The Institute for Media and Communication Policy (IfM) was founded in 2005 as an independent research institution that is exclusively dedicated to issues surrounding media and communication policies. It was established in February 2006 in

Berlin-Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...

, but in November 2014 it moved to

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. The institute is funded by leading German public and private media organizations.

Benefactors

The institute is financially supported by various media organizations including ARD, ZDF, RTL, Sky Germany, Axel Springer AG, the publishing groups Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck,

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (the regional Berlin Media and Film funding organization) among others. The Institute’s scientific advisory council consists of 25 reputable scholars, all of whom gained recognition in the field through media and communication policy-related publications. Lutz Hachmeister, a journalist and media scholar, is the founding director of the Institute. The institute has been established as a non-profit, limited liability company ( gGmbH) operates independently, and has no political, party, or economic ties.

Functions

According to its mission statement the IfM is “a forum for the media industry, research into communication and current politics”. It aims to offer “concrete models and options for the solution of mediapolitical challenges” as well as a framework for discussing these with representatives from the political sphere. Its aim is to gain recognition for the economic and public relevance as well as the strategic significance of media policies in modern politics. The principal task of the Institute is the continuous maintenance of an online media industry database (print-, radio-, TV- and online-media) compiling, amongst other, an annual ranking of the world’s most influential and successful media companies. Further research tasks include: - Establishing the theoretical and empirical foundation for a basic understanding of mediapolitical ideas and positions, as well as its specific terminologies - Research into the shifting correlation of print- and online media - Publication and editorial supervision of the “Jahrbuch Fernsehen” (German television yearbook). The institute established its good reputation by hosting high ranking colloquiums on media policy. Among the speakers were guests such as: Greg Dyke (

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

), Alan Rusbridger (Chief Editor of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

Norman Pearlstine Norman Pearlstine (born October 4, 1942) is an American editor and media executive. He previously held senior positions at the '' Los Angeles Times'', Time Inc, Bloomberg L.P., ''Forbes'' and ''The Wall Street Journal''. Early life and educatio ...

(chief content officer of Bloomberg L.P.),

Tyler Brûlé Jayson Tyler Brûlé (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian journalist, entrepreneur, and magazine publisher. He is the editorial director of '' Monocle''. Early years Jayson Tyler Brûlé is the only child of Canadian football player Paul Brul ...

(founder of the

Wallpaper* ''Wallpaper'', stylized ''Wallpaper*'', is a publication focusing on design and architecture, fashion, travel, art, and lifestyle. The magazine was launched in London in 1996 by Canadian journalist Tyler Brûlé and Austrian journalist Alexander ...

magazine), Mathias Müller von Blumencron and Georg Mascolo (Chief Editors of

Ernst Uhrlau Ernst Uhrlau (born 7 December 1946) was the President of the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). After attending Gymnasium Eppendorf, he graduated from University of Hamburg with specialization in political science. In 1981, Uhrlau became an ...

(President of the German Intelligence Service), Viviane Reding (EU-commissioner for information society and media),

David Weinberger David Weinberger (born 1950) is an American author, technologist, and speaker. Trained as a philosopher, Weinberger's work focuses on how technology — particularly the internet and machine learning — is changing our ideas, with books about the ...

(fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

), and technology scholars Evgeny Morozov and Geert Lovink. The IfM was elected one of the most important non-university institutes of media research within the framework of the programme “Germany thinks”, an initiative of the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange ...

Cologne Futures

Since 2012 the Institute annually organizes the Cologne Futures, until 2015 by the name Cologne Conference Futures. The conference discusses changes within the media-system - described as Media-evolution - and deals with Technology assessment in theory and practice. Richard Barbrook,

Nick Bostrom Nick Bostrom ( ; sv, Niklas Boström ; born 10 March 1973) is a Swedish-born philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, and the ...

, George Dyson, Kevin Kelly,

Kathrin Passig Kathrin Passig (born 4 June 1970) is a German writer. Life and Works Passig was born in 1970 in Deggendorf, a small town in Lower Bavaria. She is editor and programmer of the blog "Riesenmaschine" which received the Grimme Online Award 2006, aw ...

and Tim Wu and other experts in the field gave talks on these topics. Since 2015 the conference is hosted in cooperation with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Main sponsor is the

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

. The talks are published and documented by the journa
Medienkorrespondenz.

References

External links

Institut für Medien- und Kommunikationspolitik
information by

„Thinktank Medien. Ex-Grimme-Chef Hachmeister hat in Berlin ein Forschungsinstitut eröffnet“
Tagesspiegel, January 26, 2006
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Grundlagen der Medienpolitik
(Published by IfM) {{DEFAULTSORT:Institute For Media And Communication Policy Research institutes in Germany Political and economic think tanks based in Germany Media studies Education in Berlin Culture in Berlin

Benefactors

Functions

Cologne Futures

See also

References

External links