No. 47 - Andreas Hepp, Wiebke Loosen, Uwe Hasebrink: The Refiguration of Public Communication: A Relational and Process-oriented Perspective

In the field of communication and media research, the “public sphere” and its “structural change” have long been central themes, particularly in the development of communication within society and politics. However, this concept often suffers from an imprecise normative profile and vague empirical scope. This paper introduces a novel theoretical approach that emphasizes a more rigorous relational and process-oriented perspective. We propose conceptualizing the transformation of public communication as a process of refiguration. First, we examine media-environmental changes through the lens of mediatization theory. Then, we explore how this shift in public communication can be understood as refiguration, highlighting that public communication is not confined to a singular public sphere but involves the transformation of relational dynamics among at least three distinct types of publics. Finally, we discuss how this relational and process-oriented perspective can be analytically realized. While our argument is grounded in extensive empirical research, this paper primarily aims to make a theoretical contribution.

About the authors:

Andreas Hepp
Prof. Dr Andreas Hepp is Professor of Media and Communications and Head of ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen, Germany. He was Visiting Researcher and Professor at leading institutions such as the London School of Economics and Political Science, Goldsmiths University of London, Université Paris II Panthéon ASSAS, Stanford University and others. Andreas Hepp’s research focuses on mediatization, datafication, automation of communication / communicative AI, media use and appropriation.

Wiebke Loosen
Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen is a senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research│Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) (Germany) as well as a professor at the University of Hamburg (according to §17 HmbHG). Her major areas of expertise are the transformation of journalism within a changing media environment, theories of journalism, and methodology. Wiebke’s current research focuses on the changing journalism-audience relationship, forms of pioneer journalism as well as the automation of communication.

Uwe Hasebrink
After retiring on 1 October 2021, Prof. em. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink is an associated researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). Since the HBI became a member of the Leibniz Associa- tion in 2019, Uwe Hasebrink has represented the institute as Scientific Director on the Executive Board. He had previously been a member of the institute’s Board of Directors since 1998.