polis at the festival

Beckett CharliePOLIS, the media think tank at the London School of Economics, will run two panel discussions at the festival:

Death of the foreign correspondent? (18.00 thursday 14 april)
With new technology why do we still need to send reporters to cover stories in foreign countries? Surely it is cheaper and more democratic to use bloggers or journalists from the place itself? Or is there still a role for the classic role of a witness who can explain what they see to the public back home?

Charlie Beckett director POLIS
Mimosa Martini Channel 5 News
Mort Rosenblum former editor The International Herald Tribune
Richard Sambrook vice-president Edelman

Democracy after journalism (11:30 friday 15 april)
With the growth of citizen media and the flood of data being put online by governments, do we need traditional journalism? The public are increasingly getting their information from social networks or direct from organisations. Groups like Wikileaks expose wrong-doing, which means that we are all now living in a Glass Room of transparency. So what would democracy look like without journalism?

Charlie Beckett director POLIS
Adrian Monck director of communications World Economic Forum
Marco Pratellesi head of online Condé Nast Italy
Stephan Shakespeare co-founder YouGov
Paul Staines founder Guido Fawkes blog