Prof. Dr. Václav Štětka was appointed Professor of Digital Political Communication at the European New School of Digital Studies (ENS) at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) on February 10, 2026. The communication scientist and sociologist researches the connection between a changing media landscape and the rise of illiberalism and populism, especially in East Central Europe.
On the sidelines of the appointment, Václav Štětka said of his research. "Media and communication technologies play an important role in democratic backsliding, both as enablers of illiberal tendencies and as channels of resistance against them." Monitoring these developments is of great importance for established Western democracies. "We must learn that democratic institutions cannot be taken for granted; they must be actively protected and supported, even if they appear healthy on the surface," warns Štětka, attributing a crucial role to independent public broadcasting in particular.
About him
Prof. Dr. Václav Štětka studied journalism and mass communication (BA) as well as history and sociology (MA) at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where he also completed his doctorate in sociology (2005). As a research fellow at the University of Oxford, he worked on the project "Media and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe" and subsequently worked at the Institute of Communication and Journalism at Charles University in Prague. Since 2016, he has worked at the Department of Communication and Media at Loughborough University in the UK, where he was appointed Professor of Media and Political Communication in 2025. His research projects have most recently included comparative analyses of exposure to misinformation and disinformation, populist communication during the pandemic and the relationship between media and the "illiberal turn" in Eastern Europe. His most recent book, entitled "The Illiberal Public Sphere: Media in Polarized Societies" (co-authored with Sabina Mihelj) won the 2025 Best Book Award from the American Political Studies Association (Information Technology and Politics section).
Interview with Václav Štětka
You can find the full interview with Václav Štětka at
www.europa-uni.de/de/universitaet/kommunikation/newsportal/