Conference on media accountability in the era of Web 2.0 in Lugano

Digitization of media and the resulting convergence of print, broadcasting and telecommunications have altered the media landscape significantly. The traditional mass media is thus confronted with a variety of new online competitors like social media sites or other user generated content. Under the headline "Media Accountability - Potentials and Pitfalls in the Era of Web 2.0" journalists, academics and media experts will discuss these developements in a public conference in the city of Lugano, Switzerland, on January 27/28, 2012.

The conference focuses on media accountability, in particular with regard to new online technologies such as social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.) and innovative web-based accountability processes. For further information see the agenda.

The following questions will thus be discussed:

Are traditional instruments of media accountability like press councils or ombudsmen up to the ethical issues of an increasingly participative web community? How do traditional media accountability systems progress and adapt to changes in the media landscape compared with those within media organizations? Can new forms of web-based accountability processes complement traditional instruments of media self-regulation and compensate for their deficits?

How are media organizations in particular reacting to the changing online environment? Do they adapt their structures and formalize the process of information release in order to keep pace with fast and interactive social media? Do media organizations make decision-making processes, e.g. within the newsrooms, more transparent?

Is today’s media accountability audience-driven – allowing the web community to hold media organizations to account? Are newsrooms actively promoting user integration or not? Are these participatory technologies not only favorable for holding media organizations to account but, moreover, also in the struggle for increased democracy?

Are there substantial transnational differences concerning the emergence of new instruments and Web-based accountability processes?

These are a few questions intended to reflect on the actual debate about the various possibilities and pitfalls of online media accountability instruments. We are looking forward to discussing these topics at the conference. For this reason, the organizing committee expects to bring together distinguished scholars, experts and practitioners coming from different (journalistic) backgrounds and cultures.

The conference is organized by the European Journalism Observatory in association with the European research project MediaAcT. We kindly inform the participants that the official language is English.

For further information see the conference website.

Photo: Lutz Kampert

MediaAct News – January 26, 2012

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