Media as public good an a lever of sustainability 12.12.2018

Media as public good an a lever of sustainability

On 12 December 2018, the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication hosted an international scientific conference entitled Media as Public Good and a Lever of Sustainability, co-organized by the Institute, Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub, and the Film, and Media and Audiovisual Studies section of the Academia Europaea.

The conference was attended by scientists from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Russia and Poland. The meeting was inaugurated by Prof. Arkadiusz Lewicki (Director of the Institute), Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs (Academic Director of the Academia Europaea Wroclaw Knowledge Hub), and Prof. Kirsten Drotner (Chair of the Section).

Among the speakers were: Prof. Graham Murdock, Prof. Göran Bolin, Prof. Johan Fornäs, Prof. Beata Katarzyna Ociepka, Prof. Mirosław Filiciak, Prof. Kirsten Drotner, Prof. Ilya Kiriya, Prof. Maren Hartman, Prof. Dorota Piontek. The detailed program, abstracts of speeches and biographies of participants can be find attached. An audio-video recording is still available on the website: https://vimeo.com/album/5619627.

The conference met with great and lively interest of the audience. Both researchers and students took part in subsequent discussions. Below we present selected statements of the students participating in the event. We also encourage you to familiarize yourself with the photo report from the event (by Wojciech Duszyński).

12.12.2018

„(...) the conference was a rewarding experience. It was a great pleasure to listen to speakers from all over the world. It has developed my thinking to be able to see the media in other ways. Media as public good seems hard to achieve nowadays. To obtain and sustain it, we need to discuss the subject worldwide. In my opinion, the new generation needs to be aware of the importance of democracy, freedom of thought, perception management, etc. We need to build networks between people, not between profiles.  This conference helped me start to think about different subjects from various perspectives” Selin Karaibrahimoglu

“(…)  We live in an era of fake news and omnipresent misinformation. Therefore, it is our duty to bring up a new well-balanced way to keep media as service for good and prosperity, and not to disrupt the ecological system by advertising fast-moving consumer goods. Together we ensure that media practices serve a tool for interaction between people in all areas of the world. Nevertheless, we question if mediated interaction enhances efficient communication between people that serve as a tool for sustainability?” Yulduz Rashidova

 “(… ) prof. Graham Murdock talked about the importance use of natural resources. For instance, he said: “natural resources have rights as well and they cannot be used however we please”. He changed my point of view on this subject; without a doubt, we must be more conscious of our natural resources and how we decide to make the best of them. Additionally, media is a powerful tool that we can use to bring more awareness to everyone who has access to it. (…) We need to be more respectful of mother Earth and try our best to not contribute in a negative way and try as hard as possible to be considerate of our actions”, Paola Morales

“There are many problems with current media and the world overall, but how can we tackle these problems? I think that media has become a resource of social sustainability, but it depends what we do with it that will make a difference. The main goal is communication, because, as prof. Göran Bolin said, "society lives in communication, and not by it". By looking into the basics of human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity, we will find that in the end, media as a communicative resource, needs to be considered a common good and being able to identify problems will not be enough. Media is one of the main components to social progress and it needs to be recognized as a public good”, Teah Major 

„(...) we should work on changing things for our own benefit, we should seek solutions to these problems. There is nothing in the whole world that we cannot solve by using communication. And we should not hide behind excuses and most importantly awareness is the main thing we should focus on”, Burcu Sevinc