Tobias Rohrbach has joined the DCM this September as assistant professor in digital journalism. In many ways, this is a happy homecoming, as he completed his trilingual studies at the University of Fribourg. He then continued to do his joint PhD in communication research and political science in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam while completing his Master of Advanced Studies in Data Science at the Bern University of Applied Sciences. After that, Tobias Rohrbach worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bern, with a 1.5 visiting fellowship at the University of Wollongong in Australia.
His research investigates the role of journalistic processes in news creation, dissemination, and its impact on audiences. Much of his work focuses on the intersection of journalism, algorithms, and social justice. Do journalistic and algorithmic gatekeeping processes prevent barriers for minoritized groups to access positions of political decision-making? How do audiences perceive and evaluate (biases in) visual information in online landscape? How can journalism contribute to mitigate the dissemination of digital misinformation?
He specializes in mixed methods designs combining a wide range of methodological approaches, including observational and experimental designs, qualitative analysis, as well as computational methods and algorithm audits.
