Dr. Wiebke Schoon

Head of Science Communication

Wiebke Schoon has been the head of the Science Communication Department at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) since January 2026. Prior to that, she was responsible for the transfer activities at the Hamburg Section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC).

Wiebke Schoon studied Journalism & Communication Studies and Cultural Anthropology at Universität Hamburg. After completing her Master’s degree, she worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies and completed her doctorate at the chair of Prof. Dr. Irene Neverla in the field of globalisation-sensitive journalism research.

Before joining the HBI, she worked as a PR Manager at the Hamburg Media School.

Contact information

Dr. Wiebke Schoon

Head of Science Communication

Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut
Warburgstraße 30b
20354 Hamburg

+49 (0)40 45 02 17 50
w.schoon@leibniz-hbi.de

Social media

Last update: 12.06.2026

Works by Dr. Wiebke Schoon

Blätter und bunte Zettel mit den Ergebnissen der Arbeiten von Gruppe 4, Gruppe 2 usw.

Article on the Media Research Blog

How Politically Empowered Do Young People Feel?

In a current project by Leonie Alatassi, students explore what political participation means to them, how it can be encouraged, and what barriers stand in the way. The first workshops show that many young people are eager to get involved. However, they need not only information, but also concrete support and opportunities to try things out and gain experience.

Brief Report in English

Babies and Toddlers in Monetised Social Media Profiles

Stephan Dreyer, Claudia Lampert, and Kira Thiel published an English summary of their study on babies and toddlers in family-influencing content. They present their findings on how babies and toddlers (ages 0–5) are depicted in German-language, commercially oriented social media profiles on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Published on Beck-online

Freedom of Expression in the Age of AI

In their article in a journal on artificial intelligence and law, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz and Moritz Wiechert analyze the first German case law on automatically generated content. In doing so, they highlight the fundamental challenges facing traditional freedom of expression law in the age of AI.

Recently Published!

Avoiding the News But Still Feeling Connected?

How are different forms of news avoidance related to various types of individual public connection? The article by Julia Behre, Lisa Merten, and Uwe Hasebrink suggests that avoiding the news does not necessarily mean turning away from public life.

Open Access Publication

German Public Broadcasting Corporations in the Age of Streaming Platforms and AI

In her Friedrich Ebert Foundation publication project, Magdalena Stratmann describes how public service broadcasting in Germany addresses the challenge of fulfilling its legal mandate amid drastically changed conditions in the digital information ecosystem.

Historische Aufnahme des HR-Funkhauses am Dornbusch aus den 50ern

Media History Project

The History of the Regional Public Broadcasting Corporation of the Federal State of Hesse in the Postwar Period

In January 2029, the Regional Public Broadcasting Corporation of the Federal State of Hesse (Hessischer Rundfunk) will celebrate its 80th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Dr. Hans-Ulrich Wagner is conducting scholarly research on its origins. His research focuses specifically on corporate history, personnel decisions, and programming policy in the postwar period.

Cover Organizational Research Methods Journal

Open Access Publication!

Argument Mining for Organizational Research

How do organizations justify their decisions, establish legitimacy, and engage with their environment through communication? This article introduces aspect-based argument mining (ABAM) as a new method for answering these questions. ABAM can identify patterns of argumentation in large text corpora, such as the Twitter debate on nuclear energy in Germany.

Cover of the study “Social Cohesion” by Aktion Mensch

Open Access Publication

Social Cohesion – Experiences and Expectations of People with Disabilities Regarding Participation

Jan-Hinrik Schmidt and Milena Braun conducted a study on behalf of Aktion Mensch examining how people with disabilities perceive social cohesion in Germany. The study allows for a comparison with the general population and reveals that, despite being more likely to participate in politics and volunteer work, people with disabilities experience less social cohesion.

Available for Download

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026: Findings for Germany

Since 2012, the Reuters Institute Digital News Survey has conducted annual, representative surveys in 48 countries to examine general trends and national differences in news consumption. As a cooperation partner, the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut is responsible for the German sub-study. The 2026 findings are now available for download.

Personen bei der Diskussionsveranstaltung "Was Deutschland verbindet"

Blog Article on the Dialogue Project "What Unites Germany"

How Conversations with People Who Think Differently Can Make a Difference

On the ARD talk show “What Unites Germany,” people from a wide variety of backgrounds engage in conversation with one another. As part of the project, the HBI is conducting research to determine how these discussions influence the participants’ attitudes. The initial findings are now available.

Recently Published!

Exploring GPT Representation of Journalistic Culture

The study by Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen et al. examines how large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can reflect journalistic value systems. To this end, the GPT-4o model was asked to answer questions from the “Worlds of Journalism Study,” which explores perceptions of journalistic roles, theories of knowledge, and ethical principles.

Recently Published

Visualizing Regulatory Ecosystems: The AI Act as a Case Study

The article by Magdalena Stratmann, Tobias Mast, and others was developed as part of the STEAM project, "Informing Regulatory Reasoning on Algorithmic Systems in Societal Communication with STEAM." It introduces Architectural Ecosystem Modeling, a visual method that makes the institutional structures of the AI Act visible. This method analyzes responsibilities and dependencies and identifies gaps, overlaps, and opportunities for coordination within the regulatory framework.

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