The Authors

Bernhard Poerksen, *1969, is professor of media studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany. His research projects analyse the styles of impression and image management in politics and the media, he regularly contributes comments on current affairs and debates to newspapers, radio, and television. The book he wrote in 1998 with the physicist Heinz von Foerster about the truth in perception (Truth is the Invention of a Liar) became a bestseller and is now considered a classic of systemic thought. In 2008 Bernhard Poerksen was honoured for the quality of his teaching and chosen “Professor of the Year”.

Hanne Detel, *1983, is research associate at the Department of Media Studies, University of Tübingen, Germany. Her primary research concerns are media theories, mediatisation, the Social Web, scandalisation, and (unwanted) celebrity in the digital age. She studied journalism and communication as well as public law in Hamburg and Stellenbosch/ South Africa - on a scholarship awarded by the German National Academic Foundation. In parallel, she completed her practical journalism training and worked with the German Press Agency (dpa).