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ENJN closing conference: main takeaways - Day 1

More than 200 journalists and media professionals from southern Mediterranean, Eastern European and Southern Caucasus countries met on 10-11 October at the ENJN closing conference in Brussels to exchange views on the democratising power of new media in the context of the Arab Spring revolutions and gather insights from experiences in Eastern Europe. Speakers and participants engaged in a lively debate, moderated by   journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed, on the challenges facing the business of news reporting in transition countries. Here are the main takeaways of the discussions that took place on the first day of the conference.

Delegates arrive at the ENJN closing conference in Brussels

International journalism and media policy in the age of change

The conference started off with a discussion around the dramatic transformations that have affected the field of foreign news reporting and the need to revisit media policy in the age of change.

Panelists:

Richard Sambrook, Global Vice Chairman and Chief Content Officer for Edelman PR, Former BBC News Executive
Prof. Dr. Robert Picard, Director of Research at the Reuters Institute, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford; Jönköping International Business School
Samir Barhoum, Editor in Chief, The Jordan Times
Ivan Nikoltchev, Head of Media Unit, DG Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe
Sergey Strokan, Political Commentator, Kommersant

Richard Sambrook: International news reporting has gone through tremendous change over the past decade, led by economic, technological and cultural factors. These changes however also bring new opportunities, such as the globalisation of news and the emergence of journalistic networks, which enable the public to access news from all over the world and have forced a redefinition of the meaning of foreign reporting. It’s wrong to oppose amateur journalists vs. professionals. Journalists have always used sources, and now our source base has simply grown. We have and can provide an expertise, and we need to make the value of this expertise stand out more clearly.

Robert Picard: As media continue to transform, policy makers and the public need to be weary of requests for more protection of existing business models and operating structures. Using regulations and subsidies to protect the past is not the way to move forward. Policy needs to be leading the transition to the kind of media that are coming to dominate the 21st century.

Ivan Nikoltchev: The main objective of an adequate media policy is to ensure that the public is informed, so that it can participate well in the democratic process. In this sense, it does not matter whether the information is relayed through traditional journalism or citizen blogs, as both can be considered as democratically relevant forms of journalism.

Sergey Strokan: The less efficient traditional media is, the stronger citizen journalism becomes. When Russian media failed to address important events, it was social media that filled in the gap. We need to understand that we have a new competitor. If we did our job well, the competition would be smaller. This is not merely a question of technology, but a matter of responsibility, our responsibility. We should not be scared. We live in an increasingly globalised and interdependent world. If we understand that our responsibility is first and foremost to our audience, and not to our editors or owners, then journalism will not die.

Samir Barhoum: Facebook users express an opinion that the mainstream media might have ignored in the past. Now, they have the right and the capacity to influence public opinion. We need to promote media literacy education in order to help citizens become more critical media consumers, and help the media industry deal more efficiently with questions of ethics and media professionalisation.

Social media are reshaping world politics: Arab Spring and Eastern Approaches

   
Arab Spring: In a session focused more specifically on the Arab Spring revolutions, panelists used examples from the recent uprisings in the Arab world to analyse how real-time information through social media is changing the coverage of world crises and reflected on the impact of social media in the development of democracy and free speech.

Panelists:

Jack Shenker, Egypt correspondent, The Guardian
Jillian York, Director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and former fellow at Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
Sami Ben Gharbia, Global Voices, Advocacy Director  
James Harkin, Director of Flockwatching, writer and social forecaster, contributing author for The Financial Times and The Guardian, London Review of Books, Newsweek and The Economist

Jack Shenker: Any discussion of social media should start with an analysis of where mainstream media has gone wrong. Social media can overcome some of the mainstream media’s shortcomings, by bringing forward a whole new range of opinions. The problem is that like mainstream media, it can still enforce false ideas, whether rumours or governmental propaganda. We need to keep in mind that social media is merely a tool of communication, and as such, can be used for popular mobilisation, either by the protesters or by the state.

Sami Ben Gharbia: The Tunisian revolution created a new media ecosystem, in which user generated content was picked up and translated, among others by Global Voices, and diffused massively by Al Jazeera.

Sami Ben Gharbia

Jillian York: We must bear in mind that social media is seen as a public sphere, but ultimately, it is not public. It is privately owned western technology, mostly American, functioning according to its own set of rules. These also translate, among others, into censorship.

James Harkin: Strong ties between members are essential in an opposition movement, but social media ties tend to be weak. While weak ties are good enough for quick collective action, such as flash mobs, they are not effective in creating a lasting engagement.

Jack Shenker: What we have seen in Egypt is a re-imagination of what’s possible, such as overcoming the rule of psychological fear. What was holding people back was the fear. They never thought any change could happen, but people needed to get over this psychological paralysis, realising that they could get the police off the streets. The contacts on social media produced the imagination of what could be achieved. It was a tipping point.

