Reflecting a number of diverse projects in which we are engaged, this conference will provide evidence of the state of the media today, examine its ability to hold powers to account, explore what its effect is on the politics and the societies within which it operates and point to ways in which it could deepen its engagement with citizens’ concerns, and their need to know their surroundings.

The conference is titled “Media, Politics and the Public”, and will explore both media power and the powers with which they interact and at times oppose. It aims to contend with the current issues facing public-interest journalism: areas of crisis, of
transformation, and of possibility.

This conference, the first of a series, will bring together journalists, commentators and scholars for the common purpose of illuminating issues central to a profession now under pressure and undergoing huge change, tasked with providing news, analysis and investigations that allow citizens to understand their societies and the world. In intensive sessions we aim to brainstorm a series of questions which are at the centre of some of the toughest controversies of our times.