Public broadcasting is more controversial than ever. However, in public, discussions about it are mostly conducted by the same experts and actors from politics and civil society. In collaboration with two great partners, we want to complement this discourse in an innovative online participation process in order to find out: What needs to change, what should remain in television?
The cooperative project #meinfernsehen2021 is dedicated to the future of public television. The focus is on the question of whether the mission of public broadcasting in a digitalized society is still up to date and to what extent it corresponds to the audience’s expectations of television.
In a multi-stage online participation process, citizens can discuss various questions on the topic and contribute their own ideas. The results of this participation process will finally be presented at a conference with the involvement of various media representatives and interested citizens. We would also like to prepare the central findings for scientific publications and conferences.
The objectives can be summarized as follows:
- Collecting positions and arguments
- Gaining suggestions for a renovation
- Stimulating reflection and discussion on the topic among participants
- Awareness through participation in the discourse
- Contribute findings into public debate and scientific discussion
- Scientific publications and conferences
The project is scheduled to run for seven months (12/2020 to 06/2021) and is being carried out in cooperation with the Grimme Institute and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb).
Publications:
Eilders, Christiane / Gerlach, Frauke (2021): Gestaltungswille und Wissenslücken. Eine Zwischenbilanz zu #meinfernsehen2021. In: epd medien 14, 2021, 3-7. Read here.
Eilders, Christiane / Gerlach, Frauke (2021): Einbeziehen und erklären. Handlungsempfehlungen auf Grundlage der Beteiligungsplattform #meinfernsehen2021. Grimme-preis Publikation 57, 10-11. Read here.
Soßdorf, Anna / Seim, Jonathan / Warnke, Viviana N. E. (2021): “Zuhören überzeugt mehr als argumentieren.”. Grimme-preis Publikation 57, 6-9. Read here.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Christiane Eilders (speaker)
01. Board, Communication Studies, DIID-Team

Prof. Dr. Christiane Eilders has been a professor for communication and media studies at the Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf since 2011. She is a member of the DFG research group “Political Communication in the Online-World”.
Her research deals with public discourses and public opinion formation and puts a focus on the role of established mass media and online-communication.
Within the DIID, her interest lies in the deliberative quality and the different types of processes in online-discourses in the realm of political participation.
Research Interests
Contact
Dr. Anna Soßdorf
Communication Studies

Dr. Anna Soßdorf is currently a research assistant at the DIID and responsible for the coordination of the institute. She studied Social Sciences, including Communication Sciences, political science and Sociology, at Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf and Media science at Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen. In 2015 she successfully defended her doctoral thesis which revolves around political participation of adolescents and the role of the internet.
Her research focuses in political education and participation of adolescents, digitisation and digital literacy, digital ethics and artificial intelligence.
Projects
Contact
Johnathan Seim
DIID-Team, Philosophy

Jonathan Seim studied political science and philosophy at Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf and at the University of the West of Scotland. As a research assistant at DIID, he is responsible for the coordination of the institute. He is also a research assistant in the Digital Ethics project at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS). Jonathan Seim’s position is financed by project funds from the Mercator Foundation. His research focuses on moral philosophy and political philosophy, in particular democratic theory.
His dissertation deals with democratic participation rights in the context of citizen participation procedures. Although a correct allocation of participation rights is of fundamental importance for the legitimacy of those procedures, this question is not sufficiently addressed in politics or science. The aim of the dissertation project is to develop criteria for the allocation of participation rights in the context of consultative citizen participation procedures and guidance for the political practice. As a member of the DIID he is interested in requierements of legitimacy of online-participation.