Sascha Hölig Senior Researcher at the Hans Bredow Institute

In January 2013, Sascha Hölig PhD joined the team of the Hans Bredow Institute. Sascha studied Media Studies (Communications), Sociology and Philosophy at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena as well as at the International School of Social Science of the University of Tampere (Finland). In his Master’s thesis he examined the journalistic selection criteria in determining topics and in presenting molecular medicine in TV science magazines. From May 2007 to April 2011, he worked for the Chair in Empirical Communication Studies (Prof. Dr.   »»

Prof. Shulamit Almog as Guest Researcher at the Institute

From mid-July until mid-September 2012 Prof. Shulamit Almog, Professor of Law at the University of Haifa and director of the PhD Program of the faculty, has worked as guest researcher at the Hans Bredow Institute. Her academic research is on law and literature, law and film, law and digital culture, and on children's and women's rights.

Public event with Shulamit Almog on August, 8th 2012   »»

Children rarely get help from online services

Existing reporting tools do not work – only one in ten (13%) of children who were upset on the Internet reported this through an online reporting mechanism, highlighting the fact that the industry needs to do much better. This is one of the strong conclusions of a new report from the EU Kids Online project. On July 11th the Internet industry presentes their efforts to keep children safe online in a meeting hosted by the European Commission.  In a new report looking at industry strategies compared to what children actually do online, researchers around Europe recommend that industry focus more on child-friendly communication and accessible tools.

The report also reveals that one in five children have seen potentially dangerous internet content such as websites which promote anorexia and suicide techniques.   »»

Governance, Regulation, Innovation and Emerging Social Conventions in Changing Media Environments

Long-term collaboration between the Hans-Bredow-Institut, Hamburg, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI), Brisbane, is financed by the German Research Funding Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Ongoing media change and associated shifts in the wider media ecologies require us to rethink current media governance and regulation frameworks; the development of new social conventions by user communities within specific media environments especially in new and social media must be recognised in this process, and media policy must begin to engage with the social conventions established by users themselves, but also with the structuring power that is inherent in the “technological architecture” of hardware and software configurations, the code. This is also a question of media innovation – in collaboration between media organisations, technology developers, regulatory bodies, and the user communities themselves. Today, the governance and regulation of digital media requires international and interdisciplinary collaboration, which is what this project will deliver. Through this collaboration, we aim to develop models for the governance of self-organising and adaptive open systems.   »»

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.   »»