48. Economic Conference
Media in Crisis – Endangered Democracy
Ann Marie Lipinski
«The Future of Journalism is the Future of Democracy»
Susanne Gaschke
«The Future of Journalism is the Future of Democracy»
«The Future of Journalism is the Future of Democracy»
«The Future of Journalism is the Future of Democracy»
What is the role of the media, especially the traditional media, in democratic opinion-forming? This question was the focus of the 48th Economic Conference of the Progress Foundation. Its president, Gerhard Schwarz, opened the conference by pointing out that journalism is under triple pressure. First, there is the great economic pressure. Everyone is poking around in the fog and trying to cut costs. This is leading to mergers, above all to cuts in journalism, to the bleeding of newsrooms, to the thinning out of content and to a declining willingness to provide journalistic depth. This is linked to technological pressures. Information and knowledge are simultaneously available worldwide, and much of what used to be done by journalists is now done by algorithms. Gathering and processing information has become easier and requires little ingenuity or flair. At most, factual and journalistic expertise seems to be required for the classification of facts. Finally, there is the pressure of content. The enlightening search for truth is made more difficult because the constant bombardment of fake news obscures the truth, the speech and thought bans of political correctness make it impossible to name facts, and the moralising mainstream has washed away ideological debate, which at the same time serves the search for truth.
American journalist Ann Marie Lipinski, who heads the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, stressed that the future of democracy is linked to the future of journalism, and used quotes from various US presidents and examples from other world leaders to illustrate the difficult and fragile relationship between media, power and politics. German journalist (and short-term local politician) Susanne Gaschke said the media industry’s problems were largely self-inflicted. Publishers had not given enough thought to the Internet and digitalisation and the opportunities and risks they presented. Gaschke was harsh in her criticism of journalists. Some of them are know-it-alls, incapable of criticism and often not competent enough. According to Gaschke, anonymity on the Internet and in social media is having a devastating effect on political culture. It leads to brutalisation and the loss of all responsibility. (An abridged version of Ms Gaschke’s speech was published in the NZZ on 19.5.19).
Presentation by Ann Marie Lipinski
Journalist and curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard
Presentation by Susanne Gaschke (in German)
Journalist, publicist and author