Risks and Trends

R&T 2021: On media and security

Preview 2021-02-15
What shape will the debate on free speech take and who would win the war between the US and China - follow Risks and Trends to find out.

Media, information, democracy (10.00 am)

How to fix the public debate. On the one hand, 2020 marked a moment of change and re-evaluation of the media and, more broadly, of mass media. On the other hand, it was probably a moment when we needed reliable information about the situation we were in more than we had in a long time. The starting point for our morning discussions on Risks and Trends is the information and technology revolution that is affecting the media in Poland and around the world. Will brevity, cheapness and tribalism destroy the media and deform public debate? Will it speed up the process of degenerating democracy or, on the contrary - will a new, better information and knowledge industry emerge, with new business models germinating and audiences getting new, smarter media?

Krastev on whether the crisis of trust has disrupted the media landscape. Ivan Krastev is a political scientist and political philosopher, as well as being the head of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, a research fellow at the Vienna Institute for Human Sciences, and a board member and co-founder of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). In the first discussion of Polityka Insight's annual conference, PI Managing Director Andrzej Bobiński will talk to him about the state of liberal democracies. He will ask about the crisis of trust in the West and how it affects the state of the media. Krastev and Bobinski will talk about the January attack on Congress, the necessary upcoming debate about the freedom of speech, and how the media should help shape public debate in the face of increasing polarisation and tribalism in politics.

Rosiak on whether we need public media. Dariusz Rosiak is the creator and host of a programme entitled "Raport o stanie świata" [Report on the state of the world]. He hosted this programme for 13 years on Radio Three. In 2020 - thanks to listener funding - he moved it to streaming platforms, where it airs in the form of a podcast. Rosiak has been involved in the media since the 1980s, working for RFI in Paris and the BBC in London, among others. Bobiński will ask Rosiak about the reasons and consequences of his departure from public media. They will discuss the shrinking space for quality debate and the functioning and funding of the media. Rosiak will discuss whether he believes in pluralism and objectivity in the face of an identity media offensive and what he would do if he were head of TVP.

Security (3.00 pm)

How 2020 has changed our perception of threats. The pandemic has made (in)security a part of every citizen's daily life. The state' s strength, hitherto associated mostly with the military sphere, suddenly began to be measured by the amount of medical supplies, logistical efficiency and the level of knowledge and development of a country's science and medicine. China, seen by many as the biggest global threat, has become the world's biggest worry. How has this shift in the perception of risk translated into the security paradigm in Europe and the world?

Kleine-Brockhoff on whether the pandemic has reinforced the need for cooperation. Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff is head of The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) office in Berlin. From 2013 to 2017 he was an advisor to German President Joachim Gauck, responsible for preparing the President's speeches and political agenda. Prior to that, he spent 12 years in the US, where he worked as the Washington bureau chief of the weekly Die Zeit. In his interview with Kleine-Brockhoff, Marek Świerczyński, head of PI's security and international affairs department, will try to establish what actually happened in 2020. Was there a permanent and irrevocable change in the world order, or an acceleration of processes and trends already in place? Or was it a combination of both - an acceleration that upended the existing world and ushered in a new order?

Hodges on whether we are facing a war with China. Ben Hodges, Lieutenant General (Ret.), has been working with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) think tank on strategic studies since February 2018. Before ending his military career in January 2018, he was the operational commander of the Multinational Corps in Iraq (as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2005-2006) and the commander of US ground forces in Europe. Świerczyński will ask Hodges about whether a prediction he made a few years ago that a war with China would break out within 15 years is still valid, and whether America knows how it could win a possible clash with China. The interviewees will also look for differences and similarities between the 20th century US-Soviet Cold War and the current escalation of tension between Washington and Beijing.

Write to author
Managing Director
(+48 22) 436 73 13
a.bobinski@politykainsight.pl
Andrzej Bobiński
PI Alert
09:30
15.03.2024

The Warsaw European Conversation conference starts

The Warsaw European Conversation conference organised by Polityka Insight and the European Council on Foreign Relations starts. We invite you to watch the live broadcast.

PI Alert
15:38
11.01.2024

Andrzej Duda pardoned Kaminski and Wąsik.

The decision was affected, the president said, by the two convicts undertaking a hunger strike and their spouses' request for the release of the two PiS politicians. Duda's application will now go to ProkGen Adam Bodnar for an opinion. The president expects Bodnar to suspend the decision on the execution of the sentence even before the application has been examined and that he will immediately release Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wąsik.

Publications
Publications
Publications