View event album here
Conference Summary (PDF)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
We are in the middle of (another) communications revolution. Journalism is re-finding its place in an evolving news and information system. This conference asked what open societies can do to deliver better models of information supply – rigorous journalism and trustworthy news; and to strengthen information demand – an appetite amongst citizens to seek out ‘truthful’ sources of information and additional context. A cohesive society, public institutions and democratic politics rest on some level of shared understanding – a spectrum of world views that are at least recognisable from diverse perspectives.
This conference, which included journalists and others from news and media organisations (both long established and new); academics; data and information visualisers; and those with philanthropic interests, did reach consensus about the need to accelerate innovation in how news and information is generated and consumed.
The failures of, and limitations on, current journalism to truly serve citizens; and a risk that journalism (especially investigative journalism) is becoming less valued, were a shared starting point: “Journalism is speaking metaphorical Latin in an age of the new Tyndale bible”. Changes in the business models of news organisations are on-going and well recognised but what is meant by ‘information’ or ‘news’ and how it flows through our technologies and culture is clearly changing. The transformation of the medium is changing the message. The fourth estate must renew itself and integrate with a fifth estate to sustain community cohesion, democratic institutions and a functioning democracy.
What is available from the current news and media landscape is uneven. The top end of the market serves a rich supply of a certain kind of (paid for) ‘quality’ news; sophisticated analysis, data, charts and commentary; while in other ‘news’ markets, the content is heavily determined by social media platforms primarily serving other objectives. The driving concern of this conference was to find ways the media system can adapt. We have access to more information sources than at any other point in human history, and yet news and media organisations were thought not to have adapted quickly enough to perform the function of a fourth estate for the benefit of society as a whole.
The challenge for journalism and for media organisations is to respond to changing demand and to innovate and invest in newer models to achieve a ‘good enough’ media ecosystem. There is clearly much innovation and change underway and technological shifts will force further change. AI foundation models for example, with predictive capabilities for the generation of content, are set to challenge some of the ways journalist copy is now produced. A range of developing 3D environments will alter the ways we interact, and more personalised flows of information bring greater individualised engagement and different relationships of trust (with influencers and peers rather than the ‘authoritative’ news anchor). Social media has created space for the distribution of news apps, podcasts and citizen journalism and new forms of local journalism.
As at all Ditchley conferences, the call was made for more and better education to equip people as digital citizens. Of course, education is essential to survive in a digital world, but it is not strong enough on its own to counter the organised forces of disinformation. Mechanisms to allow people more context around ‘news’ can help. And there was much interest in how the context for news can be built. For example, fact checking, data visualisation, charts, ‘explainers’, long-form podcasts and investigative citizen journalism or on-line communities. These kinds of context generators help make sense of bits of information that can, when presented without context, mislead. Still, education and context are not enough of a response to deliberate (even state sponsored) disinformation. Much more is needed in this domain to publicly expose the mechanisms: who is doing it, why, and how is it being done.
FULL REPORT
Changing environment for journalism
The conference was reminded of the energy, innovation and anticipation for new media production as the internet came to life. The vision was of citizens able to connect unmediated and free. While this vision has been significantly dampened by the power of platform companies, there is still an aspiration for a technology that could be more ‘democratically-oriented’ with more multi-directional communication. The days of an authoritative gate-keeping news anchor were said to be over. However, this earlier internet emerged at least in part from research and parts of the university sector. Web 3.0 is overwhelmingly privately funded and driven by a different set of values.
The biggest challenge for the future of journalism is whether it can find relevance in a context of much greater competition for both attention and finance. What needs to change to convince people of the value of informative and investigative journalism as a public good when there is so much appealing, attention-grabbing or distracting content? The discussion drew on metaphors of food and nutrition in efforts to articulate the difference between nutritional information (good for you) and junk news (comforting but unhealthy). A lot of journalism was described as not good enough at competing with the more attractive and pervasive junk. There was a fair degree of self-criticism: complacency and resistance to change within media organisations was highlighted.
The uses of information
The uses of information are also changing. In the context of geopolitical competition, information is a theatre of war. In domestic politics, it is an omnipresent part of the political struggle. What used to be called propaganda is now referred to as ‘weaponising’.
