Christina von Hodenberg

Expeditionen in den Methodendschungel. Herausforderungen der Zeitgeschichtsforschung im Fernsehzeitalter

Expeditions into the Jungle of Methods. The Challenges of Contemporary Historical Research in the Age of TelevisionWriting history in the television age involves particular challenges. How can cont...Expeditions into the Jungle of Methods. The Challenges of Contemporary Historical Research in the Age of Television Writing history in the television age involves particular challenges. How can contemporary historians adapt to the rising importance of audio-visual, electronic mass media since the second half of the twentieth century? The article highlights a number of new approaches, all of which go beyond the understanding of mass media as a mere mirror of developments and emphasise their specific historical agency. Five different swathes will be cut through the methodological and theoretical jungle: (1) actor-centred models, (2) international comparison and transnational entanglements, (3) intermedial comparison, (4) medialisation and (5) reception history in the «era of limited choice» using the concepts reach, standing, framing and agenda-setting. The article summarises the state of the field in both media studies and history and explores the possibilities of interdisciplinary dialogue.

Mass Media and the Generation of Conflict: West Germany's Long Sixties and the Formation of a Critical Public Sphere

From the 1950s to 1970s the West German public sphere underwent a rapid politicisation which was part of the ongoing socio-cultural democratisation of the Federal Republic. This article examines the role of the mass media and journalistic elites in bringing about this change. It analyses how and when political coverage in the media evolved from an instrument of consensus to a forum of conflict. Arguing that generational shifts in journalism were crucial to this process, two generations, termed the ‘45ers’ and the ‘68ers’, are described in regard to their professional ethos and their attitudes toward democracy, mass culture, German traditions and Western models.

Of German Fräuleins, Nazi Werewolves, and Iraqi Insurgents: The American Fascination with Hitler's Last Foray

Many aspects of the German-American encounter during the Second World War remain deeply engraved in the American mind. One of them is the story of the German “werewolves,” Hitlers last underground fighters, who challenged the occupying armies in the wars closing months. The werewolf threat made a lasting impression on American troops and media at the time, and on American collective memory up to today. This article traces how the Nazi insurgents became part of an older mythical narrative that continues to infuse not only American popular culture, but even contemporary elite and political discourse. One of the more recent examples is Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfelds effort to compare the Nazi werewolves with the Iraqi insurgents whose attacks have plagued the occupied country since the American invasion.

Square-Eyed Farmers and Gloomy Ethnographers: The Advent of Television in the West German Village

During the 1950s and 1960s, television arrived in the West German countryside. All across Westphalia, elderly villagers recorded how their lives changed because of it. Their reports, solicited by e...During the 1950s and 1960s, television arrived in the West German countryside. All across Westphalia, elderly villagers recorded how their lives changed because of it. Their reports, solicited by ethnographers at a Münster folklore archive, allow unprecedented insight into TV’s impact on daily schedules, family routines, living rooms, neighbourly networks, local associations and church activities. This rare body of sources allows us to test the claims of media researchers about television’s early phase. It confirms that television accelerated the ongoing modernization, nationalization and politicization of rural society, rapidly reshaping village life. Only the patriarchal family – the decline of which contemporary ethnographers were most worried about – emerged unscathed.

Exemplarische Studie: Auf der Suche nach dem Zuschauer. Rezeptionsforschung im Archiv

Am Anfang meines Buchprojekts stand das Interesse an einer sensationell erfolgreichen Familienserie der 1970er Jahre: Ein Herz und eine Seele. Deren Held, vom Volksmund „Ekel Alfred“ getauft, war die satirische Umkehrung des gutigen Oberhaupts fruherer Fernsehfamilien: ein ungehobelter, ungebildeter, konservativer Rassist, der seine unterbelichtete Ehefrau herumkommandierte und den anti-autoritaren Schwiegersohn in heise Wortgefechte verwickelte. Mit Ein Herz und eine Seele hatte das westdeutsche Fernsehen umgeschwenkt: von der harmonischen Familienserie hin zur Parodie patriarchalischer und autoritarer Normen. Und die Zuschauer waren begeistert. Nachdem die Serie vom Geheimtipp im dritten WDR-Programm zum bundesweiten Renner avancierte (das war zu Silvester 1973/1974), verzeichnete die ARD Einschaltquoten von 48 bis 70 Prozent. Im Durchschnitt schauten jedes Mal 20 Millionen zu, also ein Drittel der westdeutschen Bevolkerung (vgl. WDR Nr. 8575).

Roundtable. Writing (media) history in the age of audio-visual and digital media

Introductory Remarks The new media of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries present particular challenges to historians. To what extent have historians taken these challenges on board, and what remains to be done? Where are the gaps in current scholarship, and what are the most promising avenues for future research? In order to stimulate discussion, the Journal of Modern European History invited four experts to respond to these questions: Michael Meyen (Munich), Jérôme Bourdon (Tel Aviv/ Paris), Frank Bösch (Potsdam) and Lynn Spigel (Chicago). As this journal issue attempts to build bridges and facilitate dialogue between the fields of history, mass communication and media and television studies, to a certain extent, these distinguished scholars represent their academic fields. Lynn Spigel’s works are well known in the world of television Studies. Michael Meyen’s research is part of the historically focused strand of German communication studies, while historians Frank Bösch and Jérôme Bourdon have contributed to our understanding of how mass media shape long-term societal and political developments. The four statements offer intriguingly different perspectives on the future of media history, introducing us to the key concepts and writings in each field along the way. It is high time that historians debated the current standards in teaching and researching media history. As all four experts mention, historians are still held back by the dismal state of mass media archives in most countries. The output of audio-visual and digital media is still widely regarded as private commodity, and national or international authorities rarely feel responsible for collecting and organising media heritage. This situation cries out for a remedy – precisely because today, scholars in the field of contemporary history have come to reject the Rankean tradition of the primacy of research in state archives. In an attempt to supplement official documentation with sources generated by society rather than state, and by local, regional or global agencies instead of national ones, many historians increasingly turn to mass media sources. Frank Bösch, Jérôme Bourdon, Michael Meyen, Lynn Spigel Roundtable. Writing (Media) History in the Age of Audio-Visual and Digital media.