Good journalism also needs good research
What means quality in journalism? Do people still trust the media? How can newsrooms make good use of technologies like AI? To answer these and many other questions, projects are also needed at universities. The School of Journalism in Mainz combines career orientation with science, thus advancing journalism research, building bridges to the media industry and inspiring journalistic practice. As an institution of the Johannes Gutenberg University and as part of the Department of Communication, it belongs to a strong research community.
Research projects
Numerous research projects have already been successfully completed at our School of Journalism, and new projects are regularly added.
Research topics
In addition to textbooks on journalistic practice, numerous studies on journalism research are
produced at the Journalistic Seminar. It is important, not least for (prospective)
journalists, to analye and reflect the professional practice scientifically.
In addition to application-oriented topics, we devote ourselves itself to basic
research and cooperate with colleagues at the university's Department of Communication
(Institut für Publizistik, IfP), among others. For example, we are involved in the long-term
Mainz study on “Media Trust”, which regularly examines the attitudes and
trust of the German population towards journalism.
Other topics concern internationalization, especially the transnational
organizations and networks in which journalists cooperate (as in the “Panama Papers” and other
major investigations). Investigative journalism and the reporting on terrorism and political
extremism are also among the focal points at the seminar.
In addition, innovations, new trends and format developments in journalism are
examined, such as data journalism, multimedia formats and podcasts. The change and (lack of)
diversity in newsrooms, the situation and future of journalistic newcomers are further topics.
Media ethics has always been important for reflection and research at our School
of Journalism. Case studies are produced here as well as fundamental theoretical work.
