How good are today’s news media at sustaining and invigorating the democratic process? This question is relevant in well-established democracies and transition countries alike. In the UK, for instance, journalists have been criticised for being too adversarial and thereby undermining trust in politics and politicians.
At the same time, in an age of proliferating television channels and increasingly powerful international media companies, the balance between commercial and public service broadcasting is being radically rethought. In this new environment of plenty, say the critics of public service broadcasting, the market no longer needs any state intervention; in fact, any such intervention is just paternalism in disguise.
In many transition countries this argument rings true. They have not rid themselves of the old state broadcasting system simply to replace it with a new propaganda tool for the government. If newspapers can be privately owned, why not television and radio? Yet there is a strong sense that the political development of a newly democratised society does need a politically and economically independent source of information and platform for debate. How can this be achieved without giving one political party or one commercial media company too much influence?
In deciding the nature of the relationship between government and the media as well as in preventing media monopolies the role of the regulators is crucial. They also play a central part in shaping the overall media landscape as the digital revolution transforms the way content is produced, delivered and consumed. But how to regulate the regulator, and what is the best way of ensuring that among the multiple media offerings there remain truly independent voices?
Many journalists in a number of countries, however, have a far more fundamental problem: censorship in its various forms, some openly repressive, some more subtle, with which authoritarian governments protect themselves. What are the political and economic methods used by governments today to silence dissent, and what can be done to protect media freedom? What opportunities does the internet offer to subvert censorship?
Through globalisation the link between media freedom and democracy within a country has been amplified and made international. Without globalised media there could not have been the international response we saw after the tsunami. But are global TV channels also a threat to local media cultures, because of their financial resources? Or are they, on the contrary, a positive factor that drives forward the development of the local media?
The seminar will focus on the following topics:
- Is the power of the media a danger to democracy?
- Citizens or consumers: the changing role of public service broadcasting
- Challenges for the media in transition countries
- Breaking the mould: the emergence of Al Jazeera
- Media regulation in a digital world
- Media censorship in the 21st century
- Media responsibility and globalisation
Contributing to this seminar will be senior British newspaper and television journalists, representatives of regulatory bodies and experts on media in transition countries. It is a principal aim of the seminar to facilitate the exchange of ideas among the participants from around the world.
The seminar is intended for media professionals, policy makers and officials working in a regulatory capacity. Participants will have the opportunity and will be expected to contribute their own knowledge and ideas to the seminar.
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