Crandi

International Symposium Understanding News Media S Central Role Will

Leo Migdal
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international symposium understanding news media s central role will

I see a sector that is ready for a set of truly big ideas, and with an energy and urgency to make those ideas welcome. At the Innovations in International Philanthropy Symposium in Cambridge, MA this past September, over 200 leaders gathered to confirm a damningly urgent call to action: philanthropy needs to be reimagined in these worrying times. Courage, creativity and collaboration to build a resilient future were the operating words and they matched the mood. There was also a dark shadow hanging over the proceedings, provided courtesy of the attempt to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live just the evening before the conference. We didn’t know at the time that he would be reinstated a few days later. The symposium urged funders to shift power, defend democracy, and invest in equity-driven systems change.

Yet, how can any of these ambitions be realised if the information ecosystem that underpins them is crumbling? My point is that not only democracies, but entire civilisations perish in darkness; it is no hyperbole in our current context. We are living in a state of perpetual flux, global uncertainty, and in an age of insecurity where the future is often too dark to see. In such a moment of peril, the news media’s duty, its daily delivery of truth, and indeed its very existence, become more consequential than ever before. This blog is written by Branko Brkic, founder of Project Kontinuum, and cross-posted from Alliance Magazine. “I see a sector that is ready for a set of truly big ideas, and with an energy and urgency to make those ideas welcome.”

At the Innovations in International Philanthropy Symposium in Cambridge, MA this past September, over 200 leaders gathered to confirm a damningly urgent call to action: philanthropy needs to be reimagined in these worrying times. Courage, creativity and collaboration to build a resilient future were the operating words and they matched the mood. There was also a dark shadow hanging over the proceedings, provided courtesy of the attempt to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live just the evening before the conference. We didn’t know at the time that he would be reinstated a few days later. The symposium urged funders to shift power, defend democracy, and invest in equity-driven systems change. Yet, how can any of these ambitions be realized if the information ecosystem that underpins them is crumbling?

My point is that not only democracies, but entire civilizations perish in darkness; it is no hyperbole in our current context. We are living in a state of perpetual flux, global uncertainty, and in an age of insecurity where the future is often too dark to see. I see a sector that is ready for a set of truly big ideas, and with an energy and urgency to make those ideas welcome. At the Innovations in International Philanthropy Symposium in Cambridge, MA … By Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard This is a web-friendly preview of the report.

As threats to press freedom intensify—from unprecedented attacks on journalists and the gutting of public media to growing concerns about executive power—a fundamental question emerges: How did we get here? This new Roosevelt Institute report reveals how decades of market-first policymaking has systematically eroded the media’s democratic function, leaving the press structurally vulnerable at precisely the moment when independent journalism matters most. The authors trace a troubling trajectory: consolidation that concentrated power in fewer hands, the abandonment of meaningful public-interest standards, and the rise of platform monopolies with virtually no accountability. The recent controversy surrounding late-night comedians and the proposed Corporation for Public Broadcasting rescissions aren’t isolated incidents—they’re symptoms of a deeper structural crisis. When commercial imperatives override democratic needs, and when policymakers treat media as just another market rather than essential civic infrastructure, we create a media system susceptible to pressure from all directions. News coverage is an important driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues.

It influences not only what issues people think about but also how they think about them. Time, newsroom budgets, and how diverse newsroom are — or aren’t — are just a few of the many factors that determine which issues get front-page or primetime coverage and which ones get buried... In spite of these challenges, media advocates can leverage the agenda-setting function of the news to capture the attention of decision-makers and opinion leaders, garner support for policy change and move people to take... Advocates can do this through timely op-eds, letters to the editor and pitching stories to reporters, among other tactics. Advocates can also use social channels to shape news conversations. While traditional news outlets remain a key source of information for the majority of news consumers, digital media platforms are quickly changing the way people consume the news.

