The future of democracy and the changing face of journalism are under the spotlight at the Sydney Opera House this week, as leading international experts arrive in Sydney for the inaugural Public Knowledge Forum.
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, New York University professor of journalism Jay Rosen, Wall Street Journal editorial board member Mary Kissel, and a host of other US and Australian speakers will address pressing questions about the way the media serves the public interest in the digital era.
The inaugural forum, convened by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney under the leadership of the Centre’s visiting professor James Fallows, will begin with a panel discussion on Sunday 3 November, Life After Truth: The death of journalism and what this means for democracy, as part of Sydney Opera House’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas.
This will be followed by a full day of panel discussions featuring international experts tackling the changing face of media in the Internet age and how this is affecting the media's role in civic society.
Speakers include:
- Eugene Robinson – Washington Post associate editor
- Jay Rosen – Professor of Journalism, New York University
- Mary Kissel – Wall Street Journal editorial board
- Jonathan Rauch – Guest scholar at the Brookings Institution
- John B. Judis – Senior editor at The New Republic
- Melissa Chan – Al Jazeera America Correspondent
- Walter Russell Mead – American Interest editor
- Jay Newton-Small – Washington correspondent for TIME
- Sara James – Australasia correspondent for NBC
- Robert Schlesinger – Managing editor for opinion at US News & World Report
- Nicole Hemmer – Visiting assistant professor at the University of Miami and a research associate at the United States Studies Centre, specialising in conservative media
They will be joined by leading Australian speakers and moderators from across our media landscape including Leigh Sales, Eric Beecher, Jonathan Holmes, Paul Kelly, Kate Torney, and Hal Crawford.
