EU Study on Indicators for Independence of Audiovisual Media Services Regulatory Bodies now available

The independence of regulatory bodies in the field of audiovisual media can not be measured mathematically; however, indicators that indicate risks and detrimental constellations potentially allowing external parties to influence the independence of media regulators can be found. These indicators have been identified by the EU study "Indicators for Independence and Efficient Functioning of Audiovisual Media Services Regulatory Bodies" which was carried out by a research team led by the Hans Bredow Institute. Besides drafting a theoretical framework for regulatory independence the study was able to theoretically deduce, empirically establish and – at times – qualify a number of indicators for the independence of media supervision. As a service of transfer into practice, a ranking tool has been developed from the numerous indicators. This tool provides an opportunity for regulators, governments, agents of civil society and finally also for the European Commission to roughly analyse whether and – if applicable: where – regulators are vulnerable as far as their independence is concerned.   »»

Institute for Internet and Society Starts with Four Partners

Hans Bredow Institute will be co-operating Partner

By autumn 2011, three leading academic institutions in Germany, including Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin University of the Arts and the Social Science Research Center Berlin, and in close collaboration with the Hans Bredow Institute in Hamburg, will establish an Institute for Internet and Society. At the new Institute for Internet and Society, research will be conducted on changes in society caused by the Internet. The new institute will be financed by Google, but is autonomous in its organisation and scientific work.   »»

Another structural transformation of the public sphere? On recent challenges and current research projects

Lecture by Jan-Hinrik Schmidt at Umeå University in Sweden

At the end of January, 2011, Jan-Hinrik-Schmidt, senior researcher for digital interactive media and political communication at the Hans Bredow Institute, was invited to present the institute and some of his research at the HUMlab, an interesting and lively centre at the conjunction of media studies, information technology and arts at Umeå University in Sweden.

His talk was on “Another structural transformation of the public sphere? On recent challenges and current research projects”, alluding to Jürgen Habermas’ grand theory of the public sphere, and presenting some concepts and research ideas to analyze changes in the structures and mechanism of the current sphere that have to be accounted for.   »»

Preliminary Final Report of the INDIREG study available for download

The Preliminary Final Report of the study INDIREG – Indicators for independence and efficient functioning of audiovisual media services regulatory bodies, a study conducted on behalf of the European Commission – is now available for download at the EU Audiovisual and Media Policies website. For documentation purposes we also provide two annexes to the study on this page.

On 31st January 2011, the INDIREG project conducted a public workshop in Brussels. The workshop was transmitted via a live webstream, a documentation of the ppt presentations may be available within the next days on the project's website.   »»

One Out of Eight Children Has Bad Experiences with the Internet

First Europe-wide Study on the Online Use of Children Presented

Twelve percent of children in Europe using the internet have bad online experiences. This is the result of the Europe-wide study EU Kids Online, which was presented at the Safer Internet Forum in Luxemburg on 21 October 2010. Over 23,000 children aged from nine to 16 from 25 European countries were questioned regarding their online use. Children in Germany are with eight percent less probable to have unpleasant experiences on the internet than the European average. “German children use the internet more seldom and less diversely”, explains Professor Uwe Hasebrink, director of the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research in Hamburg and head of the German EU Kids Online research team. “This makes them less exposed, but they also make only restricted use of the opportunities the Internet offers.”   »»