MeReDiaN - Dialogue Network for Media Culture and Law

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Franziska Heller
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566741793

MeReDiaN (Dialogue Network for Media Culture and Law) brings together findings from different areas of research on the social transformations brought about by digitalisation. The project focuses on the methodological reflection and further development of interdisciplinary approaches, in particular within legal and media culture studies and their perspective on audio-visual media. The project aims to incorporate findings from both disciplines into the other to enable transdisciplinary basic research. Although both disciplines analyse similar research topics, there has been a lack of systematic interdisciplinary exchange to date. This is problematic because legal assessments of media phenomena are often based on assumptions that require contextualisation from a media culture studies standpoint. At the same time, media studies views the law as a set of dynamic, socio-cultural practices. Digitalisation increases the need to critically question normative legal assumptions about media and their consequences for media practices and hegemonic structures. The network is based on two thematic focal points: 1. Copyright law and the response to the legitimisation crisis. Digitalisation has fundamentally changed the perception, use and access to media. Legal norms that were developed for analogue contexts are often no longer up to date and need to be readjusted. This applies in particular to the distinction between the authorised use of copyrighted works in the public interest and the exclusive rights granted by copyright law. While the protection of authors has traditionally taken centre stage, copyright law today must also take the interests of creators and users into account. Otherwise, a loss of acceptance looms, especially for practices of everyday digital use. 2. Focus on visual and audiovisual media Within media studies, there is a need for a more specific understanding of the field’s audiovisual key debates in a praxeological, performative and socio-cultural context, and thus for a more consistent and pragmatic contextualisation of moving images within legally defined spaces of communication and media access. Therefore, both creative forms (such as memes, GIFs, short form videos) and modes of use as well as perceptions of visual realities and cinematic works need reflecting upon, taking into account their everyday, habitualised use, their media experience and legal standardisation. The basic theses of the network requiring methodologically analysis are as follows: - Law should adapt to the digital media and communication environment in an ‘environmentally sensitive’ way. - Media studies must contextualise audiovisual content more strongly and locate it pragmatically within digital communication spaces. - Law is a central contextual factor which needs to be systematically researched and incorporated.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Malte Stieper