Journalism in Canada and around the globe is under siege as attacks on journalistic integrity abound. What is the best way to improve the public trust in journalism, and at the same time strengthen the foundations of democracy?
That question will be front and centre at an April 24 media symposium co-hosted by the German Consulate General in Toronto, Massey College and University of Toronto Communications. "(Un) Truth - Journalism and Democracy in the Digital Age" will examine journalism from European and North American perspectives, looking at the media's role in promoting democracy through the presentation of facts.
The sessions will be moderated by Jeffrey Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at U of T Scarborough, and will include German and Canadian panelists including Globe and Mail columnist Elizabeth Renzetti, Toronto Star Public Editor Kathy English, German journalist and author Ursula Weidenfeld, and Peter Loewen, a professor in the department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. Ron Diebert, director of Citizen Lab at the Munk School, will be delivering the final keynote on targeted espionage.
Another keynote speaker will be journalist Gregor Mayntz, chairman of the unique German institution, the Federal Press Conference (Bundespressekonferenz). The BPK, created just after the Second World War and run by journalists, convenes three press conferences a week to which politicians, bureaucrats and other leaders are invited. The BPK is a powerful institution, and politicians ignore it at their peril. Because of it, the levers of political communication are in the hands of journalists, not the politicians.
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