Dr. Hans Mathias Kepplinger
Professor für Empirische Kommunikationsforschung
am Institut für Publizistik der Universität Mainz

Curriculum Vitae short

Hans Mathias Kepplinger
Professor für Publizistik, Dr. phil.

Hans Mathias Kepplinger (born 1943) teaches political communication, journalism and media effects at the University of Mainz. I gained my Ph.D. in political science in 1970 and my postdoctoral lecturing qualification in communications in 1977. I was a Heisenberg scholarship holder of the German Science Foundation (1978-1982) and, after my appointment to the University of Mainz in 1982, I served as Director of the Institut fuer Publizistik, Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Member of the Senate. My firm international orientation has taken me as a visiting scholar to UC Berkeley, University of Tunis, Southern Illinois University, University of Munich (LMU), University of Zurich, University of Luzern, University of Lugano and Harvard University. I am a co-editor of the International Encyclopedia of Communication and sit on the editorial board of the Journal of Communication and the International Journal of Public Opinion Research. My main interests are in the role of mass media in conflicts, controversies and scandals; the relationship between reality covered, media coverage on reality, images of reality held by the population and its influences on decision makers; the relative influence of professional criteria like news factors and journalists attitudes on the selection and presentation of news.