Discussion Panel with Journalists and Media Representatives

Participants: Alexander Andreev (Deutsche Welle), Igor Yanke (author and freelance journalist), Ruslan Trad (Atlantic Council), Pascal Thibault (Radio France Internationale). Moderator: Ralitsa Kovacheva, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, SU

What is the role of the media in both bringing societies together and in dividing them? And what was it in the ideologized and controlled media of the recent past? How did “foreign radio stations” contribute to the truth and the end of the Cold War? What media are breaking down walls today, and are there any that are building them up? Do we have criteria for good journalism when everyone has their own Wall in social networks, and does professional journalism have the tools to compete with this digital “all-public”? Are we managing to deal with technological challenges—the over-production of information, massive data, artificial intelligence? How is societal truth preserved in the age of hybrid wars? The second of the three panel discussions at the “Walls” conference aimed at the public at large is dedicated to the profession that is an indicator of the good health of democracy, which is, not coincidentally, in a period of transformation and crisis.

In English, with Bulgarian translation.

Photos: Yana Lozeva

Organizers: the Cultural Center of Sofia University and the Center for Reading and Culture, with the support of America for Bulgaria, the Polish Institute in Sofia, and the French Institute in Bulgaria