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Please Irritate me: Between outrage and insight
Event
- Starts on
- 25.09.25
- Ends on
- 25.09.25
19:00 — 20:30
Studio14 - Die rbb Dachlounge
Masurenallee 20, 14057 Berlin
Event access: Public
The event will be held in German.
How can we have an open, respectful dialog in times of polarization and disinformation? What do we need to usher in a new culture of constructive debate? On September 25, 2025, media studies professor Bernhard Pörksen will be the guest in our Please irritate me! discussion. In conversation with Peter-André Alt, he will be talking about the power of language, media responsibility, and how we can make space for genuine discourse.
Bernhard Pörksen is one of the best-known media studies professors and intellectuals in the German-speaking world. He lectures at the University of Tübingen and is known as an author, speaker, and interviewee for his incisive analysis and passionate pleas for a culture of open, constructive debate. He explains how outrage became a currency, how social media accelerates and polarizes debates – and how this shifts the conditions for science communication. In a “scandal-driven society”, Pörksen believes that people often confuse attention with relevance – with far-reaching consequences for science and research. For Pörksen, listening, particularly at a time when public discourse is dominated by polarization and noise, is a form of attention that helps us understand otherness, handle complexity, and rethink communication.
In the Please irritate me! discussion series, Pörksen will be talking to Peter-André Alt about the role of the media in an uneasy world, about the responsibility of science and journalism, and about the importance of true listening.
Please register on the webseite of the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft.
"Please Irritate Me" is a joint series of events organised by Die Junge Akademie and the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft. This event is also held in cooperation with the SILBER-SALZ Science & Media Festival. It is free to attend and is aimed at anyone interested in lively debates and new perspectives.
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