SYMPOSIUM: NEWS IN A MULTIPOLAR WORLD
The young 21st century shows profound geo-political transformations. New players in global economies and politics shape a multipolar world. This new world order is not only characterized by a shift of economic power but also by a shift towards alternative and different world views. Throughout the second half of the 20th century Western media, especially the anglo-american representation of the world has been dominant. It becomes explicit now, that this Western worldview is expanded with a different framing of world politics and promotion of different values. Al Jazeera has been pioneering the constitution of a pan-Arab media space, satellite television connects migrant communities throughout the globe, internet technology in Brazil is used to support a variety of radio programs and China undertakes significant efforts to establish a global media system. In our symposium we want to make a first step to liberate us from our stifling Euro-centered worldview and face the variety of values and views of a multipolar world.
News in a Multipolar World is organized in collaboration with the Master New Media and Digital Culture of the Utrecht University. Like all other festival programs, the language will be English.
12.00 Words of welcome by Ann-Sophie Lehmann (Program Director MA New Media &
Digital Culture) & Mirko Tobias Schaefer (Assistent Professor, MA New Media & Digital Culture)
12.15 The Changing Arab Media Space: The Impact of the “Arab Spring”
Fadi Salem (United Arab Emirates)
Salem is the Director of the Governance and Innovation Program, and Fellow, at the Dubai School of Government (DSG). His areas of expertise include new models of governance and citizen engagement, and their impact on social development, including ICT and reform, e-government, social media and citizen participation in the Arab region.
He is the author of numerous publications, including the Arab Social Media Report series and the recently published From Electronic Government to Information Government book in Arabic.
13.00 News Media in Russia
Ilya Kiriya (Russia)
Kiriya holds a PhD in philology (Moscow University) and in communication science (Grenoble University, France), professor of Dept. of media communications at National research university – Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He is teaching history and theory of media and analizing social factors and connections between development of societies, economy, political life and media..
13.45 Break
14.15 Breaking News: From India and Bharat
Parmesh Shahani (India)
This year, Parmesh Shahani is the Centre for Humanities Festival Fellow and embodies the cross pollination between the Utrecht University and the Impakt Festival. heads the Godrej India Culture Lab – a space that aims to interrogate the textured nature of Indian modernity by cross-pollinating the best minds working on India from across the academic, creative and corporate worlds. In addition, he is a TED Fellow and MIT Fellow.
15.00 The Great Escape? Chinese Worlds Online
Zafka Zhang (China)
Zhang is the co-founder of China Youthology, a boutique consultancy that works on consumer insights for marketing targeting Chinese youth. He was also the head of research at HiPiHi (a leading Chinese virtual world platform), a lead adviser for the Association of Virtual Worlds and he is a bona fide expert on Chinese subcultures, music, art, and digital marketing.
15.45 Paneldiscussion and conclusion