Since 1990, the Department (formerly the “Institute”) of Journalism and Communication Studies (JKW) has been concerned with public communication and its current transformation, with a particular focus on the role of journalism in society.

We are currently researching the role of journalism in the digital media world, which is shaped by new design and interaction possibilities as well as a changing understanding of the profession. New challenges also include dealing with globalization and global risks such as climate change. In view of our highly complex society, including its tendencies toward fragmentation, journalism faces particular challenges as well.

In times of change and innovation, our mission remains to enable students to practice quality journalism. By this term, we mean an ideal to aspire to—an inspiration for ambitious, well-informed, and better journalism that is not limited to merely amplifying others’ statements through the media. First and foremost, it is about providing audiences with added value in terms of understanding and orientation through relevance assessment and research, through source criticism, and through interpretation work. All of this takes place under the conditions of digitalization and in the light of the challenges posed by new forms of information and communication on the internet.

The training programme in the department follows the concept of professionalisation through science. We regard findings from journalism and communication research as useful and conducive to journalistic professional practice. This includes, for example, empirically established knowledge about audiences and users and their preferences for use, but also knowledge about possible desired and undesired effects of journalistic content on its audiences.