The practice of contradicting is essential to democratic societies. Contradicting opens up spaces for voices that tend to go unheard, while also calling into question authority figures, whose power would otherwise seem unassailable. Contradicting is not a new phenomenon; however, thanks to digital media there are new ways to practice contradicting that are louder, faster, and more varied than before. These developments have led to the public sphere becoming more volatile, dynamic, and fragile. They also pose a significant challenge to how societies form consensus and mutual understanding because the conditions necessary for democratic debate are severely destabilized by aggressive, raucous, and insulting forms of contradicting. In this sense, contradicting can be understood as a paradoxical intervention in the public sphere.

There are seven female researchers from communication and media studies leading individual projects within the research unit. They come from universities across Germany, including Freie Universität Berlin, University of Tübingen, University of Augsburg, University of Münster, and Film University Babelsberg. Together they will examine contemporary digital forms of contradicting as well as historical forms, focusing in particular how contradicting appears in and through different media.

They are also interested in how contradicting is practiced under conditions of social inequality regarding gender, cultural belonging, social class, and economic agency. Their projects investigate who gets heard in public debates, who is able to voice contradictions, and whose voices are dampened or even silenced. To this end, they analyze media structures, such as platform economies and the rules of censorship, but also the social conditions that influence the range of possible actions different actors in a society have.

The two subprojects situated at Freie Universität Berlin will explore different historical and contemporary forms of contradicting. Specifically, one project looks at how migrant journalists starting in the 1960s attempted to voice contradictions, a practice which later became institutionalized. The other project is concerned with the media practices of pro-Palestinian activists and how their capacity to publicly articulate their positions, be it support or criticism, has been restricted through platform policies and interventions by political figures.

“Our research unit’s goal is to broaden our understanding of publics. Conflicts, interventions, and contradicting are not necessarily problematic. In fact, they can be necessary to enable marginalized voices to be heard. Still, we need to gain a more precise understanding of which conditions allow contradicting to contribute to the inclusion of unheard voices and which make contradicting a threat to democratic structures,” says Lünenborg. “Given current public debates that often involve heated controversies, our researchers are making important contributions to better understanding how to successfully promote democratic participation.”
Further Information

Read the DFG’s press release here (in German): https://www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles/neuigkeiten-themen/pressemitteilungen/2026/press...

Contact
- Prof. Dr. Margreth Lünenborg, Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Email: margreth.luenenborg@fu-berlin.de