Staff Profile

Introduction

I joined Newcastle University's School of Arts and Cultures in September 2016 as a Lecturer in Journalism. Previously I acted as a Lecturer in Media and Director of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies at Liverpool Hope University. I hold a PhD in Journalism Studies from the University of Lincoln where I also worked as a Lecturer as well as an investigator on the John Pilger Digital Archive Project. As part of this work, I have produced the digital archive of John Pilger's journalism which has been acquired by the British Library and which brings together for the first time nearly 1,500 of Pilger's news reports. I have started my academic career in 2005 as a research assistant and lecturer at the German Sport University Cologne.

For many years, I have been working as a freelance journalist and advisor for the German socio-political magazine Publik-Forum. I am specialised in writing investigative reports based on public documents. Currently, I am writing a column monitoring German news media reporting of international politics published bimonthly in Publik-Forum EXTRA Leben. I have also written opinion columns for the Latin American multimedia platform teleSUR. Some of my writings have been published with Peace News, Truthout, on the US independent media website ZNet and on Monthly Review online.

My teaching experience is in the areas of journalism practice and theory, conflict and crisis reporting, human rights and ethics for journalists, the sociology of news production, propaganda studies, news and foreign policy, political economy of the media, media and power, media industries, and research methods.

My research assesses the relationship between news media reporting, democracy and power from a political economy perspective. I am particularly interested in the critical study of comparative news media reporting of conflict, human rights and peace processes in the context of international national news coverage. I am also interested in news reporting of US, UK and EU foreign policy in the Middle East. I have done extensive research on the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model and the application of critical media theory. A second strand of my research looks at how the emergence of the new media environment has affected the applicability of orthodox media theories. More recently, I have started looking at the role of propaganda and other forms of organised persuasion in liberal democracies.

My research has been published in international academic journals and edited collections. With Richard Lance Keeble and John Tulloch I jointly edited Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution (New York: Peter Lang 2010). My latest monograph assessing US, UK and German news media coverage of military operations in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt is titled Media, Propaganda and the Politics of Intervention (New York: Peter Lang, 2017). Reviews of the book have been published in Peace News, European Journal of Communication, Cooperation and Conflict, E-International Relations, as well as Journal of Peace Research. Some of the findings of the book are discussed in an interview in openDemocracyUK. Recent interviews on propaganda and foreign policy were published by Renegade Inc (with Dr Piers Robinson of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies), Leipziger Volkszeitung and  Nachdenkseiten (two interviews in German language, here and here).

My general research interests are in the following areas: comparative media studies, conflict and crisis reporting, propaganda, bias in the news and foreign policy, discourse analysis, the sociology of news production, professional journalism and ethics, peace journalism, John Pilger's journalism, the new media environment, the political economy of media and power, and terrorism studies.

Qualifications

PhD in Journalism Studies ('Manufacturing Wars? A Comparative Analysis of US, UK and German Corporate Press Coverage of the US Occupation of Iraq', 2013), University of Lincoln, UK
Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Liverpool Hope University
German University Diploma in Sport, Media and Communication, German Sport University Cologne

Memberships of Professional Organisations

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Board Member: Institute of Communication Ethics
Editorial Board: Journal of George Orwell Studies

International Review Board: Synaesthesia: Communication Across Cultures 
Member: International Studies Association (ISA)
Member: Network for Organised Persuasive Communication and Contemporary Propaganda

Member: Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media

See my profiles @

Researchgate.net

Academia.edu

Google Scholar

Twitter

My research is situated in the area of comparative media studies and analyses how foreign policy, conflict and human rights are represented in the news media. This research aims at developing an international perspective into news coverage/discourses as well as conflict reporting.

I have a particular interest in news reporting of US, UK and EU foreign policy in the Middle East and elswhere.

I am also interested in the application of critical media theory and have conducted extensive research on the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model and related approaches. 

My latest comparative monograph titled Media, Propaganda and the Politics of Intervention (New York: Peter Lang, 2017) assesses UK, US and German news media coverage of human rights violations in Kosovo (1999), Iraq (post 2004), Libya (2011), Egypt (2013) and Syria (2012). Reviews of the book have been published in Peace News, European Journal of Communication, Cooperation and Conflict, E-International Relations as well as Journal of Peace Research. Some of the findings of the book are discussed in an interview in openDemocracyUK and in a piece in MRonline. Other research has been published with Peace News.

With Richard Lance Keeble and John Tulloch I jointly edited Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution (New York: Peter Lang 2010).

Further research has been published in international academic journals and edited collections.

More recently, I have been researching how digital changes in technology have affected the development of the global news media industry. 

