Services for members of the University

News releases are part of our information services for the media so that they can provide information for the public. It is the editorial team who decide which news releases should be given to the media. On which criteria is the decision based?

Every single news release should be informative as the word "news" suggests  it is about something new. Another characteristic of every news and of news releases either is topicality. However, not everything being topical is informative at the same time. In addition, the news must either be of great relevance for a particular group, i.e. your target audience, or be able to grab peoples attention otherwise (usefulness, entertainment). The latter, for example, may be extraordinary and unexpected events, original ideas, curious or dramatic developments, participation of prominent persons, or (direct) personal concern.

When selecting the topics, we also consider the strategic objectives and the research focus of the University summed up in the profile lines Light, Life, Liberty - Connecting Visions. We furthermore point out the topics which increase the visibility of Jena, within Germany and internationally, as the research and study location.

Do you have the scientific topic (research, teaching, events, higher education policy, transfer, etc.) that you would like to present to the public? Firstly, please specify: who might be interested in the news? Who would you like to reach?

Is it your colleagues being specialist themselves, other scientists and scholars, or is it rather laypersons who are interested in scientific aspects of your research results or in your new research project? If the answer to one of these questions is affirmative, you might want to use these channels:

• the website of your faculty or institute
• the research magazine LICHTGEDANKEN (if the topic is of particular relevance for other regions or the international public, and is highly informative)
• the events section within the University's website
• news release

If you want to reach the general public, especially those without expert knowledge or academic background, you might opt for:

• a news release for the local/regional media
• a news release for the national media
• the research magazine LICHTGEDANKEN.

If you want to reach the general public, especially those without expert knowledge or academic background, you might opt for:

• the University's homepage (if the topic is relevant for the whole University)
• other websites (e.g. sections Studies, Faculties or websites of the subject-specific student representative committees, Studentenparadies)
• the website of your faculty or institute
• social media (Facebook, Instagram)
• e-mail lists of the Thuringian schools

If you want to reach members of the University, administrative staff at the faculties, and the University administration, please consider these channels:

• the University's homepage
• the University's Newsletter

Having specified your target audience and considered the criteria mentioned above, please also answer the Six Ws briefly: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? These are the questions which should be answered in every news release in order to attract journalists attention and draw a response from the media. You might even increase the response by adding descriptive, professional photographs. Think of motives which might illustrate your topic and contact our photography team to put your ideas to practice.

Apart from the preferred topic, please answer the six questions above, present the central message, suggest possible photos, and provide your contact details so that we can contact you for any further questions.

As a general rule, you should do this as soon as possible, for example, after your project is approved, you are informed that your paper is about to be published, or the date of your event is determined. After having contacted us, we decide whether the topic is suitable for spreading it to the media and when we should contact them.

Pictures are indispensable for the media. Expressive, original photos of technically and aesthetically high quality significantly increase the media resonance of press releases. As part of our press work, we illustrate research and teaching topics in photographs. The Staff Unit Press and Public Relations also provides images for university publications such as the research magazine LICHTGEDANKEN.

The photographers of the section Communications and Marketing take appointments for the University's public relations work and produce science photos, illustrations for press releases and for current projects of the section Communications and Marketing.

However, events (conferences, congresses, meetings) of the institutes, faculties and departments cannot be accompanied by photographs. If you need images for your own projects, e.g. team and portrait photos to illustrate your publications and for social media publications as well as for your website, we will help you to find external photographers. The resulting costs have to be adobted by the client.

If you are interested in photographs from the university image database that illustrate the topics of research and teaching, you can contact us.

You can contact us via the following e-mail address: foto@uni-jena.de.

Before the photo shooting begins, the time frame, the content and photographic objectives as well as the intended use should be discussed. Please check in advance what possibilities there are on your part to influence the design of the photo shooting with regard to your clothing and in the selection of the location. Depending on the type and scope of the assignment, a photo shooting can take several hours. Therefore, please plan enough time and agree on a schedule with the photographer to avoid idle time.

Data protection consent form

Before each photo shooting, it must be ensured that the persons depicted agree to the publication of the images and consent to the respective forms of use by the University of Jena. Before the photo shooting begins, it is therefore essential that the client provides the photographer with a declaration of consent under data protection law from the persons to be photographed. Special attention must be paid to the use of the photos in social media. If the data protection declaration of consent is not available at the beginning, the photos cannot be taken.

Here you can print out the data protection declaration of consentpdf, 227 kb.

The photographs in the photo gallery CumulusExternal link, provided by the Communications Office, may be used by registered users. The photographs are protected by copyright and are not meant for private use.

The registered users are not given any exclusive right, but the simple limited rights to use photographs with regard to context, time, and content. These rights refer to the printed publications of the University and for the purpose of the Universitys website. The right to use cannot be transferred to third parties. Depending on the type and context, users might be expected to comply with additional restrictions regarding the captions when using the photographs from the data base.

In this context, the photographs must be unmistakably labelled with the metadata, including the author named in the caption. If the author is not specified, please name it like this: Photo: University of Jena. If the users want to edit or modify the photographs (except for changing size, adjusting contrast, or improving colour effects), or use them in social media, in online data bases, etc., they must be given consent by our photographer. Please send an e-mail to foto@uni-jena.de.If the users do not use the photographs anymore, they must delete them from their electronic storage devices within a month.

The photographs available, in particular those containing persons, may only be used in the appropriate context (time and content), including the description. Photograph and text must not be used in distorted or false context. The metadata provided in the data base (e.g. description of the photograph, key words) correspond to the original date of photo production. The Communications Office cannot guarantee that this information are true and up-to-date.

By giving its consent on the right to use the photographs, the Communications Office does not transfer any rights or guarantee that persons on the photographs and the persons possessing the copyright on trademarks or on any other property rights gave their consent to publish the photographs. It is the registered user who must be given the consent by third parties directly. When using the photographs, the user must comply with the personality rights, copyright, trademark rights, and other property rights of the persons, works, and objects depicted. In accordance with the section 23 of the german Act on Copyright related to the Works of Art and Photography (Gesetz betreffend das Urheberrecht an Werken der bildenden Künste und der Philosophie, KunstUrhG), users do not need any consent by the persons depicted if these persons represent the main motive or if they are historical personalities, or part of an public event/assembly.

If users are not entitled to use, copy, modify, edit, adjust, transfer, or store the photographs, or in case of any other illegal use of the photographs, they exempt the Communications Office, who operates the photo gallery Cumulus, from any claims of third parties.

The photo gallery Cumulus is available to all employees of the University. In order to receive a limited access to the data base, please request the service at the Multimedia Centre.

We offer a wide range of media training options for the members of the University  both scientists and employees in the administration. Our training is designed for groups or individuals. The length of our training sessions may differ and we can adjust it to your needs. However, please plan at least a time slot of 30 minutes to one hour for the training. We recommend you to plan your training early enough and not only a few hours before speaking to the journalists.

During our training, we would be glad to inform you about the media activities at the University and give you some piece of advice on how to deal with journalists. In addition, you can opt for our course in media interview or a comprehensive camera training session with TV practitioners. In this course, you will practice conversation in various contexts in front of the camera. Afterwards, we will analyse the video recording together. For participation in this advanced media training we will charge you a fee.

Are you interested in one of our courses? Please contact us: presse@uni-jena.de

In this training session, we provide you with the theoretical basis of news releases. What is a good news release, what should you take into account when writing one, and how to reach the media effectively? In addition, we will present you other ways of communicating scientific topics to the public. Last but not least, after the theoretical part, you will be able to put your new knowledge into practice in exercises.

If you are interested in our writing courses, please contact us: presse@uni-jena.de