Barbara Baerns

Barbara Baerns , née Barbara Beckmann , (born February 8, 1939 in Rinteln ) is a German communications scientist and, since 2004 , professor emeritus for theory and practice of journalism and public relations at the Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin).

Life

Course

Baerns went to her hometown to school and placed at the city's gymnasium , the matriculation examination from. In 1959 she began studying journalism , German , theater studies and English in Berlin . In 1967 it was named “East and West: A Magazine Between the Fronts. The political function of a literary magazine during the occupation (1945-1949) " at the Free University Berlin PhD . She completed her habilitation in 1982 at the Ruhr University Bochum with "Public Relations and Journalism - On Notation and Punctuation of Latent Relationships (An Attempt at an empirical-analytical approach by determining influences in the media system)" and thus received the Venia legendi for the subject of journalism and communication studies .

Professional positions

Baerns has been working as a journalist and in public relations since 1960 . After completing her doctorate, she worked from 1967 in Hanover as a press and culture officer in the United States Information Center ( Amerika-Haus ) and from 1969 as a political editor for the Neue Hannoversche Presse . From 1971 to 1973 Baerns worked for the PR department of Coca Cola Central Europe , from 1972 as its head. When she moved to the Neue Ruhr Zeitung in Essen in 1973 , she worked again as a political editor for a year.

In 1974 Baerns took up a position as a research assistant in the Journalism and Communication section of the Ruhr University Bochum , where she was appointed Academic Councilor in 1975, Academic Senior Counselor in 1977 and finally in 1982 as C2 professor of the section. In 1989, Bearns accepted a call to the Free University of Berlin , where she was appointed to the C3 professorship for Theory and Practice of Journalism and Public Relations at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies. There they built on the headed by her workspace publicity as the first in Germany a major field of study Public Relations on, later the postgraduate Integrated came degree program "European Master's Degree in Public Relations (Communication Management)" added. In 2004 Baerns retired and since then has worked exclusively in research at the Free University of Berlin. Barbara Baerns is married to the chemist Manfred Baerns .

Scientific work

Among the communication scientists in Germany Baerns was one of the first to the late 1970s, the role and influence of public relations and public relations (PR) in the realization of journalistic services themed and since then continually analyzed. In her study, which was completed in 1981, she compared the state political public relations work in North Rhine-Westphalia in the form of press releases and press conferences with the general reporting on state political issues in the press . There she came to the conclusion that PR had the issues and timing of the media under control and was therefore the main determinant of journalistic reporting. This formulation led to the establishment of the so-called " determination thesis " being ascribed to it; Baerns himself, however, considers this to be incorrect.

Due to her academic work, Baerns was visiting professor at several universities in Germany, but also abroad. She is also active in other functions: for example, since 1996 as a member of the editorial board and reviewer of the refereed journal Journal of Communication Management - An International Journal , since 1996 in the scientific advisory board of the Federal Center for Health Education and as an honorary board member of the German Institute for Public Relations (DIPR) and the German Public Relations Society (DPRG).

Fonts

• East and West: A magazine between d. Fronts. To the political function e. literary. Magazine in d. Occupation (1945–1949) Münster (Westphalia): Fahle 1968
• Public Relations or Journalism? On the influence in the media system. Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft u. Politics 1985 ISBN 3-8046-8635-4
• (Ed.): The GDR in Germany. Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft u. Politics 1986 ISBN 3-8046-8664-8
• (Ed.): PR success control: measuring and evaluating in public relations; Procedures, strategies, examples. Frankfurt am Main: IMK (Institute for Media Development and Communication GmbH in the publishing group Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH) 1995 ISBN 3-927282-34-0
• Surreptitious advertising is not worth it! A plea for a clear separation of editorial and advertising in the media. Neuwied; Kriftel; Berlin: Luchterhand 1996 ISBN 3-472-02541-7
• (Ed.): Information and communication in Europe: Research and practice = Transnational communication in Europe. Berlin: Vistas 2000 ISBN 3-89158-288-9
• (Ed.): Guiding principles from yesterday? To separate advertising and program; a problem sketch and introduction. Wiesbaden: VS 2004 ISBN 3-531-13354-3

Web links

• Baerns' Homepage FU Berlin, Institute for Media and Communication Studies
• Barbara Baerns : Biographical Lexicon of Communication Studies (edited by M. Meyen / Th. Wiedemann), H. von Halem Verlag, Cologne 2014 (accessed April 25, 2014)