Our last conference of 2024 focused on the evolving media landscape and took place against the backdrop of an impending second Trump presidency, the annulment of the first round of presidential elections in Romania, after the declassification of intelligence documents suggesting that the winning candidate benefitted from a mass influence operation conducted on TikTok and directed from abroad, and a strike to protest the sale of The Observer newspaper in the UK. Proof, if further proof were needed, that issues of declining trust, failing business models, and the challenges of how to work with tech platforms continue to pervade conversations about the future of media around the world. Despite this, a pragmatic outlook and a tone of cautious optimism presided.
The conference also acted as a launching pad for Ditchley’s 2025 programme on the media in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, which will seek to build on the road map for change outlined at the conference through a series of discussions in the UK, Europe and the US over the course of the year.
You can read the conference summary here.