Profile

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Niklas Venema

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Niklas Venema

Junior Professor

Communication and Media Change (JP)
Zeppelinhaus
Nikolaistraße 27-29, Room 3.03
04109 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97-35715

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Abstract

Niklas Venema is a junior professor for communication and media change at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University since April 2022. His research and teaching focuses on journalism, media policy and political communication in a long-term historical perspective. He is currently researching counterpublics in view of political and media change. Before moving to Leipzig University, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin from 2016 to 2022. In 2021, he received his doctorate with a thesis on the history of on-the-job training in journalism (the so called Volontariat).

Professional career

  • since 04/2022
    Junior Professor for Communication and Media Change at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University
  • 04/2016 - 03/2022
    Research Associate at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin

Education

  • 04/2016 - 08/2021
    Doctorate (Dr. phil.) in Media and Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin
  • 10/2009 - 03/2016
    Studies in Communication and Media Science at Leipzig University

The junior professorship is dedicated to the change of media and society as a research focus of the institute in a historical perspective and thus contributes to the characterization and understanding of current transformations. In examining past transformations and their social conditions and consequences, the relevant fields of journalism, media policy and political communication, as well as the public sphere as a whole, are the main focus of attention. In addition, the history of communication and media studies analyzes the changes in scholarly reflection that accompanied the media and political changes. Methodologically, the research work of the junior professorship combines historical source work with social scientific, especially qualitative, approaches.

  • The Public Sphere and the Labor Movement: Democratic Discourse as Ideal and Danger
    Venema, Niklas
    Duration: 03/2024 – 03/2027
    Funded by: Stiftungen Inland
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Kommunikations- und Medienwandel
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more projects

  • Venema, N.
    International cooperation on (counter)publics between tradition and reorientation: Social democracy and its media in the Cold War era
    Communications - The European Journal of Communication Research. 2023. pp. 1–21.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2023-0037
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  • Venema, N.
    Medien und Propaganda 1933
    Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte. 2023. 73 (4). pp. 49–54.
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  • Venema, N.
    Das Volontariat: Eine Geschichte des Journalismus als Auseinandersetzung um seine Ausbildung (1870–1990)
    Köln: Herbert von Halem. 2023.
    ISBN: 978-3-86962-623-9
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  • Löblich, M.; Venema, N.
    Press “taboos” and media policy: West German trade unions and the urge to gain media attention during the era of press concentration
    International Journal of Communication. 2022. pp. 4543–4562.
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  • Venema, N.; Steffan, D.
    Context matters: Professionalization of campaign posters from Adenauer to Merkel.
    Communications – The European Journal of Communication Research. 2020. 45 (1). pp. 98–121.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2018-2020
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more publications

  • Andere Stipendien/Forschungspreise: Nachwuchsförderpreis Kommunikationsgeschichte
    Venema, Niklas (Kommunikations- und Medienwandel)
    awarded in 2022 by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Fachgruppe Kommunikationsgeschichte.
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more awards

  • Jahrestagung der Fachgruppe Kommunikationsgeschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
    Von Emanzipation zu Desinformation? Gegenöffentlichkeiten und ihre Bewertung im Wandel
    Kommunikations- und Medienwandel
    Event Organiser: Venema, Niklas
    28/03/2023 – 30/03/2023
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more events

The teaching focus of the junior professorship is on the transformation of the public sphere, journalism and structures of the media system from the 19th century to the recent past. The courses illustrate the interrelations between media and social change using the example of specific shifts as well as in an overarching long-term perspective and frame the content with a reflection on critical theories of the public sphere and the media. The research-oriented teaching of the junior professorship also introduces the application of qualitative social scientific methods to questions of communication history.

  • Critical Theories of Media Change

    From Marx's view of the 19th century press, the Frankfurt School’s or feminist scholars’ analysis of film, broadcasting, and television, to more recent studies of platforms or surveillance, the seminar deals with critical approaches to the relationship between media change and social change. The English seminar is a reading course and requires a thorough study of the provided literature as a basis for joint discussion.

  • Memory through Media

    The way individuals and society deal with the past is characterized by changing communicative forms of remembering and the medial communication of history. The course provides an introduction to research on memory in communication and media studies. Studies on journalistic reporting on the past and media in the culture of remembrance will be developed. One focus is on divided history in East and West.