I am also interested in the relationship between news organisations and organised persuasive communication (OPC), which has traditionally been labelled as propaganda. My latest research on propaganda titled Bringing Propaganda Back into News Media Studies has been published in Critical Sociology. A new text on the role of propaganda in German politics titled Ideologische Integration, massenmediale Täuschung: Zur Rolle von Propaganda in liberalen Demokratien has been published by the German Network of Critical Communication Scientists with Leipzig University Press (open access in German language).

My general research approach is to look critically at the relationship between news reporting/discourse, democracy and power from a political economy perspective.

I am also interested in John Pilger's journalism in the context of the history of the British press as I have produced the digital archive of Pilger's journalism which has been acquired by the British Library and which brings together for the first time nearly 1,500 of Pilger's news reports.

I welcome proposals by potential PhD students, please get in touch via email.

MCH1025: Introduction to Scholarly Practice

MCH2220: Conflict and Crisis Reporting

• Articles

  • Zollmann F. A War Foretold: How Western Mainstream News Media Omitted NATO Eastward Expansion as a Contributing Factor to Russia's 2022 Invasion of the Ukraine. Media, War & Conflict 2024, 17(3), 373-392.
  • Zollmann F. Von wissenschaftlicher Relativierung und Differenzierung: Warum Siegfried Weischenbergs Einschätzung von Noam Chomskys Propaganda-Ansatz falsch ist. Journalistik 2022, 5(1), 79-87.
  • Klaehn J, Zollmann F, Kahn M. Talking Communication Studies: Negotiating Power and Promise. Javnost - The Public 2022, 29(4), 337-353.
  • Zollmann F, Coles TJ. Anatomy of a Propaganda Campaign: Jeremy Corbyn's Political Assassination. Monthly Review 2022, 73(9), 39-53.
  • Zollmann F. Bringing Propaganda Back into News Media Studies. Critical Sociology 2019, 45(3), 329-345.
  • Zollmann F, Klaehn J, Sikka T, Comeforo K, Broudy D, Troeger M, Poole E, Edgley A, Mullen A. The Propaganda Model and Intersectionality: Integrating Separate Paradigms. Media Theory 2018, 2(2), 213-239.
  • Klaehn J, Godler Y, Mullen A, Broudy D, Pedro-Caranana J, Mills T, Zollmann F. The Propaganda Model and Black Boxes?. Media Theory 2018, 2(2), 192-212.
  • Klaehn J, Broudy D, Fuchs C, Godler Y, Zollmann F, Chomsky N, Pedro-Caranana J, Mills T, Boyd-Barrett O. Media Theory, Public Relevance and the Propaganda Model Today. Media Theory 2018, 2(2), 164-191.
  • Zollmann F. The Yemen and Crimean interventions in the ideological prisms of the 'liberal' Anglo-American press. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics 2016, 13(1), 39-43.
  • Zollmann F. Bad news from Fallujah. Media, War & Conflict 2015, 8(3), 345-367.
  • Zollmann F. Ethische Dilemma der Kriegsberichterstattung: Zur gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung des Journalismus in Kriegszeiten. Journalistik 2013, 16(1).
  • Zollmann F. Doublethink in the mass media: Fallujah and the politics of human rights reporting. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics 2012, 8(1-2), 25-31.
  • Zollmann F. Staatsverbrechen: Der Journalist John Pilger zeigt die Wahrheit. Publik-Forum 2011, (12), 52-59.
  • Zollmann F. Managing the elite consensus: A critical analysis of press discourses over warfare in Iraq. Global Media and Communication 2011, 7(3), 263-268.
  • Zollmann F. Paper of record or paper of power? How the New York Times covered the second U.S. assault on Fallujah. Z Magazine 2010, 23(9), 29-33.
  • Zollmann F. Is it either or? Professional ideology vs. corporate-media constraints. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 2009, 6(2), 97-118.
  • Zollmann F. Falludscha. Publik-Forum 2009, (24), 54-59.
  • Zollmann F. Warfare as remedy: how the Independent framed the first US assault on Fallujah. Working Paper Series, University of Lincoln 2008, 1.
  • Zollmann F. Fighting fanatics, killing people: The limits of corporate journalism during the US assault on Fallujah. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics 2007, 4(4), 24-29.

• Authored Book

  • Zollmann F. Media, Propaganda and the Politics of Intervention. New York: Peter Lang, 2017.

