• 04/2023–03/2025: Interim Professor for Communication Science with a Focus on Communication Theory and Media Effects

Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Free University of Berlin, Germany

• 09/2024: Guest Lecturer 

Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, Norway

• 09/2022–10/2022: Visiting Scholar

The Media School, Indiana University Bloomington, USA

• 04/2022–08/2022: Interim Professor for Communication Science with a Focus on Strategic Communication

Institute for Communication Science at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

• 01/2021–09/2024: Postdoc

Institute of Journalism, TU Dortmund University, Germany

• 12/2020: Doctor of Philosophy

Free University of Berlin, Germany 

("Visual Politics: Investigating the Visual Communication Strategies of Political Parties and Candidates from a Longitudinal and Comparative Perspective")

• 01/2020–11/2020: Project Manager

infas-Institute for Applied Social Sciences, Bonn, Germany

• 04/2018–10/2018: Research Associate 

Project "Regional Press Diversity in Germany and Austria: The Economic and Journalistic Development of Newspapers 1995-2015" funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), (PI: Prof. Dr. Klaus Beck), Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Free University of Berlin, Germany 

• 04/2014–12/2019: Ph.D. Student

Institute for Media and Communication Studies, free University of Berlin, Germany

• 10/2011–03/2014: Master's degree in Communication Studies
  

University of Münster, Germany

• 10/2008–09/2011: Bachelor's degree in Political Science

Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

Winter term 2024/25

• BA - Seminar 28512: Introduction to Political Communication Research

• BA - Seminar 28561: Introduction to Media Effects Research

• MA - Hauptseminar 28811: Visual Political Communication (A)

• MA - Hauptseminar 28813: Visual Political Communication (B)

Summer term 2024

• BA - Seminar 28561: Introduction to Empirical Communication Research

• BA - Seminar 28572: Political Reporting

• BA - Seminar 28622: Strategic Political Communication

• BA/MA - BA/MA-Colloquium 28648: Empirical Communication Research

Winter term 2023/24

• BA - Seminar 28563: Introduction to Empirical Communication Research

• BA - Colloquium 28646: BA-Colloquium Empirical Communication Research

• MA - Seminar 28811: Visual Political Communication

Summer term 2023

• BA - Seminar 28562: Introduction to Empirical Communication Research

• MA - Seminar 28811: Visual Framing of Elections

• Political Communication

• Comparative Research

• Multimodality

Books

• Steffan, D. (2021). Visual politics: Investigating the visual communication strategies of political parties and candidates from a longitudinal and comparative perspective. Nomos. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748925415

• Vonbun-Feldbauer, R., Grüblbauer, J., Berghofer, S., Krone, J., Beck, K., Steffan, D., & Dogruel, L. (2020). Regionaler Pressemarkt und Publizistische Vielfalt. Strukturen und Inhalte der Regionalpresse in Deutschland und Österreich 1995–2015. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28965-2

Journal Articles

• Luebke, S. M., & Steffan, D. (2025). Who values political authenticity? The antecedents and electoral consequences of voters’ preference for authentic politicians. Polity, 57(2), 328–349. https://doi.org/10.1086/734727

• Steffan, D., Grabe, M. E., & Famulari, U. (2024). Multinational and multimodal character framing of political candidates in online news: Do political and media system classifications matter? The International Journal of Press/Politics, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241285665

• Holtrup, S., Henke, J., Steffan, D., & Möhring, W. (2024). The reciprocal effects of perceived accuracy and trust in news media: A two-wave online panel study in the context of the 2021 German federal election. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 101(1), 156–177. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231202692 

• Luebke, S. M., & Steffan, D. (2023). Pathway to authenticity? The influence of politicians’ gender and multimodal self-presentation in social media on perceived authenticity. New Media & Society, 27(4), 2373–2392. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231208920

• Steffan, D. (2020). Visual self-presentation strategies of political candidates on social media platforms: A comparative study. International Journal of Communication, 14, 3096–3118. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/13128

• Steffan, D., & Venema, N. (2020). New medium, old strategies? Comparing online and traditional campaign posters for German Bundestag elections, 2013–2017. European Journal of Communication, 35(4), 370–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323120903681

• Venema, N., & Steffan, D. (2020). Context matters: Professionalization of campaign posters from Adenauer to Merkel. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 45(1), 98–121. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2018-2020

• Steffan, D., & Venema, N. (2019). Personalised, de-ideologised and negative? A longitudinal analysis of campaign posters for German Bundestag elections, 1949–2017. European Journal of Communication, 34(3), 267–285. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323119830052

• Steffan, D. (2015). Glücklich mit dem Beruf, aber unzufrieden mit dem Job? Eine Analyse über die Arbeitszufriedenheit von Journalisten in Deutschland [Happy with their profession but dissatisfied with their job? An analysis of German journalists’ job satisfaction]. Studies in Communication|Media (SCM), 4(3), 248–276. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2015-3-248

Book Chapters

• Görke, A., & Steffan, D. (2023). Vom hohen Berg: Journalismus und Gesellschaft. In W. Loosen & A. Scholl (Eds.), Schlüsselwerke der Journalismusforschung, (pp. 17–30). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25867-2_2

• Steffan, D. (2023). Von Staatsmännern und bürgernahen Wahlkämpfer*innen. Eine visuelle Framing-Analyse der TV-Berichterstattung über die Kanzlerkandidat*innen Olaf Scholz, Armin Laschet und Annalena Baerbock im Bundestagswahlkampf 2021. In C. Holtz-Bacha (Ed.), Die (Massen-) Medien im Wahlkampf (pp. 243–262). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38967-3_9

• Steffan, D. (2023). The visual representation of politicians. In D. Lilleker & A. Veneti (Eds.), Research Handbook on Visual Politics (pp. 109–122). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800376939.00016

• Venema, N., & Steffan, D. (2021). Kleine Parteien, unprofessionelle Kampagnen? Strukturen und Strategien der Plakatwerbung im Europawahlkampf 2019. In C. Holtz-Bacha (Eds.), Europawahlkampf 2019. Zur Rolle der Medien (pp. 149–174). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-31472-9_5