More than 120 scholars, journalists, and activists participated in the third Annual Conference of the Netzwerk Kritische Kommunikationswissenschaft (network for critical communication studies) from 21 to 22 November 2019 at the University of Leipzig, Germany. The network was founded among others by the GSIS Co-Directors Thomas Allmer and Sebastian Sevignani in 2017; it aims to push forward critical research that deals with power inequalities and the multiple forms of domination in capitalist societies and the crucial role media and communication play in this context.

The conference’s  thematic focus was Media of Transformation – Transformation of the Media and the main discussions evolved around how media and communication can push forward or block a social-ecological transformation of society. In his keynote, critical sociologist Klaus Dörre (University of Jena) impressively argued that linking social and ecologicial questions and struggles is key to direct society towards sustainablity. A second strand of discussions dealt with the question of what can be learned for the current situation from the historical moment of transition from a “socialist” to a capitalist media system in 1989/90.

Link to the call

Link to programme and registration

Link to the videos