Prof. Dr. Volker Lilienthal (retired) held the Rudolf Augstein Endowed Chair for Quality Journalism at the University of Hamburg, Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, until 2025. Prior to that, he worked for 20 years as a media journalist for the specialist service ‘epd medien’ in Frankfurt am Main and made a name for himself as a media critic. His investigative revelations in 2005 included the ‘Marienhof’ surreptitious advertising affair. After moving to the university in 2009, he researched digital and investigative journalism. In 2020, he became the first journalism researcher ever to observe the Bild editorial office from the inside. An ongoing research project is dedicated to source protection in digital research. The project components included security training for journalists in 20 media companies.