Because blogs, tweets and other social media content don’t have to go through the filter of an editor before being published, advocates can use digital venues to highlight voices that are often overlooked in... To learn more about the agenda-setting function of the media and how you can use it to promote equitable policies, check out the below resources or contact us. Making the case for health with media advocacy [pdf] This training manual introduces media advocacy, describes the news media’s role in shaping debates on community health, and can help advocates clarify their overall strategy... Apeejay Stya University, Gurugram in collaboration with Indian Council of World Affairs hosts this two-day event At a time when global perception and narratives are shaped in real-time by headlines, hashtags and diplomacy, the role of media in influencing foreign policy is more critical than ever. Moreover, for a country like India, with its growing geopolitical influence and multifaceted foreign policy objectives, the media’s role has become both strategic and indispensable.

Acknowledging the crucial role of media, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at Apeejay Stya University, Gurugram in collaboration with Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) hosted a two-day International Symposium on... This thought-provoking symposium brought together distinguished policymakers, academicians, and media professionals to deliberate on the dynamic intersections of these domains. The event commenced with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp which was graced by distinguished guests including Dr Dnyaneshwar Manohar Mulay, Former High Commissioner of India to Maldives, Mr. Arnab Chakraborty, Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Vir Singh, Vice Chancellor of Apeejay Stya University, Prof. Ashok Ogra, Advisor, Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication, Dr Renu Batra, Advisor, Higher Education, Apeejay Education, Ms Reetu Batala, Founder Director, Apeejay Institute of Design, Dr.

Mithilesh Kumar Singh, Principal Fellow, Apeejay Stya Education Research Foundation & OSD to Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University, and Professor Sanjay Ahirwal, Dean of School of Journalism and Mass Communication. This was followed by a short video on the life and vision of Dr. Stya Paul, the Founder Chairman of Apeejay Education. Convenor of the symposium and Dean of SJMC, Professor Sanjay Ahirwal, set the tone with a warm welcome. Paying tribute to Lord Swaraj Paul with a minute of silence, he reflected on his own 25 years of media experience. “The role of the media in shaping public opinion is more critical than ever.

From the Lahore visit of Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee to recent global crises, the media has shown how it can directly influence international relations,” remarked Prof. Ahirwal. “The perspectives shared today will elevate this event and inspire deliberations that add immense value to the study of media and diplomacy.” The academic endeavour provided a platform for engaging and enriching exchanges of ideas. In his opening remarks, Prof. (Dr.) Vijay Vir Singh, Vice Chancellor of Apeejay Stya University, underlined the significance of connecting media with Indian foreign policy.

“When you connect media with foreign policy, you create a platform to discuss some of the most pressing issues of our time,” he mentioned. “With 24×7 connectivity, media has become a dominant player not only in influencing public perception but also in shaping diplomatic narratives.” Scientific Reports , Article number: (2025) Cite this article We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Mainstream media, with its broad reach, plays a central role in shaping public opinion and thus warrants close scrutiny. Subtle forms of media bias–such as selective fact presentation and tone–can meaningfully influence public attitudes, even when reporting remains factually accurate. Although effects such as these have been widely studied by scholars of framing, much of the existing research focuses on specific topics and relies on manually constructed or pre-existing frames, limiting both scalability and... Here we introduce a novel framework that leverages large language models (LLMs) to generate synthetic news articles by systematically varying the selection and tone of the content while holding factual accuracy and other features... We evaluate the impact of these alternative framings in a large, pre-registered randomized experiment (N = 2,141), and find that selective presentation of accurate information can significantly shift individuals’ policy views and emotional responses... These effects are consistently stronger for negative than positive framings and are more pronounced among individuals who say they are less informed about the topic.

Our findings demonstrate the persuasive power of subtle bias in mainstream news as well as the value of LLMs as tools for scalable, controlled investigations of media effects. All survey data, experiment materials, and analysis code required for replicating the results can be found in the project’s OSF page (OSF link: https://osf.io/9g7sq/?view_only=189a8b9b2f644433bdbfcd4fc5c63ffe). Liedke, J. & Wang, L. News platform fact sheet. Pew Res.

Center 15, 253 (2023).

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