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The Engelsberg Seminar 2004
Media and Media Power
June 17th to 19th 2004
at Avesta Manor, Sweden
A SEMINAR ARRANGED BY
AXEL AND MARGARET AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION
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The Engelsberg Seminar 2004
Media and Media Power
It is a widespread perception today that
reality and media images are merging, the
media becoming our reality. Shakespeare’s
words ”All the world’s a stage” would today
be expressed: ”All the world’s a studio”. We
are bombarded with images and information
from a global media network, which is spreading an increasingly fine-meshed net over
our everyday world and our self-perception.
Narcissus sees his reflection today not in a
pond, but a screen. What mind creates this
symbiosis between media and mentality?
Power over opinion has always been an
important dimension in politics, but today
the dramaturgy of the media probably has
more influence than ever before. How does
it affect politicians and the thrust of politics?
But if the media really have such power over
politics and the mind, there is reason to ask
who has power over the media and what
governs the actions of these players. How do
editors and journalists perceive the world?
What do they base their stance on? Do
media owners have set agendas, or do they
simply try to adapt to whatever they think
will sell? How do media moguls deal with
other centres of power – political, economic
and military? What power do advertisers
have over the editorial content of the media?
What role do the media play in forming the
new world order, today seemingly dominated by the USA?
On the one hand, ownership in the media
world is being concentrated; on the other
hand, control over information has been
much more difficult to acquire. During the
war on Iraq, a network of individuals in the
USA created their own alternative news
agency, Commandpost.com. From Baghdad,
via a webblog, the Iraqi Salam Pax gave his
views on the war - critical both of Saddam
and the USA. No discussion on media
power today can ignore the small players.
They are developing new behavioural patterns, both as producers and as consumers.
The question is if in the final analysis it is
the consumers, through their preferences,
who have the last word, rather than the
commercial media. Criticism of the media
for “dumbing down” could then be rephrased: where have all the thinking consumers
gone?
Or is it conceivably so that mass media and
mass communication require archetypal themes to dramatize the message in order to
capture its readers/spectators? Are mass
media consumers furthermore in fact stirred
by low gossip and great stories whether true
or false in substance? If this is the formula
that media is, consciously or unconsciously,
determined by - where are we to end up in
the future?
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The Engelsberg Seminar 2004
Thursday June 17th
1:30-2:30 p.m.
REGISTRATION
COFFEE and SANDWICHES
2:30-2:40 p.m.
Opening
Viveca Ax:son Johnson, Chairman
Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation
Kurt Almqvist, President
Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation
2:40-2:50 p.m.
Introduction
Kay Glans, Editor-in-Chief, Axess Magazine
The Set and Setting of Journalism
2:50-3:15 p.m.
John Lloyd
Power and Responsibility – A Comparative
Perspective on European Media
3:15-3:40 p.m.
Thomas Steinfeld
Making up Which Mind? Print Journalism and
Intellectual Culture in the West
3:40-4:05 p.m.
Jonathan Fenby
Ten Years On – How the Internet Has Changed
Information and Media Power and How It Has Not
4:05-4:35 p.m.
COFFEE BREAK
4:35-5:00 p.m.
Niklas Ekdal
Editorial Journalism – A Thriving Dinosaur
5:00-5:25 p.m.
David Frum
A Free Market in Ideas: How Market Competition
is Making the Media More Fair and More Useful
5:25-6:15 p.m.
Panel Discussion
John Lloyd, Thomas Steinfeld, Jonathan Fenby,
Niklas Ekdal and David Frum
Moderated by Kay Glans
6:15 p.m.
DRINKS and MUSIC
7:00 p.m.
DINNER
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The Engelsberg Seminar 2004
Media and Democracy
Friday June 18th
9:15-9:25 a.m.
Introduction
Christine Ockrent, moderator
9:25-10:05 a.m.
Adam Michnik
Imperfect Society – Reflections upon the Power of
the Press in Poland
10:05-10:30 a.m. Laurent Joffrin
French Press and Its Political Influence
10:30-10:55 a.m. William H. Roedy
Rocking the Vote – A Global Perspective:
How Young People can Change the World
10:55-11:25 a.m. COFFEE BREAK
11:25-11:50 a.m. David Goodhart
Media and Hyper-Democracy
11:50-12:15 p.m. Sidney Blumenthal
Media Power and the Crisis of Democracy
12:15-1:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion
Adam Michnik, Laurent Joffrin, William H. Roedy,
David Goodhart and Sidney Blumenthal
Moderated by Christine Ockrent
1:00-2:30 p.m.
