News
Reports, Publications, Projects, Blog Posts & Podcasts from the Institute
German Findings of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Trust in the news remains high in Germany. 45% of the adult online population believes that most news is generally trustworthy. At the same time, the majority of respondents believe that news produced by humans is more trustworthy than news generated by AI.
From Radio to AI: Hans-Bredow-Institut Celebrates 75 Years of Media Research
The HBI is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a reception hosted by the Senate and a scientific event. Since the institute's founding in 1950, the media landscape has undergone significant changes. Through its research, the institute has kept pace with these changes and contributed to scientific development, as well as to the goal of providing relevant knowledge to politics, regulation, business, and civil society.
New Leibniz Research Network Strengthens Evidence-Based Science Communication
The Leibniz Research Network “Evidence-Based Science Communication” is set to counteract the increasing fragmentation of the research field from June 2025 onwards by strengthening the links between theory and practice. The HBI contributes its expertise in communication science to transfer research, including in the context of health communication.
How the Institute Got Its Name
On May 30, 1950, the Hans Bredow Institute was founded by the former Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation (the predecessor of NDR and WDR) and the University of Hamburg. This blog post describes the history of its founding and explains how the institute got its name.
M&K 2/2025 Special Issue “Media Structures Revisited”
Issue 2/2025 of Media & Communication Science has been published as a special issue entitled “Media Structures Revisited,” edited by Josef Seethaler, Marlis Prinzing, Petra Herczeg, and Mark Eisenegger. The entire issue is available open access via the Nomos eLibrary.
Right-Wing Influence on the Internet
The Research Institute for Social Cohesion has published four blog posts examining the mechanisms, strategies, and platform dynamics that enable the radical right to gain media space, as well as ways to counteract this. Their analyses focus particularly on the TikTok platform.
Congratulations, Leonie Wunderlich!
Leonie Wunderlich has successfully defended her dissertation on “Information-Related Practises of Young People in the Hybrid Media System.” Congratulations, Leonie Wunderlich!
How Close Are Media to Their Audience?
Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen is a media expert and guest on Deutschlandfunk's media podcast “Nach Redaktionsschluss”. What makes this format unique is that listeners choose the topics. This episode focuses on the relationship between journalists and their audience.
Destructive Discourses
The final research report, jointly written as part of the NOTORIOUS research project, looks at how climate-related misinformation and disinformation spreads across different platforms. At the HBI, Philipp Keßling, Dr. Felix Victor Münch, Dr. Gregor Wiedemann, and Mattes Ruckdeschel worked on the report.