Inquiry Commissioner, Joyce McMillan, spoke at the Oxford Media Convention (OMC) on a panel discussing ‘Citizens, ethics and the media in a global age’ about the Inquiry’s work regarding the importance of engaging civil society associations in the democratization of media and the creation of news content.
The Convention, the foremost event on media for industry and senior government figures, explored the current and future challenges and opportunities around domestic media policy, strategy, regulation and the media landscape more generally.
Joyce’s contributions stemmed from the Commission’s belief that the existence of a vigorous, varied, independent and trustworthy news media is central to the health of civil society and democracy. Joyce noted that the Inquiry has been profoundly conscious of the changes currently sweeping the media sector, both in terms of new potentials for self-expression, self-publication and debate at all levels, and of the threat to traditional economic models which have supported reporting, editing and analytical activity in the media.
Joyce discussed issues around freedom of expression and access to information and also reflected on how to support the development and maintenance of reputable and trustworthy media sources.
The discussion was chaired by David Levy, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Other panellists included: Matt Brittin, managing director, Google UK, Oona King, head of diversity, Channel 4, and David Yelland, partner, Brunswick Group.
The Inquiry Commission will be publishing its report in March 2010. Two supplementary Inquiry research reports on media ownership and social media will also be available to download from the Carnegie website.