LUNCH
The Value of News
2:30-2:55 p.m.
Thomas Hylland Eriksen Informing Ourselves to Death
2:55-3:20 p.m.
Nathan Shachar
The Middle Eastern Soap Opera –
How One Conflict Monopolizes News
3:20-3:45 p.m.
Isabel Hilton
The Foreign Correspondent
3:45-4:15 p.m.
COFFEE BREAK
4:15-4:40 p.m.
Edward Lucas
The Public’s Right to Incorrect Information
4:40-5:05 p.m.
Roy Greenslade
News: The Free Market’s Most Precious
Commodity
5:05-6:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Nathan Shachar,
Isabel Hilton, Edward Lucas and Roy Greenslade
Moderated by Christine Ockrent
6:00 p.m.
DRINKS
6:45 p.m.
DINNER
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The Engelsberg Seminar 2004
The Future of Media
Saturday June 19th
9:15-9:25 a.m.
Introduction
Ove Joanson, moderator
9:25-9:50 a.m.
Tarun Tejpal
Independent Media in India
– Past, Present and Future
9:50-10:30 a.m.
Anna Politkovskaia
The Freedom of Press in Russia
10:30-10:55 a.m. Kavi Chongkittavorn
Tighter Knots: The Future of Southeast
Asian Media
10:55-11:25 a.m. COFFEE BREAK
11:25-11:50 a.m. Shuli Hu
China and Media Reform
11:50-12:15 p.m. Shashi Tharoor
UN Perspectives on the Future of Media
12:15-1:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion
Tarun Tejpal, Anna Politkovskaia, Kavi
Chongkittavorn, Shuli Hu and Shashi Tharoor
Moderated by Ove Joanson
1:00-1:15 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Kay Glans
1:15-3:00 p.m.
LUNCH
3:00 p.m.
DEPARTURES
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The Engelsberg Seminar 2004
Lecturers and panel members
Mr. Sidney Blumenthal
Author and journalist
Mr. Laurent Joffrin
Editor-in-Chief, Le Nouvel Observateur
Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn
Editor-in-Chief, The Nation
Mr. John Lloyd
Editor-in-Chief, Financial Times Magazine
Mr. Niklas Ekdal
Political Editor-in-Chief, Dagens Nyheter
Mr. Edward Lucas
Journalist, The Economist
Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen
University of Oslo, Dept. of Social Anthropology
Mr. Adam Michnik
Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza
Mr. Jonathan Fenby
Author and Editorial Director, EarlyWarning.com
Ms. Anna Politkovskaia
Journalist, Novaya Gazeta
Mr. David Frum
Author and journalist, American Enterprise Institute
Mr. William H. Roedy
President, MTV Networks International
Mr. David Goodhart
Editor-in-Chief, Prospect Magazine
Mr. Nathan Shachar
Author and journalist, Dagens Nyheter
Professor Roy Greenslade
City University, London
Mr. Thomas Steinfeld
Editor, Süddeutche Zeitung
Ms. Isabel Hilton
Author and journalist, The New Yorker
Mr. Tarun Tejpal
Editor-in-Chief, Magazine Tehelka
Ms. Shuli Hu
Editor-in-Chief, Caijing Magazine
Mr. Shashi Tharoor
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and
Public Information, United Nations
Moderator, Mr. Kay Glans
Editor-in-Chief, Axess Magazine
Moderator, Mr. Ove Joanson
Chairman, Swedish Radio
Moderator, Ms. Christine Ockrent
Author and journalist, FR3
Organization
Reference Group
President: Kurt Almqvist
Project Leader: Louise Belfrage
Seminar Coordinator: Elin Sundman
Practical Arrangements: Per Johansson
Chef: Johan Jureskog
Staff: Hedvig Anderson, Cecilia von Axelson,
Katarina von Axelson and Carl Ekéus
Kurt Almqvist, President, Axel and Margaret Ax:son
Johnson Foundation
Niklas Ekdal, Political Editor-in-Chief, Dagens Nyheter
Rolf Ekéus, Chairman, SIPRI
Kay Glans, Editor-in-Chief, Axess Magazine
David Goodhart, Editor-in-Chief, Prospect Magazine
Ove Joanson, Chairman, Swedish Radio
Robert J. Shapiro, Managing Director, Sonecon
Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation
Stureplan 3, 103 75 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone: +46 (0) 8 788 50 00 Fax: +46 (0) 8 788 50 10