Prof. Dr. Romy Fröhlich

Romy Fröhlich has built a reputation for her work on the influence of (political) public relations on media coverage/journalism, as well as her work on the media coverage of war and violence. For more than 20 years, she has published nationally and internationally on both topics, and she regularly presents her findings at top scientific conferences around the world. A special emphasis of her work relates to gender sensitive aspects [e. g., “The coverage of war, security, and defense policy: Do Women matter?” European Journal of Communication, 25(1), 2010, pp. 1–10). Together with Helmut Scherer, she has been Principal Investigator in the to date only existing longitudinal content analysis of the media coverage of war (over a period of 10 years; funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)).

On 1.1.2014 her latest research project started: "(In)Forming Conflict Prevention, Response and Resolution: The Role of Media in Violent Conflict (INFOCORE)". INFOCORE is an international collaborative research project funded under the 7th European Framework Program of the European Commission. It comprises leading experts from all social sciences, and includes nine renowned research institutions from seven countries. Its main aim is to investigate the role(s) that media play in the emergence or prevention, the escalation or de-escalation, the management, resolution, and reconciliation of violent conflict. The researchfunding ended 12/2016; the consortium however continues to collaborates and to study. The INFOCORE data sets keeps it further busy for a long time.

Romy Fröhlich is part of a dense international network of scholars that has, among other things, led to the publication of four edited volumes comprising a variety of authors from different countries within and beyond Europe: (1) “Journalism education in Europe and North America. An international comparison” (London: Hampton Press, 2003; co-edited with Christina Holtz-Bacha); (2) “Women journalists in the Western world: Equal opportunities and what surveys tell us.” (Cresskill, N.J.: Hampton Press, 2008; co-edited with Sue Lafky). (3) “Routledge Handbook of Media, Conflict and Security” (London, New York: Routledge, 2016; co-edited with Piers Robinson and Philip Sei); and (4) "Media in War and Armed Conflict. Dynamics of Conflict News Production and Dissemination" (London, New York: Routledge, 2018).

Romy Fröhlich is editor of one of Germany’s main textbooks on the theory and practice of public relations (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag; co-edited with Günter Bentele and Peter Szyszka). She serves on the editorial (advisory) boards of several leading international scientific journals (“Corporate Communication”, “Studies in Communication Sciences”, ”Journalism & Mass Communication Editor”, “Communication, Culture & Critique” and “Feminist Media Studies”). She is a member of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) (2002–2006: President; 1998–2002: Vice President), International Communication Association (ICA), International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) (2000–2005: Member of the Leading Council of the Professional Education Division). Between 2007 and 2017, she chaired LMU’s Mentoring Program for Young Female Scientists at the Faculty for Social Sciences (by appointment through the university’s president).

Publications