Professorship of Communication History and Social Communication

Since 2002, Philomen Schönhagen is professor of communication history and social communication science at the Department of Communication and Media Research (DCM) at the University of Fribourg. Her research covers communication and media history, history of communication theory and communication studies, theory of mass and online communication, as well as qualitative methods of communication and media research.

Together with her team she focuses on questions relating to journalism and (early) press history, the role of media and journalism for social integration, the representation of different groups (e.g. gender) in media coverage as well as on questions concerning journalistic quality and journalistic autonomy.

Learn more

  • Research Projects

    Prof. Dr. Philomen Schönhagen and her team contribute with diverse research projects to the research areas of Historical Communication Research, Journalism Studies, Political Communication, and Media and Integration. In the last years, they conducted, for example, projects on the co-evolution of PR and Journalism, on working conditions and freedom of reporting of Swiss journalists, as well as on gender and media in the run-up to Swiss elections.

  • Teaching

    In teaching, the team in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes is dedicated on the one hand to teaching basic knowledge. In particular, this comprises communication and media history, theoretical approaches to social communication and its development, and qualitative methods. On the other hand, the focus is on the role of media and journalism for social integration. Hence, we offer seminars dealing e.g. with the representation of gender and migrants or with the impartiality of journalistic coverage. We are keen to provide appropriate didactic tools and a good guidance of our students.

External PhD Student