There has always been a tension between the media as a business, reflecting personal choice, and news and information as a public good. But the ways we share information via social media communities shows that our information choices are part of our personal identity. In the funding of journalism whether by membership, philanthropy, advertising, subscription or donation, people want to see media that reflects their values, (or at least a journalistic a quest for truth that also reflects their values).
The challenge is to enable innovation across all funding and business models and to build a wider ecosystem that increases exposure to sources of high-quality news and information. The question is ‘What now is the Fourth Estate’? Is this still professional journalism? How does it integrate with a dynamic Fifth Estate of social media?
The importance of context
The importance of context was emphasised repeatedly. Deception is most often achieved by uses of information stripped of essential sense making context – partial truths can be as effective as outright disinformation. Most of what is described as disinformation is the amplification of strands of information taken out of context. This tactic is more powerful than just spreading false information. Greater context can add to a better understanding of news sources and ultimately the trustworthiness of content. There has not been enough journalistic attention on the processes of misinformation and disinformation; that is, who is driving it, where it’s coming from and the mechanics of how it is delivered to us.
New business models
Local news has long been a victim of the structural changes in media systems. So many local titles, radio stations and newsrooms have folded. However, a case was made for revisiting business models for high quality local news. Large cities should be able to support local news teams. There are enough subscribers and advertisers to support local news without having to rely on philanthropy. Finding the audience – identifying, attracting and targeting specific audiences – was a key part of the pitch for a newer local news business model. Traditional news organisations tend not to do this. The last few years have also seen the re-emergence of local news that combine elements of citizen journalism, particularly at the city scale.
As well as the clear disadvantages that may come with foundation model-based systems like ChatGPT (such as a massive increase in misinformation), some advantages were thought possible. Could this technology to be a tool for journalists to take out some journalistic drudgery? And for consumers, could the use of AI help circumvent and manage interaction with ever increasing quantities of information? Are there new business models for cognitive load management and for searching out and creating context for news and information? Could users control algorithms themselves and set their own parameters? These kinds of facilities will alter what we consider to be journalism. One optimistic thought was that journalists might just be able to stay ahead of the models with offers of new insights until such time as these technologies are able to process new information in real time.
Innovation
Large-scale trends suggest that innovation will come from the global companies based in northern California, Israel and East Asia. Europe is likely to be a receiver of technology rather than a creator. But a strong start-up culture was also anticipated and a continued increase in the use of mobile devices (already a major means of accessing news) with an expectation that people will want to talk to devices and be in conversation with them. People now use social media as their search engines. Media organisations will have to think through how to harness the power of voice and interactivity. Visual meaning-making has also developed and communication via image and representation of numbers is now a solid feature of (especially high end) media and is likely to grow further.
Facilities such as ChatGPT may start with basic production of PR style journalistic copy or passable student essays but in time these are likely to become more sophisticated in generating media content. This is a shift from massive distribution to massive production. However, blockchain technologies were also thought to offer more decentralised media distribution, facilitating people to pay specific authors for their content. This could create opportunities for journalists and accelerate trends for tracking their own readership numbers (rather than consolidated numbers for the paper, programme or institution), underlining a tendency for people to trust and follow individual journalists rather than media organisations.
Podcasts have in some ways been an unexpected success. They allow people to explore a news story in more depth and the intimacy of the format also encourages relationships of trust. The danger, of course, is that once trust is gained, it can be hard to manage. How do you challenge a distorted view? The barriers to entry for podcasts are also much lower.
There was some discussion about news avoidance (with research evidence for avoidance amongst certain younger age groups) as part of a growing frustration with the state of the world. But also, there is evidence for new kinds of political engagement driven by new social media influencers with effective communicative skills rather than traditional journalism training. The interaction of traditional news and social media is underway with social media effectively driving the news agenda. Traditional media stories often pick up on or report on news gained from social media and the spread of news across national borders can lead to positive outcomes. Social media can extend the reach of trustworthy news outlets. For example, the availability of foreign news was crucial for South Korean citizens in finding out more about the deaths in the Halloween crush and the failings of the police in October 2022.
