Bernhard Pörksen studied German, journalism and biology in Hamburg, was invited by Ivan Illich as a visiting scholar to Pennsylvania State University, and completed an internship with the Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt. In addition to his academic works, he has published essays and comments, reports and interviews in daily newspapers (Die Welt, tageszeitung, Hamburger Abendblatt, Frankfurter Rundschau etc.), weekly publications (Die Zeit, Freitag, Rheinischer Merkur, Die Weltwoche, Wochenpost etc.), magazines (Der Spiegel, Wiener, Gehirn & Geist, Journalist etc.) and various Internet media (Spiegel online, telepolis). His total publications to date exceed 200.
After receiving his Ph.D. (1999) for his work on media and the language of neo-Nazi groups, Bernhard Pörksen founded and ran the module "Schreibpraxis" at the University of Greifswald, and lectured in communication and language science. He was then Assistant Professor at the University of Hamburg, and was appointed Professor of Journalism and Communication Science in 2002. In 2006 Bernhard Pörksen represented the Chair of Communication Theory and Media Culture at the University of Münster. In 2007 he received his “Habilitation” in communication and media studies, and in 2008 was appointed Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tübingen. That same year, the jury of the university publication Unicum voted him "Professor of the Year" in the category Humanities, Social and Cultural Sciences. From 2009 to 2011 he was a founding director, and later Head of Department of the Institute of Media Studies, University of Tübingen.
