also of central interest.

We also conduct research into current political communication. The focus here is on analyzing the relationship between right-wing populism and extremism and the media. We are also interested in how politically relevant, controversial truth claims are presented in the public sphere (e.g., in relation to climate protection) and how religious and spiritual communities communicate publicly.

In research and teaching at the department, we focus not only on innovative methods, but also on systematic theory development in order to conduct original and relevant basic research. We always select research topics with a view to the social responsibility of science to critically reflect on social structures and developments.

Research Projects