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Heavyweight discussions about media and democracy

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Just as the world’s oldest law governing freedom of the press and expression – the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act – celebrates 250 years, the media landscape is being redrawn more dramatically than ever before. This poses a new challenge for both society and the media, as the latter is a platform for democracy. But what opportunities and threats are there, and what choices does the future hold? During Meg – the Media Days forum in Gothenburg – Lindholmen Science Park is letting heavyweights from both industry and science have their say.

The media industry is gathering at the Media Days forum in Gothenburg on April 7-8. Lindholmen Science Park is hosting four live interviews on the theme of media and democracy.

“It will be really exciting to hear our guests’ analyses. The effects of the new media landscape on democracy and its development is highly topical,” says Martin Holmberg, who is in charge of the Media and Democracy project at Lindholmen Science Park.

The guests who will be interviewed on stage include:

  • Gabriel Byström, Station Manager for Radio Sweden Skaraborg and previously long-standing Head of Culture at the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper. Also author of the book “Tystnadens triumf” (The triumph of silence), which details political developments in Hungary.
  • Elza Dunkels, Researcher and Lecturer at Umeå University, specialized in the younger generation’s internet culture.
  • Jeanette Gustafsdotter, Managing Director of the Swedish Media Publishers' Association.
  • Ingela Wadbring, Head of Nordicom, which compiles all Nordic media research.

Lindholmen Science Park will also host a seminar involving the international speaker, Azmat Khan. Khan, who has a background as an investigative reporter for both PBS Frontline and Al Jazeera, has now been recruited to the digital media success, Buzzfeed. What are her thoughts about developments surrounding the media and democracy, based on her experiences?

New arena for media research

Lindholmen Science Park is participating in Meg as part of its work on the Media & Democracy project. 

“The aim of the project is to work together with the industry and academia to establish a research and development arena that connects the media’s need for innovation with forward-looking research. In other words, an arena that stimulates and creates new and enabling knowledge while placing the focus on the issue of democracy,” explains Martin Holmberg.

Read more about Lindholmen Science Park’s program during Meg

Read more about Media & Democracy

For more information, please contact:

Martin Holmberg, Project Manager for Media and Democracy, Lindholmen Science Park, +46 (0)31-764 70 61, martin.holmberg@lindholmen.se