Completed Doctorate on Pioneer Journalism

We are delighted that our ZeMKI member Hendrik Kühn successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Im Dialog mit Abwesenden” (In Dialogue with Absentees) on February 5, 2026.

In his work, he examines the construction and representation of the relationship between journalism and its audience through experimental media products in German pioneer journalism. He has developed a relationship concept for media content in order to analyze journalistic contributions and compare them with their production contexts. It has been shown that media products are the connecting link in media relationships, where tensions are also renegotiated. They are a central location for the communicative construction of relationships and are highly relevant to the overall relationship.

The examination committee consisted of ZeMKI members Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Prof. Dr. Christian Schwarzenegger, and mid-level faculty representatives Florian Hohmann and Dr. Philip Sinner. Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen (Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute) completed the committee as an external examiner.

The thesis was written as part of the DFG project “Pioneer Journalism: The Re-Figuration of the Organization(s) of Journalism” where Kühn conducted research as a research assistant. We congratulate him on the successful completion of his doctorate!