The Research Centre Media and Politics has an international reputation as a centre of excellence for interdisciplinary research. Scientists are provided with a vast organisational network for their research projects. The work of the Centre focuses on the interaction between politics and the media, both from a systems theory perspective (as the relation between the political system and the media system) and through an actor-oriented approach (relation between political actors and media protagonists). Going beyond merely combining political science and communication research or journalism, the Centre successfully brings different disciplines, topics and research frameworks together.

RCMP was established in 1987 by its director, Prof. Dr. Hans J. Kleinsteuber, within the Department of Political Science at the University of Hamburg. Our current research projects mainly investigate national and international media regulations, the influence of media on politics and society and the potentials of the new media. The Centre enables close co-operation between the projects, granting access to relevant documentation and facilities in the "Sedanstrasse 19" (3rd floor, rooms 309-314) university building. The Centre is organisationally based at the Department of Political Science and co-operates with other disciplines and departments as well - at present with the faculties of Communication Science/Journalism, Sociology, Computer Science and Economics.

Previously, RCMP associates used to work on topics like European media politics, non-commercial local radio stations, public service broadcasting etc. Today, quite a large number of former RCMP members are university professors or perform leading functions in business companies and society. The results of their studies, as well as externally originated work and current projects, are documented in our series of publications called "Media and Politics", released by the LIT publishing house (Muenster/Hamburg).