• Book Chapters

  • Zollmann F. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis in political economy research: A systematic review of strategies, methods, and techniques. In: Joan Pedro-Carañana, Rodrigo Gómez, Thomas F. Corrigan, Francisco Sierra Caballero, ed. Political Economy of Media and Communication: Methodological Approaches. Routledge, 2024.
  • Krüger U, Pötzsch H, Zollmann F. Medienkritik materialistisch: Das Propagandamodell von Herman & Chomsky. Einführung zu Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky: Die Konsensfabrik. Die politische Ökonomie der Massenmedien. In: Chomsky, N; Herman, E S, ed. Die Konsensfabrik: Die politische Ökonomie der Massenmedien. Frankfurt am Main: Westend, 2023, pp.7-43.
  • Zollmann F. Peace Journalism. In: Richmond, OP; Visoka, G, ed. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, pp.1008-1013.
  • Zollmann F. Manufacturing a New Cold War: The National Security State, “Psychological Warfare,” and the “Russiagate” Deception. In: Ward SJA, ed. Handbook of Global Media Ethics. Cham: Springer, 2021, pp.985–1012.
  • Zollmann F. ‘We Are There at Their Invitation’: Struggles for Legitimacy during the US Coalition Invasion–Occupation of Iraq. In: Richmond,OP;Mac Ginty,R, ed. Local Legitimacy and International Peacebuilding. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020, pp.137-159.
  • Zollmann F. Ideologische Integration, massenmediale Täuschung: Zur Rolle von Propaganda in liberalen Demokratien. In: Krüger U; Sevignani S, ed. Ideologie, Kritik, Öffentlichkeit. Verhandlungen des Netzwerks Kritische Kommunikationswissenschaft. Leipzig: Universität Leipzig, 2019, pp.228-252.
  • Carañana JP, Kennis A, Segovia A, Zollmann F. Fundamentos, estudios de caso y ampliación del modelo de propaganda. In: Carañana JP; Caballero FS, ed. El modelo de propaganda y el control de los medios. Salamanca, ES: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones, 2019, pp.35-66.
  • Zollmann F. El poder corporativo y de modelo y la dominación ideológica. El modelo de propaganda después de 30 años: Importancia y aplicación porterior. In: Carañana JP; Caballero FS, ed. El modelo de propaganda y el control de los medios. Salamanca,ES: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones, 2019, pp.157-174.
  • Zollmann F. A Propaganda Model for the twenty-first Century: Structure-Agency Dynamics and the Intersection of Class, Gender and Race. In: MacLeod, A, ed. Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, pp.23-44.
  • Zollmann F. Corporate-Market Power and Ideological Domination: The Propaganda Model after 30 Years - Relevance and Further Application. In: Pedro-Carañana, J; Broudy, D; Klaehn, J, ed. The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness. London: University of Westminster Press, 2018, pp.223–236.
  • Zollmann F. The relevance of the Herman-Chomsky propaganda model in the 21st century new media environment. In: Broudy, D; Klaehn, J; and Winter, J, ed. News from Somewhere: A Reader in Communication and Challenges to Globalization. Eugene, OR: Wayzgoose Press, 2015, pp.143-161.
  • Zollmann F. Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2014: Power, politics and surveillance in Western democracies. In: Keeble, RL, ed. George Orwell Now!. New York: Peter Lang, 2015, pp.31-46.
  • Albert M, Zollmann F. Parecon - Partizipatorische Ökonomie. In: Konicz,T;Roetzer,F, ed. Aufbruch ins Ungewisse: Auf der Suche nach Alternativen zur kapitalistischen Dauerkrise. Hannover: Heise Zeitschriftenverlag, 2014.
  • Zollmann F. John Pilger’s “Youth in Action” series as literary journalism. In: Keeble, RL and Tulloch, J, ed. Global Literary Journalism. New York: Peter Lang, 2012.
  • Zollmann F. Iraq and Dahr Jamail: War reporting from a peace perspective. In: Keeble, RL; Tulloch, J; Zollmann, F, ed. Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. New York: Peter Lang, 2010, pp.139-156.
  • Keeble RL, Tulloch J, Zollmann F. Introduction: Why peace journalism matters. In: Keeble, RL; Tulloch, J; Zollmann, F, ed. Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. New York: Peter Lang, 2010, pp.1-13.

• Edited Book

  • Keeble RL, Tulloch J, Zollmann F, ed. Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. New York: Peter Lang, 2010.

• Online Publication

  • Sikka T, Zollmann F, Broudy D, Klaehn J. Social Media Penetrates Every Aspect of Our Online Lives for Profit. Truthout, 2020. Available at: https://truthout.org/articles/social-media-penetrates-every-aspect-of-our-online-lives-for-profit/.