News
Reports, Publications, Projects, Blog Posts & Podcasts from the Institute
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.
Special Issue of IJPP “Global Myth and Magic around AI”
For a special issue of the International Journal of Press/Politics on “Global Myth and Magic around AI: Enchanted Determinism and Folk Theories in Public Discourses on AI”, the guest editors welcome submissions until 15 June 2025.
DSA DMA Commentary
It is the most extensive publication the HBI has ever produced: the 1600-page commentary on the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), edited by Tobias Mast, Matthias C. Kettemann, Stephan Dreyer and Wolfgang Schulz. In addition to several current and former researchers from the institute, almost 30 other experts from Germany, Austria and Switzerland were recruited for the commentary project.
Event dates
Annual Conference Network Research
14. June 2025At the annual conference of Network Research, Anna von Garmissen presents the latest findings from the largest survey of peripheral media actors in German-speaking countries to date. The study focuses on the self-image, goals, and practices of bloggers, influencers, magazine founders, and NGO communicators.
