Team

Matthias Bannert, Project Lead MOM and Co-Founder Medieninsider

Matthias is co-founder and managing director of Medieninsider. He completed his journalistic training at the Axel Springer Academy, worked for “Bild” in Berlin and Los Angeles in the editorial and audience development department and was founding editor-in-chief of “upday”, the news aggregator from Axel Springer and Samsung. He has also been the co-inventor of the well-known voting aid app “WahlSwiper” (“VoteSwiper”) since 2017.

Lucas Braun, Researcher, MOM Germany 2025

Lucas is a political scientist with a strong methodological background and a keen interest in the impact of changing information environments on political institutions. He has supported various international research projects and groups and is committed to greater fairness in the digital transformation.

Jasper Humpert, Researcher, MOM Germany 2025

Jasper Humpert is a political scientist and journalist. He works at the intersection of human rights, press law and investigative research. Before joining Media Ownership Monitor Germany, he worked in war and crisis reporting at Forensic Architecture in London and Berlin and supported human rights documentation work at Amnesty International.

Christian Wagener, Researcher, MOM Germany 2025

After studying German Studies and Romance Languages in Berlin and Paris, he co-founded HMR Produktion GmbH in 2001, where he has worked across multiple areas, including production management, project development, editing, and co-authorship. Since 2019, he has directed the media database mediadb.eu.

Dominik Criado, Senior Researcher, Medieninsider

Dominik is a trained journalist from Cologne and has supported various companies in the past with strategic communication and projects with a media and digital focus. He has also researched the effects of social media on international relations and is committed to a transparent and strong media landscape in Germany.

Pascal Hesse, Researcher, Medieninsider

Pascal works as a freelance journalist with a focus on investigative research in the fields of politics, business, culture and media. He became known for his research that led to the exposure of the falsified CV of SPD politician Petra Hinz. Hesse is also state treasurer of the Deutscher Journalisten-Verband Nordrhein-Westfalen (German Journalists' Association North Rhine-Westphalia) and is involved in various committees, including the board of directors of the Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort. Pascal is also a deputy member of the WDR Broadcasting Council. In addition to his journalistic activities, he was Federal Press Spokesman for the German Pirate Party from 2017 to 2018.

Sophia Rockenmaier, Junior Researcher, Medieninsider

Sophia has been a working student at Medieninsider since the beginning of 2024. She is currently completing her master's degree in journalism at the University of Leipzig and works as a freelance journalist focusing on politics and socio-political issues.

Tetyana Bohdanova, Project Manager, MOM Germany 2025

Tetyana Bohdanova is a civil society development specialist and a researcher with over 15 years of experience in managing international projects in the spheres of elections, digital security, and media development. Before joining GMR, she worked as an independent consultant in the field of democracy assistance.

Nafisa Hasanova, Head of Media Ownership Monitor Programme, GMR

Nafisa managed Media Ownership Monitor projects in Ukraine (2016), Serbia (2017), Albania (2018), Sri Lanka (2018), India and Pakistan (2019), Western Balkans (2023), Moldova (2024) and Armenia (2025). She was also involved in the Journalism Trust Initiative, from the RSF team. Before joining RSF, Nafisa worked on the Transdniestrian Settlement Process for the Finnish Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) founded by the former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. Prior to that she worked as policy officer for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia for APRODEV (now ACT Alliance EU), EU Central Asia Monitoring (EUCAM) for Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Nafisa holds an MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies from the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda, Germany. She completed a BA in English Philology at the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in Uzbekistan.

Lea Auffarth, Head of Operations, GMR

Lea coordinates the implementation of the Media Ownership Monitor's editions, and manages some of them directly. Previously, Lea has worked for the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders, where she coordinated the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) and headed the development of its IT infrastructure. Other work on media transparency, literacy, and ethics include projects wuth the Lebanese Samir Kassir Foundation. Lea is a trained journalist and has worked with the German public broadcaster WDR as well as regional press. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from King’s College London.

Olaf Steenfadt, Global Project Director, GMR

Olaf Steenfadt is the Founder and Managing Director of Global Media Registry (GMR), a charitable social enterprise that promotes transparency, accountability and pluralism in the information space. With his background in news reporting and investigative journalism, he is a speaker, lecturer, entrepreneur and globally visible expert on digital media policy and ethics. Two of his signature projects include the “Media Ownership Monitor” and the “Journalism Trust Initiative” which he developed and implemented on behalf of the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Olaf previously worked for national German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF in various roles, as well as for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

He is a member of the “High-level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation” of the European Commission and of the “Committee of Experts on Quality of Journalism in the Digital Age” and the “Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform” at the Council of Europe.

Medieninsider is one of the most important online professional magazines about the German media industry. The content is aimed at journalists and media professionals. Medieninsider was founded in August 2020 by Marvin Schade and Matthias Bannert and is based in Berlin.

Medieninsider focuses on the economic, content-related and cultural development of journalistic media. It offers exclusive and investigative reports, analyses, commentaries and interviews. The magazine sees itself as a companion to media change and places particular emphasis on the digitalization and transformation of the industry. It is primarily financed by memberships.

Since its foundation, Medieninsider has established itself as an important source for exclusive research in the media industry. It is regularly quoted in consumer media such as Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Tagesschau and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Website of Medieninsider: www.medieninsider.com/

The Global Media Registry (GMR) is a Germany-based, non-profit social enterprise that supports transparency, accountability and pluralism in the digital information space.

As a 21st century data utility at the nexus of media, technology and regulation, GMR is a service provider and solution hub for newsrooms, regulators and policy makers, and for all stakeholders that engage with the media industry.

The ‘Media Ownership Monitor’ (MOM) is one of GMR’s flagship projects.