The argument for a reinvention of the public media for the digital age was made. Given AI and the associated trend towards personalisation in communication, the call was for a new public service media system to help create an inclusive public sphere and so safeguard democracies. The trend towards personalisation was thought to lead to a fragmentation of the public sphere and, to lessen this impact, the argument was that the state should have a stake. But there were also ideas about whether it is possible to incentive truth-seeking within the private sector market. Could the underlying business model for platforms in monetising attention be used to drive and incentivise a range of different sources? Could truth-seeking be incentivised?
The challenges for the future of journalism were summarised as:
• To avoid disaster – that is, the breakdown of community cohesion, democratic institutions and the further erosion of a news and information ecosystem that underpins a functioning democracy.
• To defend and rebuild a minimum viable product – described as a ‘good enough’ media ecosystem to support a fourth estate and to sustain democratic societies. Good enough means recognising changing demand and tackling the existing failures to adapt, innovate and invest. A better understanding of the demand for news and information is an essential starting point.
• To do what can be done immediately to take forward better forms of journalism, despite all its imperfections, in ways that support a resilient citizenry. A framework for the fourth estate.
• To intervene in the design of the emerging information environment. A framework for the fifth estate.
• To consider how a fifth estate will frame the newer kinds of demand both positive and negative; that is, the new media forms and demand for content, i.e. for more emotional, intimate and immediate content and to do so in ways that support and contextualise content that citizens want and need. How is a fifth estate system changing values?
• To recognise that large sections of the population are not being well served by professional journalism. Certain social groups are being ‘super-served’ whilst others are not served at all. The fourth estate can no longer replicate what went before.
• The minimal viable product includes: challenging lies; tackling the business models that monetise the actions of bad actors; tech transfer between well-funded news organisations who can afford innovation to support less wealthy news organisations around the world; basic education for digital literacy, i.e. that attention is monetised; and support an overriding aim to raise the level of political speech.
• For the fifth estate: there are new opportunities to adapt to new business models; to explore uses of new technologies such as generative AI that might support journalists to invest time and resources in areas of investigative journalism; and to use newer tools such as data journalism and visual communication that offer people new perspectives on the essential context of news and information. There are opportunities to collaborate with platforms and to consider the role of newer influencers and how to engage them in a news and information ecosystem. Is it possible to create truth-seeking profit motives?
• A call to action to both support the development of a minimal viable media ecosystem: philanthropy; universities and research centres; large media companies; journalists; smaller start-ups and to inform the development of the fifth estate and to adapt the emerging design.
This Note reflects impressions of the conference. No participant is in any way committed to its content or expression.
PARTICIPANTS
AUSTRALIA
Mr Michael Sheldrick CitWa
Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Relations Officer, Global Citizen. Board member, Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens and the Advisory Board of Parliamentarians for the Global Goals.
CANADA
Ms Dalia Hashim
Program Lead for the AI and Media Integrity program, Partnership on AI. Formerly: founding member of the AI policy team at the Ontario Government where she wrote and put into effect AI principles of ethical use for government-wide use; Senior Policy Advisor to Ontario's Chief Digital and Data Officer.
Mr Mark Romoff ICD.D
A senior international business strategist. Formerly: President and CEO, The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships; Founding President and CEO, Ontario Centres of Excellence; senior diplomat, Global Affairs Canada. Board of Directors of Infrastructure Ontario; First Nations Major Projects Coalition Advisory Centre; Buffalo Toronto Public Media Board of Trustees; Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum; i-CANADA Governors Council; Chair of the Central Canadian Public Television Association; recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
COLOMBIA
Ms Luisa Fernanda Isaza-Ibarra
Free speech attorney, researcher and activist. Lecturer in Law and Journalism, Pontifical Xavierian University, Bogota. A Chevening-Weidenfeld Hoffman Scholar.
FINLAND
Mr Kari Kivinen PhD
Education Outreach Expert, European Union Intellectual Property Office Observatory.
