BEYOND NOW – Digitally Environments: Public Law, Effective Democracy?!
Our environment doesn’t stop at the front door or at the gate to the garden. It extends beyond city boundaries and into digital networks, reshaping itself with each click. It is both physical and digital, analogue and networked, a social space and at the same time a political playing field and ecological influence factor. In the »Digital Environments: The Role of Public Service Broadcasting in Transforming Digital Information and Communication Spaces« course, Jr. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rösch (Faculty of Media) and Dr. Markus Seifert (University of Erfurt) examine whether and how public service broadcasting (ÖRR) can contribute to creating new spaces that are organised around the common good and promote democracy.
Digital environments shape relationships, mould our knowledge and strongly impact the development of political opinion. But online spaces are by no means neutral: Platform structures, economic interests, and algorithms influence what is seen and what remains unseen. A small number of large corporations control the digital infrastructure; democratic influence is only possible to a limited extent.
»Given the growing disinformation, platform dominance, and polarisation, it is now especially important to understand how digital spaces work and to discuss the significance and justification of public service media«, stresses Jürgen Rösch. The goal is to »establish a critical understanding of how digital infrastructures work, who shapes them, and how they influence the public sphere, democracy, and participation.«

What if public service broadcasting provided not content, but also actively participated in the creation of inclusive, democratic communication spaces? How could it function as a platform and a trustworthy place for exchange, participation, and reliable information? »Understanding digital environments as public spaces means seeing them as not only economic markets, but also as spaces for democratic negotiation, cultural diversity, and communication for the common good«, explains Maxi Rauch. In this context, the main question is what role public service broadcasting can play in these digital public spaces.
This semester, 18 students from Media Management (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar), Arts Management (University of Music FRANZ LISZT), Health Communication and Children's and Youth Media Studies (University of Erfurt), are studying this exact question. Through lectures, group projects, discussions with experts, and an excursion to the MDR studio in Leipzig, the students will develop a nuanced understanding of digital public spheres.
»The students critically examine how the public service mandate can be transferred to the digital realm«, says Markus Seifert. This increases awareness of »the role played by public service broadcasting in today’s society – and where its range is limited by the legal framework.« The students analyse challenges and opportunities and develop their own concepts for alternative platform models and formats, which will discussed in a panel discussion during »summaery2025«. After all: Anyone talking about digital environments today is negotiating social participation of the future.
The »Digital Environments: The Role of Public Service Broadcasting in Transforming Digital Information and Communication Spaces« course is taught by Jr. Prof. Jürgen Rösch Maxi-Josephine Rauch, scientific employee at the Junior Professorship of Digital Economies in cooperation with Dr. Markus Seifert from the University of Erfurt. Students from three universities and four degree programmes are involved in the project.
The project is funded by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar as part of the »Beyond Now ⸺ Environment« annual theme.
Text: Marie Kohlschreiber
Photos: Julian Linden
Social Media: Marit Haferkamp
Signet: Romi Klockau
Concept and Editorial: Claudia Weinreich