News
Reports, Publications, Projects, Blog Posts & Podcasts from the Institute
Christian Ollig Wins German Study Prize
Christian Ollig receives the first prize of €25,000 in the Humanities and Cultural Sciences section of the Körber Foundation's 2025 German Study Prize. In his doctoral thesis on media law, written at the Universität Hamburg and the HBI, he used the EU's Digital Services Act to examine how people can enforce their fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, on online platforms.
Now also on Bluesky!
You can now find us on Bluesky at bredowinstitut.bsky.social. We like Bluesky because it is based on a decentralized protocol, which enables a federated architecture. Many of our friends and stakeholders are already on Bluesky, and the platform is growing. We would love to see you on Bluesky and connect with you there!
DSA Enforcement by the EU Commission
The problematic role of the European Commission in enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA) and possible alternatives are the focus of a blog post published by Jan-Ole Harfst, Dr. Tobias Mast, and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz on 16 July 2025 on the Verfassungblog.
Community Data Trust for Sensitive Data
Jan Rau, Moritz Fürneisen, and Gregor Wiedemann co-developed the concept of community data stewardship to facilitate the collaborative creation and utilization of sensitive data in communication science. By using the example of research into right-wing extremist online communication, they demonstrate how community data stewardship can be structured.
On the Public Value of Public Service Media
"What Can Audience Research findings tell us about the public value of public service media?" This question explored by Prof. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink and PD Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt, who published their insights in the issue 2/2024 of the journal UFITA.
Christian Ollig Nominated for German Study Prize
As one of 31 doctoral graduates from 687 submissions, Dr. Christian Ollig has been nominated for the German Study Prize awarded by the Körber Foundation. On 2 July 2025, he presented his work in the final round in Berlin.
Climate-Unfriendly Communication on Social Media
Philipp Kessling and Fiete Stegers were guests on the podcast “Hungry Minds. ” They talked with Ronja Ebeling about disinformation narratives in climate discourse on social media, the findings of the NOTORIOUS longitudinal study, “Destructive Discourses,” and whether Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter will affect the spread of climate-related misinformation on the platform.
From European Concert to Brussels’ Solo?
Regulatory complexity in Europe has reached its limits. A new, coherent, and sustainable legal framework is needed that protects diversity, enables innovation, and ensures democratic public discourse. TIDE's recording of the 15th Hamburg Media Symposium is now online.
We Celebrate 75 Years of Media Research!
With numerous guests from the fields of science, politics, culture, and media, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) on June 17 and 18, 2025. Since 1950, the institute has been researching the development of media communication and its impact on society – in an interdisciplinary, practice-oriented manner and considering the democratic foundations of public communication.
Event dates
Harmonizing AI with Democracies
30. July 2025In the “Digitaler Salon” event series hosted by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), the question of how digital transformation can be shaped in such a way that our democratic principles do not fall by the wayside will be explored starting at 7 p.m.
Universe of Media Education
19. September 2025Dr. Claudia Lampert will speak about the challenges of media education at this year's Universe of Media Education. The one-and-a-half-day event is themed "Back to the Future: Media Education for Today's Challenges."
#LeibnizMediaLunchTalk
Fighting the Fortress with Arrows.
Civil Enforceability of Due Diligence Obligations for Large Online Services
7. October 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).
Digitalisation Research and Network Meeting 2025
6. November 2025The DigiMeet 2025 digitisation research and network meeting will take place online in November this year. It will focus on the topic of “Platform Governance & Power”. Doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers are invited to present their work. The submission deadline is 31 July 2025.