Category: Debate

Debate, Edition 1/2025

On the impact of the Trump administration on media and media regulation in Europe

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By Mandy Tröger and Hendrik Theine | Donald Trump’s second term in office leads to profound changes in media and communications, platform regulation, and the political influence of Big Tech – also in Europe. In particular, the close ties between the Trump administration and wealthy business owners such as Elon Musk reinforce the oligarchization of US politics. One consequence is the strategic use of digital platforms for political purposes. At the same time, US technology and media policy could oppose European regulatory measures. These developments highlight the need for and strengthening of independent research and investigative journalism. This paper analyzes the global impact of power shifts in the United States and possible countermeasures.

Debate, Edition 2/2024

The press and Gaza Restrictions, censorship and the hazards of war reporting

By William Lafi Youmans | During wars, states’ militaries are strategic communicators seeking to manage public perception, yet in times of war they also have greater command over press access, making them something like referees. In war time, the preexisting legal protections given to the work of news media are often relaxed in the name of emergency exceptionalism and as jurisdictional gray areas arise in theaters of conflict. Israel has moved further in limiting media access in times of escalated conflict, most recently the war on Gaza that started following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israeli military bases and communities around the enclosed strip. This essay overviews Israel’s press policies, military censorship regime and the response of western news organizations, as well as the repression of Palestinian reporters and Al Jazeera. It further asks whether Israeli’s press controls have any impact on news reporting.

Debate, Edition 1/2024

From broadcasters to open ecosystems On the reform and future of public service broadcasting

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By Leonhard Dobusch | In the age of digital platforms, democratic public discourse is increasingly being structured by private, primarily profit-driven companies. While the dual media system in Germany persists, this context presents public service media with the challenge of establishing a relevant public discourse in line with alternative logics that primarily center around a democratic mandate. If they are to tackle this challenge successfully, public service media must themselves become platform operators – opening up their communication infrastructure to their own audience in particular, as well as to other non-profit and, in certain areas, even commercial media. In contrast to the narratives that dominate the media, public service broadcasters in Germany are already very advanced in the development of services like this. A public service ecosystem strategy based on open software, protocols and platforms would thus not mean radical upheaval, but primarily the logical further development of digitalization pathways that have already begun.

Debate, Edition 3-4/2023

All twittered out What @ichbinsophiescholl tells us about platform criticism in journalism

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By Nora Hespers | Journalists and media houses use a wide range of social media platforms to reach their audience. Yet this use is rarely subject to critical examination. The downfall of Twitter, now X, is the ideal opportunity to take a critical look at the structures and economic conditions behind these networks. But still there is no great debate – just as there wasn’t in the case of the Instagram project @ichbinsophiescholl. Does journalism lack expertise in social media?

Debate, Edition 2/2023

A lack of critical corrective Expectation-led distortions in reporting on the welfare state in Germany

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By Georg Cremer | However valid their empirical basis, the images commonly distributed on the social situation and welfare policy in Germany have consequences for reporting – they shape the developments that are considered worthy of reporting on and how they are interpreted. As a result, reporting serves to reinforce hardened opinions. This often negatively impacts a solution-oriented debate on reform, as problems are not considered in a sophisticated way for specific target groups. The media frequently fail to provide a critical corrective, especially when press releases from social organizations are in line with preconceived perceptions and the demands that the organizations derive from them appear to be for a good cause. Even where depictions are extremely distorted, politicians are often reluctant to take a contrasting position, as this carries the risk of being accused of wanting to ›talk down‹ social problems. A lack of statistical skills for handling complex social statistics also plays a role.

Debate, Edition 1/2023

»Defend the institutions!« Public service media safeguard democracy

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By Barbara Thomaß | Expectations for the reform of public service broadcasting in Germany are enormous. Just as great, if not greater, is the need to meet these expectations – and the motivation to achieve this is more than high. There is a real danger of failing to meet these excessive expectations and a process of ailing setting in, with changes in political majorities in the states possible.

Debate, Edition 03/2022

Pact with the devil

Henning Eichler interviewed by Wolfgang Scheidt / Henning Eichler’s latest study, »Journalism in social networks. ARD and ZDF under the spell of the algorithms,« was conducted on behalf of the Otto Brenner Foundation and examines the conflict between public value and platforming. In an interview, its author explains how algorithmic methods of working and platform logics influence journalistic content. Eichler – a radio journalist at Hessischer Rundfunk and Deputy Professor of Media Sciences and Digital Journalism at Hochschule RheinMain – calls for greater transparency from the operators of advertising platforms and a code of digital ethics for social media editorial offices.

Debate, Edition 02/2022

On myths of solidarity and the logic of war Media as the focus of political media strategies

by Sabine Schiffer / The Russian army officially marched into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, a terrible war has played out there in plain sight. A war that is taking place on our own continent, with countless victims, bringing with it war crimes and a wartime economy, destroyed infrastructure, mercenary forces, militias, dead civilians, rape – like any war. Through the media, we see the war in Ukraine in detail and up close – not like any war.

Debate, Edition 01/2022

The parole on the ›misery of the media‹

by Alexis von Mirbach / The feud between Siegfried Weischenberg and Michael Meyen is no secret in the world of communication studies and provides the only logical explanation for the claim that our book Das Elend der Medien [The misery of the media] forms part of a field called alternative media criticism (AMC).