GERMANY
Mr Matthias Pfeffer
TV journalist, author and advisor; founder, PfefferMedia; co-author, with Paul Nemitz, ‘The Human Imperative, Power, Freedom and Democracy in the Age of AI’ (shortlisted for Political Book of the Year 2020 in Germany) and 'Determining our Technological and Democratic Future. A Wish List', in: 'Regulating Big Tech: Policy Responses to Digital Dominance' (Martin Moore and Damian Tambini, Oxford University Press, 2022); author, ‘Human Thinking and Artificial Intelligence: a call for action’ (2021); Visiting Professor on Epistemology of Artificial Intelligence, University of Bergamo. Formerly: Founder, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, FOCUS TV (Hubert-Burda-Media Munich); war reporter for SPIEGEL TV and Sat 1.
JAPAN
Mr Hiroyuki Akita
Nikkei (1987-): Commentator and Columnist (mainly on foreign and international affairs) (2017-); winner, Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist Award, for outstanding reporting of international affairs (March 2019); author, "Anryu (Power Game of US-China-Japan)" (2008) and "Ranryu (Strategic Competition of US-Japan and China)" (2019). Formerly: Leader Writing Team, Financial Times, London (2017); Nikkei: Senior and Editorial Staff Writer (2009-17); Washington Chief Correspondent; Japanese foreign, security and domestic politics, Political News Department (1998-2002); Beijing Correspondent (1994-98). Associate, US-Japan Program, Harvard University (2006-07).
JORDAN
Mr Ashraf Zeitoon
Founding Partner, Confidential, Amman (2020-). Formerly: Director of Public Policy, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Netflix (2019-20); Advisor to Head of HUB71, Abu Dhabi (2019); Managing Partner and Chief Ideation Officer, Public Policy @ Diplomacy Labs, Dubai (2017-19); Head of Policy, Middle East & North Africa, Facebook, Dubai (2014-17).
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Professor Clara Jisuk Woo PhD, JD
Professor of Communication and Policymaking, Internet Law and Policy, and Media Law and Policy, Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University. Serves on advisory committees including WIPO Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy Panel, Korea Center for Media Responsibility and Human Rights, Korea Yonhap News Agency User Rights Committee, Committee on National Identification Number Change in Korea Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
SINGAPORE
Dr Aaron Maniam FRSA
Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Information, working on policies pertaining to growing the digital economy in Singapore, digital inclusion and access, and digital diplomacy. Formerly: first Head of Singapore's Centre for Strategic Futures (2009-11); Director, Institute of Public Sector Leadership, Civil Service College (2011-13); Senior Director, Ministry of Trade and Industry, coordinating policy on manufacturing, services, tourism and economic transformation.
UNITED KINGDOM
Mr Rafael Behr
Political columnist and leader writer, The Guardian.
Mr Oliver Blewett
Education Coordinator, Shout Out UK; Programme coordinator, Youth Policy Development Group; Disinformation and Counter-Extremism educator, partnered with City Hall as part of the Shared Endeavour Fund. Delivering NATO's Public Diplomacy Programme on "Increasing Societal Resilience to Disinformation".
Sir Laurie Bristow KCMG
President, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge (2022-). Formerly: Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service (1990-22); Ambassador to Afghanistan (2021); Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2016-2020); Ambassador to Azerbaijan (2004-07); senior roles in London included Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Director for National Security, and COP26 Regional Ambassador for China, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
Ms Flora Carmichael
BBC (2013-): Editor, BBC Trending (2022-), formerly Assistant Editor, BBC Monitoring and Trusted News Initiative; Senior Journalist and Media Education Lead; Partnership Development Executive. Formerly: Producer, BBC World Service (2016-22); Manager, and International Events Producer, Frontline Club Charitable Trust (2009-13).
Ms Jessica Cecil
A media industry figure and an expert in the field of disinformation. Founder, the Trusted News Initiative; Trustee and Chair of the Equity, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Committee, Bristol University; Visiting Fellow (2022), Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University. Non-Executive Director, Digital Catapult; sits on the Council of Advisors for RAND Europe; Adjunct Fellow, Queen Elizabeth II Leadership School, Chatham House. Formerly: Chief of Staff to four Directors-General, BBC; Emmy-nominated documentary Executive Producer; senior journalist, Newsnight and in the newsroom.