Eastern Approaches: The examples given during a parallel session focusing on Eastern countries gave a more mixed picture of the democratisation power of new media.
 
Panelists:

Emily Butselaar, Online Editor, Index on Censorship
Valery Levchenko, Deputy Editor in Chief, RIA Novosti
Gregory Asmolov, Contributing editor “Runet Echo”, Global Voices; co- founder of Help Map and doctoral student at the London School of Economics
Ben Judah, European Council on Foreign Relations

Emily Butselaar: The role of social media is not to make the change on their own, but they do play an important role in providing information to the international community and placing a spotlight on events from the ground that otherwise might not reach the international audience.

Valery Levchenko: Because of the lack of effective translation tools, English language bloggers in non English-speaking countries carry a higher level of responsibility towards the international audience.

Valery Levchenko

Gregory Asmolov: The blogosphere and social networks have come to function as a fifth estate in Russia by filling in the gaps and taking over the responsibilities that are inactively or ineffectively carried out by the responsible governmental bodies. Their activities are helping to set the agenda and increase levels of transparency and accountability through pressure.

Ben Judah: Internet is not a transformative technology. In Russia, where the blogosphere has boomed and exploded in the last decade, the Kremlin has adopted a smart strategic soft policy towards internet control. It has worked with, not against, the internet, by co-opting with e-businesses and engaging in online propaganda activities. This strategy has allowed Russian authorities to secure better instruments to put pressure and monitor the internet. The EU should revise its relationship towards authoritarian states which suppress freedom of expression online and make its policy more result-driven. ENP funds should be used to set up and contribute to new media.

How to monetise social media

The emergence of new forms of media has brought new challenges for the media industry. In this session, panelists shared their views and expertise on the economics of new media and gave advice on how to monetise new audiences and new communication channels.
 
Panelists:

Vicent Partal, Founder and Director, Villaweb
Courtney Radsch, Senior Programme Officer, Freedom House, Journalist with New York Times, Daily Star and Al Arabyia
Mark Johnson, Community Editor, The Economist
Alena Popova, Entrepreneur, e-government expert, venture investor, and consultant in the field of start-up businesses
James Harkin, Director of Flockwatching, Writer and social forecaster, contributing author for The Financial Times and The Guardian, London Review of Books, Newsweek and The Economist

Vicent Partal: Even in the most expensive form of journalism as investigative journalism, there are new ways of doing things. Pro Publica is a good example. Journalism is a tool to serve a community rather than a business. My tips for media organisations are: “Be original, know your customers, involve them in the news production process.”

Courtney Radsch: Social media monetisation is about listening and getting to know your audience to better respond and interact with it. Mainstream or legacy media no longer has a monopoly in the field of journalism. The trend is shifting towards participatory vested journalism in which the audience participates and becomes an integral part of the news.

James Harkin: The news organisations that are flourishing in the online ecosysem are those that stick to niche areas of news, which are coherent and precise. In spite of infinite possibilities offered by the internet, it’s better to stick to what you know best and what you do best. Expressions like “monetising media” sound terrible to journalists because the focus should be on journalism. A lot of the focus on social media has been a distraction from the product itself, which is news and journalism.

James Harkin

Mark Johnson: Interaction through social media is becoming increasingly recognised as an important part of the news production process. Twitter and Facebook generate 10 percent of the traffic on Economist.com traffic, three times more compared to 10 months ago. Different types of social media are valuable in different ways so my advice is to invest your time and energy where you think you will make a difference. That is all that is required in growing your presence on social networks. Think beyond the article in building community engagement.

Alena Popova: Traditional media can greatly benefit from changing its policy and engaging in the online context via social media.

The European Neighbourhood Journalism Network ENJN is a four-year media development project funded by the European Union, aiming at providing training and networking opportunities for journalists, editors, producers, and other media professionals of southern Mediterranean, Eastern European and southern Caucasus countries. The project is led by a consortium formed by the Thomson Foundation, the European Journalism Centre, the International Federation of Journalists and BBJ.

Links:
ENJN closing conference: main takeaways - Day 2
Article: In the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions, journalists ask: “Who is a journalist?”, by Sueli Brodin
ENJN closing conference website
ENJN website
Photo coverage
Video coverage
Blog post by conference moderator Samira Ahmed

Reporting: Moran Barkai, Hanna McLean, Diana Lungu
Editing: Sueli Brodin
Video production: Remko Nijsten
Photos: Lucas Daniels, Sueli Brodin

 

 

 

 

Tags: arab spring, conference, democracy, enjn, eu, european, free speech, journalism, neighbourhood, network,

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