Dr. Rainer Freudenthaler

Since April 2022 Dr. Rainer Freudenthaler has been working as an academic staff member at the MZES, research dept. B. After completing his bachelor’s studies in media economics at the University of Applied Science Stuttgart and his master’s studies in media and communication at the University of Mannheim, he received his doctorate from the University of Mannheim with a dissertation on the public debate concerning Germany’s refugee policy within online media in 2021.

His research focusses on the pre-conditions of democratic public spheres, with a special focus on online publics, as well as the contributions of established and alternative media outlets. In the project “Implicit and Explicit Racism in News and Social Media” he joins Prof. Wessler, Dr. Müller, Dr. Chan and Katharina Ludwig to assess group-related bias in the news concerning ethnic, cultural, and religious minority groups. His methodological research focus is on methods for automated content analysis.