Mr Shirish Kulkarni
Award-winning journalist and researcher with 25 years' experience working in all the UK's major broadcast newsrooms; Founder, Inclusive Journalism Cymru. A member of the Welsh Government's Working Group on the future of Public Interest Journalism and a member of the Welsh Government's Expert Panel on the Devolution of Broadcasting & Communications. Formerly: freelance investigative journalist and community organiser, Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Mr Carl Miller
Founder, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, Demos (2011) and CASM Technology (2014); Visiting Fellow, Department of War Studies, King's College London; member, States Threats Task Force, RUSI; Senior Fellow, Institute for Strategic Dialogue; Associate, Imperial War Museum; member, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime; member, advisory board, Global Network on Extremism and Technology; member, Challenging Pseudoscience group, Royal Institution.
Mr Chris Morris
Freelance writer, broadcaster and consultant. Co-founder, Can Do (start-up focused on communicating climate change to hard-to-reach audiences). Formerly: Senior correspondent, BBC News; BBC Reality Check correspondent (2017-22): the BBC's on-air fact-checker, reporting on Brexit, Trump, UK elections, climate change and Covid. Foreign correspondent for the BBC for 25 years, based in Brussels, Delhi, Istanbul, Washington and Colombo.
Professor Victoria Nash
Director, Associate Professor and Senior Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford; holds several digital policy advisory roles, including membership of the UK Government's multi-stakeholder UK Council on Internet Safety (UKCIS) Evidence Group, and serves on World Economic Forum's Digital Safety Coalition.
Miss Manveen Rana
Journalist; host, daily podcast 'Stories of our times', The Times and Sunday Times. Formerly: Investigative Reporter, The Today Programme and BBC News.
Ms Sonia Sodha
Chief leader writer and columnist, The Observer. Makes documentaries on economic and social issues for Radio 4 and appears regularly on the BBC, Sky News and Channel 4 as a political commentator. Formerly: senior policy adviser to then leader of the Labour party, Ed Miliband; IPPR and Demos, where she led programmes of work on education and social policy; strategic roles for charities including Which?, the Dartington Social Research Unit and Generation Change. A trustee of the Trust for London and the Indigo Trust. Member of the Ditchley Foundation Programme Committee.
Mr Ceri Thomas
Journalist, Tortoise ('slow news' publisher) (2018-). Formerly: Director of Public Affairs, University of Oxford; BBC News: ran Panorama on BBC1 and Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
Mr Mark Thompson
Chairman, Ancestry; Co-Chair, International Fund for Public Interest Media; Deputy Chair, Royal Shakespeare Company; advisor to the Supervisory Board, Axel Springer SE. Formerly: President & CEO, The New York Times Company (2012-20); Director General, BBC (2004-12); Chief Executive, Channel 4 (2002-04); Director, BBC Television; Controller, BBC Two etc.; author, "Enough Said: What's Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics?" (2016).
Mr Peter Wilson-Smith
Director, Meritus Consultants (2014-); Chair, 21st Century Trust; Director, Salzburg Global Seminar. Formerly: Senior Consultant, Quiller Consultants (2004-14); co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, Financial News (1996-2004); Business Reporter, BBC (1991-96); Business and City Editor, and Financial Editor, The Independent on Sunday/The Independent (1986-90).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Mr RJ Andrews
Data storyteller; author and founder of Info We Trust.
Mr Peter Andringa
Master of Public Policy Candidate, Blavatnik School of Government (2022-); Rhodes Scholar (2021-). Formerly: Data & Visual Storytelling Engineer, The Washington Post (2020-21); Visuals Contributor, The Guardian (2018-20); Robertson Scholar, University of North Carolina & Duke University (2016-20).
Mr John Bellinger III
Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP, Washington, DC; Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law, Council on Foreign Relations. Formerly: Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC (2005-09); Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (2001-05); Counsel for National Security Matters, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice (1997-2001); Of Counsel, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1996); Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence (1988-91). Vice-Chair, The American Ditchley Foundation.
Ms Elena Frogameni
MSc candidate in Global Governance and Diplomacy, University of Oxford; Rhodes Scholar; Chief Operations Officer, Newsreel, a U.S.-based start-up. Formerly: Graduated in 2022 from Mount Holyoke College where she assisted in research on the institutional resilience of democracies in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and archival research producing stories of women influential in international politics. Awarded Pamela Harriman Foreign Service Fellowship (2021); interned with the U.S. State Department's Office of Africa Regional Services.
