Prof. em. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink

After retiring on 1 October 2021, Prof. em. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink will continue to be associated with the Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) as an associated researcher.

Since the HBI became a member of the Leibniz Association in 2019, Uwe Hasebrink has represented the institute as Scientific Director on the Executive Board. He had previously been a member of the Hans-Bredow-Institut’s Board of Directors since 1998.

After studying psychology and German philology in Hamburg, Uwe Hasebrink initially worked for three years as a research assistant at the Institute for Social Psychology at Universität Hamburg. He has worked at the HBI since 1986, initially as a scientific consultant, and from 1988 as executive manager. In 1998 he was elected to the Institute’s Board of Directors. In 1999, he held a professorship for communication science at the College of Music and Theatre in Hanover. In spring 2001, he was jointly appointed to a professorship for “Empirical Communication Studies” by the Universität Hamburg and the Hans-Bredow-Institut.

Memberships

From 2009, he was a member of the board of directors of the Research Center for Media and Communication (RCMC), with which university and non-university media and communication research in Hamburg was bundled. At the same time, he was a member of the spokesperson team of the Graduate School Media and Communication (GMaC), which was funded from 2009 to 2012 as part of the Hamburg Excellence Initiative. From 1998 to 2003, he was also spokesperson for the Media Reception and Effects research section of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), co-editor of the publication series “Reception Research” from 2003 to 2007, a member of the Management Committee of the International Radio Research Network (IREN) from 2004 to 2006 and a member of the Management Committee of the COST Action “Transforming Audiences – Transforming Societies” from 2010 to 2014. From 2004 to 2012, he was a member of the Executive Board of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and its predecessor organization ECCR.

He has been on the International Board of the “Journal of Children and Media” since 2009 and a member of the International Advisory Board of the journals “Studies in Communication | Media” and “Communication Management Quarterly” since 2011.

Main Research Areas

His research focuses on the areas of media use and media content as well as media policy. In recent years, these have mainly been individual usage patterns and media repertoires, convergence of media from the user’s perspective, the consequences of online media for traditional media, media use by children and young people, youth media protection, forms of audience participation and safeguarding user interests vis-à-vis the media, as well as European media and European audiences.

Last update: 01.07.2024

Works by Prof. em. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink

Screenshot of the website diskursmonitor, entry “Social Bots” by Gregor Wiedemann
Publikation Online Portal for Strategic Communication

Glossary Entry on “Social Bots”

Dr. Gregor Wiedemann wrote a glossary entry on “social bots” for Diskursmonitor, a collaborative online platform that aims to educate and document strategic communication. This topic is marked by major controversy in academia, some of which has played out in public.

Cover of the M&K journal, issue 3/2025
Publikation M&K 3/2025 as Special Issue

Diversity, Intersectionality, and Gender in Journalism

The third issue of M&K in 2025 is a special edition on "Diversity, Intersectionality, and Gender in Journalism," edited by Margreth Lünenborg, Ana-Nzinga Weiß, Yener Bayramoğlu, and Bernadette Uth. The nine articles are available open access on the Nomos eLibrary.

Cover of an article by Judith Möller et al. in the journal
Publikation Article in Journal of Communication

Positioning and Presentation of Articles in News Aggregators

In the study “Nudges for News Recommenders,” Dr. Nicolas Mattis, Lucien Heitz, Dr. Philipp K. Masur, Prof. Dr. Judith Möller, and Prof. Dr. Wouter van Atteveldt examine how the placement and presentation of environmental news in news aggregators can influence user behavior.

Cover of the Oxford Handbook
Publikation Digital Orders of the Future

Digital Constitutionalism Rethought

In a chapter of the Oxford Handbook of Digital Constitutionalism, Matthias C. Kettemann and Anna Sophia Tiedeke explore digital constitutionalism from the perspective of various normativities. These are the diverse rules, values, and organizing principles that shape the digital space.

Eine hübsche junge Familie aus Vater, Mutter Kind blicken strahlend in die Kamera, im Vordergrund links ein Ringlicht
Projekt Project for State Media Authorities

Babies and Toddlers as Family Influencers

The HBI is conducting a qualitative and quantitative study to examine how babies and young children under the age of five are portrayed on commercial German-language 'family influencing' profiles on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. A team led by Dr. Claudia Lampert and Dr. Stephan Dreyer is discussing the findings in relation to the existing legal framework and media ethics considerations.

Cover des Buchs "Recht der Digitalisierung"
Publikation Available Open Access

Law of Digitalization

Can the right legal framework meet the central challenges of digitization? This volume, edited by Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, explores important new areas of law, the regulation of AI, the role of digital services, and the characteristics of effective technology policy and sensible innovation law.

Screenshot der ersten "Seite" des Artikels auf dem Verfassungsblog
Publikation Article on Verfassungsblog

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.

Cover der Zeitschrift
Publikation Recently Published

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.

Cover der Zeitschrift UFITA
Publikation Recently Published

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.

Cover of the journal New Media & Society
Publikation Open Access Publication

Personal Preferences When Searching for Political Information

Lisa Merten and five co-authors researched how personality traits and attitudes affect the search for political information. Their article has now been published open access in the journal New Media & Society.

Cover der Broschüre zum 75. Geburtstag
Publikation Brochure Available for Download

Facets of 75 Years Hans-Bredow-Institut

With this brochure. we take a look at the institute's development since 1950. While we do not claim to provide a complete history, we aim to highlight some of the institute's unique characteristics, showcasing moments in the past when these features were particularly evident.

Altes Zeitungsfoto von Hans-Bredow,
Beitrag 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.

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