Grinnell College symposium to explore changes, challenges in media
GRINNELL — International, national, and community journalists will debate “The Media: Changes and Challenges” during a three-day symposium on the Grinnell College campus, Feb. 16-18.
“The media is in the midst of rapid change, and we don’t yet know the destination,” said Sarah Purcell, symposium organizer and director of the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights.
“The media symposium will explore questions of whether these changes offer greater opportunities or hindrances to develop public understanding and access to information. For example, if there aren’t paid investigative reporters, who will inform the public of human rights violations? Is the expansion of social media ‘liberating’ or simply a diversion?
“Several of the symposium speakers are Grinnell alumni who can address these issues from their own vantage points as national and community journalists in print, broadcast, and online media.”
The February symposium events include:
• Feb. 16, 4:15 p.m.: Belarussian journalist Evgeny Morozov will open the symposium with “The Internet: a Friend or Foe of Global Freedom?”
• Feb. 16, 8 p.m.: A panel of alumni journalists will provide personal and professional perspectives on “Media Changes.”
• Feb. 17, 8 p.m.: Caroline Little, CEO of The Guardian News & Media for North America, will discuss “The Changing Media Landscape and the Future of Newspapers.”
• Feb. 18, 11 a.m.: Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, will deliver the Scholars’ Convocation on “News in the Age without Gatekeepers.”
• Feb. 18, 4:15 p.m.: A panel of practitioners will discuss “Community Journalism: The Future of Newspapers?”
All symposium events, which are free and open to the public, will be in the Joe Rosenfield ‘25 Center, 1115 8th Ave., unless otherwise noted. For more information about the Rosenfield Program, contact Sarah Purcell at purcelsj@grinnell.edu or (641) 269-3091.
