As a legally responsible foundation, the Institute has four bodies according to its statue: The Curatorship, the Directorate, the Institute Council and the Scientific Advisory Council.
The Curatorship serves as the supervisory body of the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut; its constituent meeting took place on 15 March 2019. The curatorship advises the Directorate and supervises its management as well as the preservation of the foundation's purpose. It has a comprehensive right to information.
Members of the Curatorship are:
State Secretary Dr. Eva Gümbel (Chair), Ministry of Science, Research and Equality in Hamburg
Dr. Maximilian Müller-Härlin (Vice Chair), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Tim Angerer, Ministry of Culture and Media in Hamburg
Thomas Fuchs, Medienanstalt Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein
Susanne Kayser, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Joachim Knuth, Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Prof. Dr. Dr. Dieter Lenzen, Universität Hamburg
Oliver Schenk, with the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM)
The Institute is managed and legally represented by the Directorate, which currently consists of three members who represent the Institute's communication and legal research perspectives as well as its commercial management.
The Directorate consists of the Managing Director Kristina Hein, the communication scientist Prof. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink and the 
legal scientist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz (chairman).
The directorate determines the research plan. The scientific directors are appointed by the Curatorship for a period of five years.
In the performance of its duties, the Directorate is supported by the Institute Council, which includes the Directorate itself, the scientific speakers as well as other representatives of the scientific and non-scientific staff.
The international Scientific Advisory Council advises the Institute’s Board of Directors on scientific work and strategic issues. The members of the Scientific Advisory Council are:
Prof. Dr. Helena Bilandzic, Professor of Communication Sciences with focus on Media Reception and Media Effects at the University of Augsburg
Prof. Dr. Irene Costera Meijer, Professor of Journalism Studies at the Department for Journalism Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Boris P. Paal, M.Jur. (Oxford), Professor of Civil and Commercial Law, Media and Information Law at the University of Freiburg
Prof. Dr. Barbara Pfetsch, Professor of Communication Theories/Media Effects and Research of Media Use and Managing Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Manuel Puppis, Professor of Media Systems and Media Structures at the Departement of Communication and Media Research DCM at Universitét de Fribourg, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Siegert (Chair), Professor of Media Studies focussing on Media Economics & Management the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich and Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Arts, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Florent Thouvenin, Professor für Informations- und Kommunikationsrecht an der Universität Zürich
The Leibniz Institute for Media Research │Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) is a foundation without endowment capital, which pursues exclusively charitable purposes and makes no profits. Since it was admitted to the Leibniz Association in 2019, the Institute has been funded on a pro rata basis by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Länder, represented by the Ministry of Science, Research and Equal Opportunities (BWFG) of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. In addition, there are other grants and donations as well as revenues from third-party funded projects and publishing products. As a non-profit foundation, the Institute is able to issue donation receipts.
In 2017, the total volume of the budget amounted to 2.6 million Euros, consisting of 1500 T€ in institutional grants from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, 454 T€ in other grants and donations (NDR Media, Medienstiftung Hamburg, Medienanstalten, ZDF), 594 T€ euros in third party funding, and 3000 € in other income.
Most of the Institute's expenses consist of personnel costs. Due to the increased funding from the City of Hamburg, the staffing plan has been expanded a little in recent years in order to open up new fields of research.
The Hans-Bredow-Institut was founded on 30 May 1950 by the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk [Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation] (NWDR) and Universität Hamburg as a foundation under civil law with legal capacity. The Institute was named after Hans Bredow (1879-1959), State Secretary and Commissioner for Broadcasting in the Ministry of Posts in the Weimar Republic, who made a name for himself in the Weimar Republic as a pioneer of the technical development of broadcasting. He was awarded the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit in 1954 for his services in establishing the organisational structures of broadcasting in the Federal Republic.
Since 2019, the institute has been a member of the Leibniz Association under the new name Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI).
The purpose of the independent non-profit foundation Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) is to conduct media research, especially in the field of radio and television as well as other electronic media, in an interdisciplinary manner and to make the results available to science, practice and the public. More about the history see below.
