I am a historian, specialized in Media History. I am professor in History of Radio and Television at Amsterdam University. Since 1995 I am associate professor and researcher at the master programm in Journalism of the Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen in The Netherlands. This university was founded in 1614, the Journalism program in 1991.

My main interests are Journalism, Broadcasting and Media History.  I've written extensively on these topics, especially in relation to political culture. Since 2005 I am a board member of The Kossmann Institute for Political Culture. 

My latest research project is on the position of Editors in Chief in modern journalism. I also worked on a huge project concerning the history of the public broadcasting association VARA. This organisation was founded in 1925 and still is one of the leading broadcasters in the Dutch Public Broadcasting system. In september 2009 I published a book and a full swing multimedia historical website.

I studied History at Leiden University, the oldest university in The Netherlands (since 1574).