Academic freedom applies in Germany.
In the case of a professor from LMU Munich, however, it is now questionable how far this may go.
Munich - Michael Meyen is Professor at the Institute for Communication Studies and Media Research at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich *.
According to
BR
information
, he held
his lecture "Qualitative Methods" online in the
2020/21 winter semester
.
It is an event for freshmen in the Bachelor's degree, which is intended to provide the basics in communication science.
For the introductory handout of the aforementioned online lecture, Professor Meyen linked the website of the controversial conspiracy theorist Ken Jebsen.
However, it was noticeable that it was not a critical discussion of the content, but an uncommented source, as the
BR
reported.
Now the question arose: How far can this freedom of science go?
In handout for online lecture: LMU professor links conspiracy website as source
A click on the link directed the students to a "KenFM" contribution. It was about the "dark side of Wikipedia". According to
BR
, it read: “However, when it comes to current affairs or people who deal with current affairs, Wikipedia always becomes partisan when articles dealing with terrorism, for example, deviate from the mainstream. Whenever an analysis of a scientific paper runs counter to a US world view, only the view of the US organization Wikipedia is published. In return, the author of the alternative view quickly receives an entry as a conspiracy theorist or is listed along with Holocaust deniers. This bullying is a slander and has a system. "
The Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution has now classified the Jebsen portal as a suspected case and its YouTube channel has been blocked.
The reason was several rule violations against the guidelines of the video platform.
"Ken FM" interview on university website: Professor also runs his own blog
Michael Meyen did not only use Jebsen's platform in his lectures.
On the LMU website, the professor has linked to an interview that Ken Jebsen conducted with him, introducing himself.
He also listed his own blog “Media Reality” there.
In it he takes a critical look at media coverage and at the same time deals with political and social issues.
What should be noted here: Some of his LMU colleagues criticize Michael Meyen among his contributions for inadequate standards.
For example, the head of the Institute for Communication Sciences, Professor Carsten Reinemann.
The social psychologist at the University of Mainz, Pia Lamberty, also worked on Meyen's blog.
On the one hand, she said that his texts were not fully formulated conspiracy theories, but that, from her point of view, they were tendentious.
"There were connections to conspiracy-ideological narratives," she said according to the
BR
.
After a link on the "Ken FM" website: Professor does not want to comment on this
In response to a request from
Bayerischer Rundfunk
on the subject, Michael Meyen said: "Whatever I write, you trim it so that it fits into your story."
The LMU justified the whole thing with the basic right to freedom of science.
"Incidentally, the basic right of academic freedom applies to university lecturers in particular, provided that no illegal, especially criminal content is evident," the
BR
quotes
the university.
It is permissible to refer to other websites on the university website, as the LMU is not responsible for the content of other websites.
Where does freedom of science end?
Researcher Michael Reder explains
For Michael Reder, Vice President at the University of Philosophy in Munich and researcher on freedom of science, it is part of the process that scientists think outside the box and critically examine what already exists.
It becomes a problem if, in turn, scientists as political citizens disregard the basic values of the German constitution or express themselves in such a way that this violates the Basic Law.
As a further explanation, he cited when scientists “use their image to use scientific authority over general political opinions in order to give more weight”.
That is why he sees the case at LMU as problematic.
Meanwhile, according to
BR,
Michael Meyen's students exchanged
views on the professor's theses via a WhatsApp group, with the question of how best to deal with them.
In addition, they asked the student council of communication studies for help.
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