I’m going to be a panelist on a conference in Boston a week from tomorrow (Saturday). The conference is:
A freeand independent press is essential for democracy. The press has aresponsibility to inform citizens about both the policies and theactions of the government and about credible challenges to thosepolicies and actions, to report on conditions that may require new ordifferent government initiatives, and to raise timely questions itselfabout debatable policies and the rationales presented for them.
Withthe recent controversies over the failure of the press to fully live upto its responsibilities in the runup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, therole of the media in the outing of a covert CIA agent, the rise of theblogosphere and so-called citizen journalism, and the impact ofincreasing financial pressures on newspapers and magazines, publicconfidence in the mainstream media is at an all-time low. What are theimplications of this for our democracy? How might our faith in thepress be restored?
The rest of the panelists (aside from Andy Sullivan) are journalists–many of the good ones, people like John Carroll. My panel–Political Reporting–had a conference call today which got me really excited about the conference. It should be worth attending.
There is (free) registration, and I understand the room is filling up. So if you’re interested, register now!
Afterwards, phred and Scarecrow and I and hopefully some other folks from these parts will be heading out for drinks, probably to An Tua Nua. I’ll post another thread closer to the event, but if you might show, leave a comment.