Media Research since 1950
The Hans-Bredow-Institut was founded on 30 May 1950 by the then NWDR (Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation) and the University of Hamburg as a foundation legally responsible under civil law. The Institute was named after Hans Bredow (1879-1959), who had signally promoted the establishment of German broadcasting as State Secretary and Commissioner for Broadcasting in the Ministry of Posts in the Weimar Republic. In 1954, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to the establishment of the German broadcasting’s organisation structures.
The purpose of the Hans-Bredow-Institut as an independent, publically-accountable foundation is to conduct research into media, particularly in the areas of broadcasting, as well as of other electronic media, in an interdisciplinary fashion and to make the results available to scholarship, praxis and the public.
The First Years
The beginnings were modest: everything began in the basement of the main building of Universität Hamburg, a year later the Institute moved to Rothenbaumchaussee, later on it moved to Heimhuder Straße 21, where the Institute and its library could be found for many years before the Institute moved back to Rothenbaumchaussee, now No. 36, in August 2013.
The Institute’s publishing house “Verlag Hans-Bredow-Institut” was founded for its inhouse publications. Soon, the scientific quarterly journal “Rundfunk und Fernsehen [Broadcasting and Television]” (today: Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft [Media & Communication Research], furthermore an academic series, the “Internationale Handbuch für Hörfunk und Fernsehen [International Handbook for Radio and Television]“ (today: Internationales Handbuch Medien [International Media Handbook]) und die “Hörwerke der Zeit [Radio Plays of the Time]“, which are literary significant radio plays. The library has been open to the public since its early days.
Establishing an institute for “broadcasting and television” took place without any role models; the need for academic findings in the area of radio and television, however, was increasing rapidly. Thus, the Institute was involved in establishing the audience research programme of the NWDR and, later on, in reviewing and analysing TV programmes.
Members of the Institute taught at the university and transferred American empirical audience research to Germany for the first time. The study “Fernsehen im Leben der Erwachsenen [Television in Adult’s Lives]” was the first empirical project being published in 1968. In the 70s, research focused primarily on news and local communication; the concomitant scientific investigation of “Sesame Street”, however, gained great public interest as well.
The 80s: More Media, Greater Relevance of Media Research
Media research became much more significant with the transformation of media politics in the 80s and the introduction of private broadcasting in Germany. The Institute was consulted for its expertise mainly due to its interdisciplinary competence based on the research combination of law and social studies, which was supported by the director Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem since 1979.
The international network was extended and visitors from all over the world show that the Institute has been noticed internationally and sought as a communication partner.
The 90s: Internet besoming a focus
In the 90s, new media like computers, online media and the Internet became a research focus of the Institute. The Institute strengthened its commitment to investigate public communication in regard to all media, which was also amplified with changing its name: The institute “Broadcasting and Television” became the Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research, the journal “Rundfunk und Fernsehen [Broadcasting and Television]” became “Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft [Media & Communication Studies]” in the year 2000.
2019: The Institute becomes a member of the Leibniz Association
Since the beginning of 2019 the Hans-Bredow-Institut has been a member of the renowned Leibniz Association and shows this with its new name: Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). The decision to accept the Hans-Bredow-Institut as a new member was made by the general meeting at the end of November 2018 in Berlin. Thus, the research organisation groeds to 95 member institutions with almost 20,000 employees, with nearly half of them being researchers.
The admittance was preceded by recommendations and opinions by the senate of the Leibniz Association regarding the strategic fit of the Hans-Bredow-Institut and by the Science Council regarding the scientific quality of the institute, its supra-regional significance and its structural relevance for the scientific system in general. The Council assesses the scientific quality of the Hans-Bredow-Institut and its structural relevance for the scientific system as “very good”, its supra-regional significance as”excellent”.
On this basis, the Joint Science Conference decided to accept both institutes into the joint funding of the Federation and the Länder on 13 April 2018. Of the state funding for the institute, which Hamburg has so far financed alone, the Federal Government will take over 50 percent, Hamburg only 38 percent, and the rest will be paid by the other federal states.
The Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut became a member of Section B of the Leibniz institutes gathering the institutes with a focus on economics, social sciences and spatial research. However, there is also a variety of connections with institutes from “Section A – Humanities and Educational Research”.
Interdisciplinary Perspective as Part of the Institute’s History
The interdisciplinary structure of the Institute’s research into media finds expression in the specialist orientation of its respective directors: from 1950-1967 a historian, in the person of Egmont Zechlin, was head of the Institute, from 1968-1970 an educationalist, in the person of Hans Wenke, from 1971-1979 a sociologist, in the person of Janpeter Kob. From 1979-1995, the Institute was led by academic lawyer Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, from 1995-1998 by the political scientist and scholar of journalism and communication, Otfried Jarren.
Since the summer of 1998 the academic leadership of the Institute has resided in a directorate, which represents the two main pillars of the Institute’s work, research into media law and communications. Initially, Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem (until December, 1999), Otfried Jarren (until July, 2001) and the communications scholar Uwe Hasebrink belonged to it. Since July 2001, the Directorate has consisted of Uwe Hasebrink (until October, 2021) and the academic lawyer, Wolfgang Schulz (Chair).
Since October 2021, the Management Board has consisted of Wolfgang Schulz (Chairman) and Commercial Director Kristina Hein.