Media History

The “Media History” research group examines the role of communication and the media in social and societal processes from two perspectives within the history of media and communication – on the one hand, as communication in the past, and on the other, as communication about the past.

In the first case, media providers, communicators and communicative processes are examined in terms of their significance for historical processes of transformation. One example of this is the project on the history of Hessischer Rundfunk in the post-war period.

In the second instance, studies are being carried out on the valuation of the past, based on the fundamental changes in the constellation of actors and communicative practices in digital interactive media. This research into practices of remembrance and a ‘digital media history’ is being carried out in close collaboration with the Leibniz Research Network ‘Value of the Past’ in its 2nd phase (2025–2029) and Research Group 3 ‘Participation and Appropriation’, which is part of it.

Head of the research group: Dr. Hans-Ulrich Wagner

Photo by Pablo García Saldaña on Unsplash

Overview

Last update: 16.09.2026

Blog Articles, News, Projects, Publications, Podcast Episodes

Cover der UNESCO-Publikation "Bewertung der Internetentwicklung in Deutschland"
Study commissioned by UNESCO

Assessing Internet Development in Germany

Overall, the state of the Internet in Germany can be assessed as good. This is one of the findings of a study on Internet development conducted by a team led by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz and Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann on behalf of the German National Commission for UNESCO.

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Twitter, Trump and The Taliban – The Need for Better Rules for Online Speech Governance

How come the Taliban have access to social media while former President Trump does not? The short answer is that Trump has deliberately violated the internal speech rules of social media companies before being banned while certain Taliban and Taliban-affiliated accounts have not done so recently or consistently. They are, however, often banned and/or suspended. But things are complicated.

Foto von Markus Spiske auf Unsplash: HTML-Codes
Article in the Journal of Legal Policy

Claim and Reality of Platform Regulation

In the Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik (Journal of Legal Policy), Matthias C. Kettemann, Wolfgang Schulz, and Martin Fertmann ask whether the digital legal acts planned by the European Commission can live up to their own standards. The article is available to registered members in the beck-online database.

Cover des Arbeitspapiers Nr. 53
Working Paper No. 53

Media Use and School at the Time of the First Lockdown during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic

This report by Claudia Lampert and Kira Thiel provides an overview of how families in Germany experienced the lockdown period—particularly the transition from in-person to remote learning—and to what extent this changed their media usage.

Cover: Intermediaries vs. States or Intermediaries
Intermediaries and Freedom of Expression

Intermediaries vs. States or Intermediaries and States: Democracy in the Post-Intermediation Age

In their conference paper for the 2021 Weizenbaum Conference, Martin Fertmann and Matthias C. Kettemann write about intermediaries and freedom of expression. The conference paper was published as an open-access publication.

Publikation JF:Tech 10 Thesen zu Zukunftsthemen der Technikwissenschaften
People and Technology

10 Theses on Future Topics in the Technical Sciences for Sustainable Technology Development with a Focus on People

Matthias C. Kettemann, Martin Fertmann, Vincent Hofmann, and Mesut Bayraktar, together with Sissy-Ve Basmer-Birkenfeld, Regina Schönherr, and Anna Engelhardt, have authored “10 Theses on Future Topics in the Technical Sciences for Sustainable Technology Development with a Focus on People.” The article is available via open access.

Cover der Publikation "Autonomie und Verantwortung in digitalen Kulturen"
Open Access!

Attention Control by Social Media Platforms as an Intervention of Autonomy?

In their chapter, Stephan Dreyer and Amélie Heldt focus on privacy and the general right of personality in relation to algorithmic selection processes. They highlight where gaps exist and how these might be closed. The anthology has been published as an open-access publication in the Nomos eLibrary.

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Blog Post on the Digital Society Blog

One Council to Rule Them All: Can Social Media Become More Democratic?

Martin Fertmann and Matthias C. Kettemann explain how social media governing bodies can help make platforms more democratic in their article “One Council to Rule Them All: Can Social Media Become More Democratic?” on the Digital Society Blog of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.

Cover des Arbeitspapiers Science Media Center
Working Paper Nr. 5

The Science Media Center Germany

Irene Broer and Louisa Pröschel took a closer look at the Science Media Center Germany and its role at the intersection of science and journalism. The results of their ethnographic study can be found here.

Hans-Ulrich Wagner
Blog Article

Siegfried Lenz: How the Author Uses the Media

On the blog of the Historical Commission of the ARD, Hans-Ulrich Wagner writes about how the author Siegfried Lenz used the media.

Cover: Jugendmedienschutzreport 6/2021
Assessment Under Criminal and Juvenile Protection Law

Online Sexual Harassment

From the perspectives of criminal law and juvenile protection law, authors Sünje Andresen and Stephan Dreyer examined forms of imposed sexuality and sexual harassment on the Internet.

Cover des Arbeitspapiers Gestaltung von Software
Working Paper Nr. 56

Legal Requirements for the Design of Software for Public Media Platforms

The working paper by Valerie Rhein, Stephan Dreyer, and Wolfgang Schulz outlines the current legal situation regarding software-based offerings by public media providers in Germany.

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