Element 68Element 45Element 44Element 63Element 64Element 43Element 41Element 46Element 47Element 69Element 76Element 62Element 61Element 81Element 82Element 50Element 52Element 79Element 79Element 7Element 8Element 73Element 74Element 17Element 16Element 75Element 13Element 12Element 14Element 15Element 31Element 32Element 59Element 58Element 71Element 70Element 88Element 88Element 56Element 57Element 54Element 55Element 18Element 20Element 23Element 65Element 21Element 22iconsiconsElement 83iconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsElement 84iconsiconsElement 36Element 35Element 1Element 27Element 28Element 30Element 29Element 24Element 25Element 2Element 1Element 66
Notions of the Public in Information Law

Notions of the Public in Information Law

What meaning does the legal term “the public” have in the age of social media and sharehosters, instant messaging and whistleblowing? It’s time for an analysis from a legal perspective.  

Whether it is the “making available to the public” in copyright law, the “publishing” of a personal right’s image, or degrading someone or something in the area of “public opinion” within the means of criminal law: the term “public“ is quite regularly used in law. The Hans-Bredow-Insitut is dedicated to finding out just how these standards are understood in the face of increasingly different “publics”.

show more

Project Description

Internet-based communication has structurally changed how we understand public spheres. Where we once separated the private sphere and the public sphere, as constructed by the mass media, analytically, many new areas of “private public spheres” have emerged today somewhere between these poles. The use of social networks, in particular, exemplifies this.
 
The project investigates these new public spheres and, in particular, the factors characterizing them. In the process, various legal questions are prompted – such as, for example, those on the effects of such developments on society’s idea of itself and on the processes of establishing the will of the people through democracy. Similar questions do, however, also arise in the everyday praxis of courts of law. The new demands share a conspicuous feature in the way the existing norms of the law on personal rights have been developed within the normative and legal structure of the traditional media. Accordingly, it seems, for instance, a moot point whether traditional rules for considering freedom of expression and the law on personal rights can also be applied adequately to utterances conveyed on Internet platforms. The research group proceeds with these questions in order to analyse the existing legal differentiations between the private sphere and variously defined forms of (partial) public sphere, so that it can draw conclusions on how to appropriately handle the new forms of the public sphere.
 
The Institute seeks to shed light on these questions in the context of a collaborative project with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG). In the first instance, the investigation should result in the publication of an article in a journal for jurisprudence.

Project Information

Overview

Duration: 2013-2015

Research programme:
RP1 - Transformation of Public Communication

Involved persons

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz • Dr. Stephan Dreyer • Martin Lose • Dr. Lennart Ziebarth

Third party

Cooperation Partner

Contact person

Dr. Stephan Dreyer
Senior Researcher Media Law & Media Governance

Dr. Stephan Dreyer

Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI)
Rothenbaumchaussee 36
20148 Hamburg

Tel. +49 (0)40 45 02 17 - 33
Fax +49 (0)40 45 02 17 - 77

Send Email

MAYBE YOU ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN THESE TOPICS?

media and telecommunications law • European Public • telecommunications law • media law • public sphere

Related projects and publications

Projects
Publications
Events
All
CI_BKM-EU_Medienkonferenz_Leibniz-Institut-fuer-Medienforschung_Hans-Bredow-Institut.jpg

Conference within the Framework of the German EU Council Presidency

Coherent Media Order: Accompanying the EU Media Conference 2020

The institute will provide scientific support for the media conference in the context of Germany's 2020 EU Council Presidency and is analysing in advance the requirements of a modern European information order.
07_Public-Connection_Hans-Bredow-Institut.jpg

The Construction of the Public

Public Connection

How does each individual establish a connection to the public through media and, thus, change the communicative figuration of the public? The project “Public Connection”, financed by the German Research Foundation, seeks to answer these questions as part of the research association &ldqu...
Diss_Amélie-Pia-Heldt_WirkungderMeinungsfreiheit_Hans-Bredow-Institut.png

PhD Project

The Effect of Freedom of Expression in Social Networks

Is user-generated content on private communication platforms protected by freedom of expression? In her PhD project, Amélie Heldt focuses on the effect of the fundamental right on freedom of expression on the Internet.
Macht der Informationsmediäre Erscheinungsformen, Strukturen und Regulierungsoptionen -Hans-Bredow-Institut.png

Manifestations and Regulatory Options

The Power of Information Intermediaries

In support of the political discourse on services like search engines and social networking services, this report provides a structured view on information intermediaries and  possible approaches of regulating them.  
229908_Vorsprung-durch-Rechtsbruch_Hans-Bredow-Institut.png

PhD Project

Advantage by Breach of Law?

Market participants violate existing rules governing the media sector in order secure a competitive advantage. In his dissertation, Martin Lose examines judicial subjects that interface the breach of law according to § 3a UWG (Act Against Unfair Practices) and the information and communication...
CI_Media Systems in Europe.jpg

Continuities and Discontinuities

The Media Systems in Europe

This handbook provides an overview of current trends and issues in media systems within the European Union. Based on Hallin and Mancini's famous model for analyzing media systems ("Comparing Media Systems," 2004), the book examines Europe's media systems in different regions: North...
CI_Mast-Tobias-Handbuch-oeffentlich-rechtliches-Aeusserungsrecht.jpg

Book Chapter

Fraktionen und Abgeordnete

Dr. Tobias Mast writes in his contribution to the new Handbook of the Law of State Expression about the legal competencies and boundaries for parliamentary groups and members of parliament when communicating publicly in their official role. This area of law is gaining in importance due to new ways...
CI_Gesetzessammlung16-19_Leibniz-Institut fuer Medienforschung_Hans-Bredow-Institut.jpg

Available for Download

Gesetzessammlung: Information, Kommunikation, Medien, 19. Auflage

The legal basis in the field of information, communication and media is changing so rapidly that the traditional book form often seems inappropriate for practitioners of the law as well as for publishers. A collection of laws is hardly on the market when, in all likelihood, the media treaty has alre...
CI_Stellungnahme_Rhein_Dreyer_Schulz.jpg

Available for Download

Schriftliche Stellungnahme zu dem Diskussionsentwurf zu Auftrag und Strukturoptimierung des öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks

Valerie Rhein, Dr. Stephan Dreyer and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz have published an opinion on the discussion draft of the Länder regarding the mandate and structural optimisation of public service broadcasting. In their expert opinion, they welcome the draft amendment to the State Medi...
CI_Mast-Tobias_Pressekodex-der-Polizei-Baden-Wuerttemberg.jpg

Legal Evaluation

Pressekodex der Polizei Baden-Württemberg

In the journal Verwaltungsblätter für Baden-Württemberg (VBlBW), Dr. Tobias Mast has analysed the press code of the Baden-Württemberg police from a legal point of view.   With this individual "press code", the Ministry of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg has...
show more

Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive the Institute's latest news via email.

SUBSCRIBE!