DR. LUTZ MÜKKE

4/2003 – 2/2012 Assistant Professor & Member of Academic Staff

University of Leipzig, Department Communication and Media Science & Institute for Applied Journalism Research, Leipzig Areas of responsibility: study coordinator; member of curriculum board, the Bologna committee and the admission examination committee; study advisor; researcher; lecturer; event management, supervising theses.

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5/2016 – 10/2020 Lead Project Coordinator for international research collaborations

Areas of responsibility: leading international teams, conceptional planing, producing, fundraising, provenience research on looted and stolen cultural property from Africa Cooperation partners: The Guardian, Daily Trust (Nigeria), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Leipziger Volkszeitung (Germany), ZAM (Netherlands), Internazionale (Italy), The Continent (South Africa), Courrier International (France).

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1/2014 – 4/2016 Academic Director

European Institute for Journalism and Communication Research (www.eijc.eu), Areas of responsibility: strategic development of the institute, collaborations with other academic institutions (Westminster and Ghent University, among others), supervision of research (BA, MA, PhD), event organization, fundraising.

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3/2012 – 4/2016 Project Coordinator & Chief Executive Officer

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, www.ecpmf.eu Areas of responsibility: conceptualizing and organizing the founding process, fundraising and establishing large-scale capacity building initiative of an pan-European co-operative (SCE) for media freedom in collaboration with the European Commission and the President and VicePresident of the European Parliament: 25 member organizations from 20 European states including academia, industries, unions, campaign organizations, law firms.

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4/2003 – 2/2012 Assistant Professor & Member of Academic Staff

University of Leipzig, Department Communication and Media Science & Institute for Applied Journalism Research, Leipzig Areas of responsibility: study coordinator; member of curriculum board, the Bologna committee and the admission examination committee; study advisor; researcher; lecturer; event management, supervising theses.

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5/2003 – Co-Editor (former editor-in-chief, editor & reporter)

Message – International Journalism Journal, Hamburg/Germany, message-online.com Areas of responsibility: HR, fundraising, conceptual planing & strategical development, supervision of international authors and editorial team, research & writing, events.

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5/1998 – 11/2002 Research Assistant

Institute of Communications and Media Sciences, University of Leipzig Areas of responsibility: teaching, research.

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1996 – Independent Reporter & Researcher

Crisis and war reporter (print, TV, photo) in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Mali, Niger, Northern Nigeria, among others. Foreign news reporter in Algeria, Canada, Kenya, Mexico, Montserrat, Myanmar, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, among others. Focus topics: African affairs, global politics, natural resources, environment technologies, cultural heritage, provenience research, mass media, crisis and war. Media collaborations (print, TV, online), among others: Internazionale, The Guardian Nigeria, The Observer, ZAM, The Continent, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Message, taz, ARD (SWR, WDR, MDR, Monitor), AP, Pro7, Welt am Sonntag, Westdeutscher Verlag, Halem Publishing House, afrika spektrum, Badische Zeitung, CW, Leipziger Volkszeitung, Freies Wort, Frankenpost, Magdeburger Volksstimme, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, Krammer-Verlag, Süddeutsche Zeitung.

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Professional Societies & Boards

• Deputy Board Member of Deutsche Welle (German international broadcaster, in 32 languages, channels in English, German, Spanish, and Arabic, approx. 3.000 employees in 60 countries).

• Chairman Africa Vagabonds, charitable pan-African-European education organization

• Member of German Society for Communication Research

• Member of European Institute for Journalism and Communication Research

• Member of European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

• Member of Netzwerk Recherche, German organisation of investigative journalists

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Courses & Seminars

Selection from 2003 – 2018, at University of Leipzig; Graduate School of Management; Leipzig Media School; European Centre for Press and Media Research; and various education institutions & initiatives.

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Theory/methodology

• Qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical research • Media systems • Methodical journalistic investigations

Globalization/stereotypes/framing/foreign news

• Foreign reporting in transition

• International media systems in transition

• The "Third World" in the mass media

• The distorted image of Africa in mass media

• European Journalism

• Foreign correspondents and propaganda in the Cold War

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Management/digitization/new media

• New media & journalism

• Management of relaunches

• The future of journalism

• Editorial decision-making

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Narration, feature & portrait

• The power and limits of journalistic narration

• Reportage workshop

• What was it like back then? – Autobiographical narration and writing

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Project & research seminars

• PR & propaganda versus independent journalism

• Divergent perspectives of foreign coverage in different media systems

• Risky investigations? - A seminar on investigations in right-wing extremism

• What did great-grandfather do during the 2nd World War? - Research of trans-generational family histories and traumata

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Supervised theses (shortlist)

Assessor BA & MA theses, selection from 2010-18, University of Leipzig & Leipzig School of Media

1. Representation of “everyday life” in foreign reporting of mass media

2. Cooperation of Deutsche Welle with China

3. The Determinants of Foreign Reporting – An Investigation Using the Example of German Correspondents in Israel and the Palestinian Territories

4. Propaganda in the Afghanistan coverage of national media

5. Intercultural communication of German foreign journalists

6. International media aid in Kosovo – goals and limits

7. User-generated content in Iran reporting

8. How critical is science journalism?

9. The journalist as narrater in cyberspace. Possibilities of multivariate narration in online journalism

10. The battle field of PR and journalism

11. Clueless abroad? Requirements and training standards for foreign reporters

12. Reporting structures on the coup d'état in Honduras 2009

13. Working conditions and role perceptions of stringers in Israel and Palestine

14. Media as an instrument of social control using the example of reporting on the Munich Security Conference

15. The PR & Propaganda of German armed forces in Afghanistan coverage

16. How well do daily newspapers inform without the news agency dpa?

17. User-generated content in Iran reporting

18. A comparison of changed research conditions in Germany and the United Kingdom

19. Western correspondents in the focus of East German state security

20. Scholarships for journalistic investigations in German-speaking countries

21. The “homo economicus” in the work of reporters

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Awards & Grants

• Diligence and Courage, grant for investigative research (2017 and 2019)

• OLIN and Netzwerk Recherche investigative journalism grant (2018)

• PhD research grant by Savings Bank (2003 - 2007)

• Research grant by German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) (2006)

• Otto Brenner Award for Critical Journalism (2006)

• Grant by the Federal Republic of Germany “Memory, Responsibility, and Future” (2005)

• Natali Lorenzo Prize for Democracy, Human Rights, and Development, awarded by the EU Commission, Brussels (2005)

• Research grant by German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) (1999 - 2000)

• Research grant by Netzwerk Recherche (2002 - 2003)

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Fundraising success

Approx. 2 Mill. euros from foundations, government funds, private donors, and industries in Germany and Europe

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