Bernhard Pörksen (born 1969) is a German media scholar.

Life

Bernhard Pörksen studied

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, journalism and biology at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

. At the invitation of

Ivan Illich Ivan Dominic Illich ( ; ; 4 September 1926 – 2 December 2002) was an Austrian Catholic priest, Theology, theologian, philosopher, and social critic. His 1971 book ''Deschooling Society'' criticises modern society's institutional approach to ...

he spent several research periods at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

. Between 1996 and 1997, he worked both as a freelance journalist and as a voluntary editorial staff member of a newspaper. He has published essays, commentaries and critical contributions to debates in numerous German daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and online media. Between 1997 and 1999, Pörksen prepared his thesis entitled ''Die Konstruktion von Feindbildern: zum Sprachgebrauch in neonazistischen Medien'' (English: ''The construction of enemy images on the use of language by neo-Nazi media''). In 2000, he taught communication and linguistics at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

. From 2002 he held the position of a professor for journalism and communication studies at the

. In 2006 he deputized for the chair of communication theory and media culture at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. In 2007 he successfully completed the formal qualifying procedures for independent research and teaching as a university professor for communication and media studies (Habilitation). In 2008 he was offered the chair for media studies at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. In November 2008 he was elected "Professor of the Year" and awarded special honors for his

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...

activities. From 2009 to 2011 he was commissioner for the foundation and development of the institute of Media Studies at the University of Tübingen and its managing director. Pörksen is on the editorial board of multiple systemic-constructivist journals (

Constructivist Foundations ''Constructivist Foundations'' is an international triannual Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal that focuses on constructivist epistemology, constructivist approaches to science and philosophy, including radical constructivism, enactivism ...

Cybernetics and Human Knowing ''Cybernetics and Human Knowing: A Journal of Second Order Cybernetics, Autopoiesis & Cyber-Semiotics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering autopoiesis, biosemiotics, cognition, complexity, cybersemiotics, hermeneutics, infor ...

, and Familiendynamik). Among the central topics of his research, counselling, and lecturing activities are the dynamics of public outrage, media scandals and questions of media ethics, models and theories of communication, styles of stage management in politics and the media, and journalism and celebrity. He is in constant demand on the different media as a welcome partner for interviews and debates and regularly comments on topical media-political developments. His book on modern systems theory and the philosophy of constructivism (together with the Austrian-American cybernetics

Heinz von Foerster Heinz von Foerster (; November 13, 1911 – October 2, 2002) was an Austrian-American scientist combining physics and philosophy, and widely attributed as the originator of second-order cybernetics. He was twice a Guggenheim fellow (1956–57 and ...

and the Chilean neurobiologist

Humberto Maturana Humberto Maturana Romesín (September 14, 1928 – May 6, 2021) was a Chilean biologist and philosopher. Some name him a second-order cybernetics theoretician alongside the likes of Heinz von Foerster, Gordon Pask, Herbert Brün and Ern ...

) are available in German, English, Italian, Danish, Korean and Spanish. His 1998 publication together with von Foerster, "Truth is the invention of a liar", is meanwhile considered a classic of systemic thought. Pörksen has written several books, together with his students, dealing with current media topics ("Trendbuch Journalismus", "Skandal! - Die Macht öffentlicher Empörung" candal! The power of public outrage "Medienmenschen - Wie man Wirklichkeit inszeniert" edia personalities - How to stage realities "Die Casting-Gesellschaft" he casting society and "Die gehetzte Politik" gitated politics In the book written with the colleague Hanne Detel, "The unleashed scandal. The end of control in the digital age" he shows that the evolution and escalation of the scandal has entered a new phase in the digital age. The claim is that each and everyone can nowadays trigger a scandal, and that each and everyone can become its target and victim. Traditional dramaturgical principles of the classical mass media, e.g. the height of a plunge to the depths, are no longer key criteria. The fundamental implication of the authors' analyses is that the uncontrollability of public effects has become an integral part of everybody's daily experience.

Books in English

* with Heinz von Foerster: Understanding Systems. Conversations on Epistemology and Ethics. Carl-Auer-Systeme/Kluwer Academic; Publication/Plenum Publishers, Heidelberg/New York 2002. * The Certainty of Unvertainty - Dialogues Introducing Constructivism. Imprint Academic, Exter 2004. *with Humberto R. Maturana: From Being to Doing. The Origins of the Biology of Cognition. Carl Auer, Heidelberg 2004. *The Creation of Reality. A Constructivist Epistemology of Journalism and Journalism Education. Imprint Academic, Exter 2011. * with Hanne Detel: The unleashed scandal. The end of control in the digital age. Imprint Academic, Exeter 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porksen, Bernhard 1969 births Living people German mass media scholars Place of birth missing (living people) University of Hamburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Academic staff of the University of Münster Academic staff of the University of Tübingen