Saskia Sell

Saskia Sell is a Research Associate at the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Free University of Berlin. She has been working at the university since 2010, with a focus on teaching and research in journalism and communication studies. Currently on parental leave since April 2017, she previously served as a PostDoc Research Associate with teaching responsibilities and as a Research Fellow at the Margherita-von-Brentano-Zentrum.

Dr. Sell earned her doctorate in Journalism and Communication Studies from the Free University of Berlin in 2016 with a dissertation on "Communication Freedom: Emancipatory Discourses in the Context of Media-Technological Development Processes." Her academic background includes a Magister degree (equivalent to MA) in English/American Studies and Journalism and Communication Studies (2004-2010), with studies at multiple institutions including Humboldt University Berlin, Free University Berlin, University of Warwick, and New York University.

Her primary research interests center around Media Witnessing and Communication Freedom, exploring how digital technologies transform public discourse and democratic processes. She investigates the relationship between ICT technology and society, with particular attention to digital journalism ethics and the changing nature of public spheres in the digital age. Her work often examines the tension between technological possibilities and ethical considerations in communication practices, with increasing focus on truth verification mechanisms in online environments.

Dr. Sell's recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward examining truth verification in digital contexts, media witnessing, and the ethical challenges of digital journalism. Her work increasingly applies epistemic justice frameworks to understand credibility issues in digital communication, analyzing how power dynamics affect whose testimony is accepted as credible in online public spheres.

• BZHL Best Practice Project award for "Freedom of the Press - Normative Origins and Global Challenges" seminar
• Certified higher education teaching qualification from Berlin Center for University Teaching

Dr. Sell has supervised numerous bachelor's and master's theses in journalism research and has developed practical journalism projects including the MedienLabor relaunch and political data visualization projects. Her teaching integrates theoretical concepts with practical journalistic skills, particularly in digital journalism contexts, and she has coordinated the "Journalism in Dialogue" discussion series.

She is actively involved in research collaborations focusing on digital communication ethics, including the edited volume "Media and Truth: Media Ethical Perspectives on Disinformation, Lies, and 'Fake News'" and ongoing work with the European Training Network "G-Versity – Achieving Gender Diversity."