Smita Bhattacharya, M.Sc.

Junior Researcher Computational Social Science

Smita Bhattacharya joined the Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) in June 2025 as a junior researcher in the project “Communicative AI and Deliberative Quality” led by Dr. Gregor Wiedemann.

Smita Bhattacharya holds a bachelor’s degree in information technology and worked as a data analyst for three years. After that, she studied data science and artificial intelligence at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Saarland University.

She completed her master’s thesis on “Identifying skills in Constructed Responses with Explainable NLP models” under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hendrik Drachsler and Prof. Dr. Vera Demberg.

During her studies, she also worked in different applications of NLP as a Graduate Research Assistant at Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Fraunhofer IAIS and University of Hildesheim.

Contact information

Smita Bhattacharya, M.Sc.

Junior Researcher Computational Social Science

Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut
Rothenbaumchaussee 36
20148 Hamburg
Germany

+49 (0)40 45 02 17 28
s.bhattacharya@leibniz-hbi.de

Last update: 04.06.2025

Works by Smita Bhattacharya, M.Sc.

HBI 75: Founding History

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.

Recently Published

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.

Research Project on Misinformation and Disinformation

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.

The most comprehensive HBI publication ever!

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.

Brief Expert Opinion

State Treaty on the Reform of the Procedure for Setting the Broadcasting License Fee

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz and Dr. Tobias Mast have provided their expert opinion on the State Treaty on the Reform of the Procedure for Setting the Broadcasting Fee (RFinÄStV). At the end of 2004, the federal states had decided to separate the pillars of the reform of public broadcasting and to adopt the draft reform first and to continue the process of reforming the procedure for setting the licence fee separately.

Cover of the first volume of the EU publication series

The Protection of Freedom of Expression in the Digital Services Act

The publication "Der Schutz der Meinungsäusserungsfreiheit im Digital Services Act" [The Protection of Freedom of Expression in the Digital Services Act], to which Matthias C. Kettemann contributed significantly, is the first in a series of KommAustria publications on the DSA, which are intended to provide a basis for understanding the DSA and contribute to a more differentiated discussion.

Project Findings Available for Download

Between Curiosity and Skepticism: Use and Perception of Generative AI for Information Search in Germany

The research project "Generative Artificial Intelligence for Information Navigation", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), investigated to what extent, for what purposes and for what reasons the German population uses generative artificial intelligence in applications such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini. The findings can be downloaded as a working paper.

Cover of the 6/2025 issue of the New Journal of Administrative Law.

Article in Journal for Administrative Law

Trusted Flaggers Are Not Authorized Agents!

In the current issue of the Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht, Tobias Mast challenges the increasingly prominent view in legal literature that trusted flaggers under Art. 22 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) are public authorities in the sense of German administrative law.

Education Study in Media Perspektiven

The Population’s View of ZDF’s Educational Function

A study on the educational mandate of the ZDF has for the first time examined the population's educational expectations and perceptions. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt, Uwe Hasebrink and Dieter Storll were involved in an advisory capacity in the design and evaluation of the study and have presented the core findings in detail in an article.

Auf schwarz-weißem Schachbrett stehen sich weiße und schwarze Figuren gegenüber

DAAD cooperation project

Mapping Polarization in News Media Content

How are polarizing topics reported in Germany and Australia – and does this reporting contribute to the polarization of political attitudes? The project examines how news content in both countries differs in its coverage of controversial issues – and whether this reporting contains potentially polarizing elements.

Cover of the Handbook Digital Journalism

Recently Published

Handbook of Digital Journalism

The second edition of the Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies offers a collection of 54 essays addressing current issues and debates in the field of digital journalism studies, including two articles by Julius Reimer / Wiebke Loosen and Lisa Merten.

Cover von Heft 1/2025 der Zeitschrift M&K

Available Open Access

Issue 1/2025 of M&K Published

Issue 1/2025 of our journal Media & Communication Studies (M&K) has been published, including articles on journalism in Germany in 2023, on the role of Google and YouTube in the dissemination of conspiracy theories, and on journalistic role expectations and ideals of social coexistence in the German population. All content can be downloaded for free from the Nomos eLibrary.

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