1973–75 Fulbright Scholar at Brandeis. 1978 PhD, thesis “Towards a Sociology of Alternatives”; (visiting) positions at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Wuppertal, Amsterdam, Harvard, Siegen, Mannheim, Constance; since 2002 a Professor of Mass Communication, Jacobs University Bremen. He initiated the Project News Enlightenment in 1997 and international cooperation on Key Visuals and http://www.nachrichtenaufklaerung.de. Co-chair of the Research Network Sociology of Communications and Media Research, European Sociological Association (2008–2011).