Mr Richard Gingras
Vice President, News, Google, Mountain View, CA (2011-); co-founder and Chief Executive, Salon.com (2009-11); board member: International Center for Journalists (2013-), Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard (2013-), First Amendment Coalition (2012-), World Computer Exchange (2000-). Formerly: Excite, @Home Network, Apple.
Ms Carrie Lozano
Director, Sundance Institute's Documentary Film and Artist Programs. Formerly: Director, International Documentary Association's Enterprise Documentary and Pare Lorentz funds. An award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist with recent film credits including 'The Ballad of Fred Hersch' and 'Prognosis: Notes on Living'.
Mr John Palfrey, Jr
President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; educator, author, legal scholar and innovator with expertise in how new media is changing learning, education and other institutions. Formerly: Head of School, Phillips Academy, Andover; Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources, Harvard Law School; Executive Director (2002-08), Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, which seeks to explore and understand cyberspace. Founding board chair, Digital Public Library of America; board chair, LRNG, a nonprofit launched and supported by MacArthur. Has published extensively on how young people learn in a digital era, as well as the effects of new technologies on society at large. Author or coauthor of books including 'Safe Spaces, Brave Spaces: Diversity and Free Expression in Education'. A revised and expanded version of his book 'Born Digital: How Children Grow Up in a Digital Age', co-authored with Urs Gasser, was issued in 2016. Board member, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Mr Steven Pearlstein
Robinson Professor of Political and International Affairs, George Mason University; author, 'Can American Capitalism Survive? Why Greed Is Not Good, Opportunity Is Not Equal and Fairness Won't Make Us Poor' (2018); Pulitzer Prize winner, 2008. Formerly: The Washington Post (1988-2021): Business and economics columnist; Canadian correspondent, economic correspondent, defence industry reporter, deputy business editor.
Professor Victor Pickard
C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy and co-director, Media, Inequality & Change (MIC) Center, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. He has authored or edited six books, including the award-winning 'America's Battle for Media Democracy' and 'Democracy Without Journalism? Confronting the Misinformation Society'.
Ms Dominique Raymond
Strategy director for partnerships, Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all, Indianapolis (2016-). Formerly: senior program director of philanthropy, USA Funds (now Strada Education Network); vice president of alliance state relations at Complete College America; special assistant to the secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; higher education policy analyst with the Maryland Higher Education Commission. On the board of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) and Inspire Success. In 2013, one of ten named to the Chronicle of Higher Education's The Influence List.
Ms Elizabeth Williamson
Feature writer in the Washington bureau, and a former member of the New York Times editorial board. Formerly: Wall Street Journal and Washington Post; spent a decade as a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe. Author, 'Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth' (Dutton/Penguin Random House, March 2022).
OTHERS
Mr Azeem Azhar
A breakthrough thinker on the impact of technologies on society; a practitioner, analyst and an active investor and entrepreneur in the technology field and an author and producer of a podcast, Exponential View. His first book "The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society" was met with widespread acclaim. Involved in the World Economic Forum and has served as counsel to senior executives in a number of global firms.
Mr Madhav Chinnappa
Director of News Ecosystem Development, Google (2018-). Formerly: Director of Strategic Relations, News & Publishers (2016-2018), Head of Strategic Partnerships, Google News Europe, Middle East, Africa (2010-6); Head of Business Development and Rights, BBC News (2003-10); United News and Media; Member, Launch Team and Business Manager, Associated Press Television.
Ms Hilary Cockhill
Parliamentary Researcher, House of Commons.
Miss Carina Letong Hong
MSc Candidate in Neuroscience and DPhil Candidate in Mathematics, University of Oxford; Rhodes Scholar. A winner of the AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student, the AWM Schafer Prize for Excellence in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Woman, and the Rhodes Scholarship (China Constituency). Formerly: President of the Undergraduate Math Association and the International Students Association, MIT.
Professor Rasmus Nielsen
Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Professor of Political Communication, University of Oxford.