Profile

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.; Schwarzenegger, C.; Koenen, E.

  From emancipation to disinformation: Public dissent and its evaluation in change

  Publizistik. 2025. pp. 1–18.

  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-025-00894-7
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• Venema, N.

  Counterpublics and structural change in media and politics: A theoretical framework on transformations within a long-term historical perspective

  Javnost - The Public. 2024. 31 (2). pp. 231–252.

  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2024.2342216
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• 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.

  URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-98760-0
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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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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.

• The media system of the GDR and the transformation since 1989

  The seminar deepens the examination of the German media system with regard to the development in the GDR and the upheaval of 1989/90. Following debates on memory, the framework conditions of political control, the organization of press and broadcasting and the role of journalists and users are analyzed. Based on the historical development, the consequences for media structures and uses up to the present day are discussed.

• Visual political communication using the example of right-wing populism

  The module introduces the theory, methodology and empirical research of visual political communication using the example of right-wing populism. After an overview of theories such as visual framing and the current state of research, participants will develop their own ideas for the conception, implementation and evaluation of small research projects, either alone or in groups.