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Dear MeCCSA Colleagues, A quick reminder of the below seminar and book launch - hope some of you can come! Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre invites you to a seminar and book launch to discuss: A Media Manifesto for the Digital Age, with Caroline Thomson (BBC Controller of Public Policy); Jeremy Dear (General Secretary of the NUJ); Peter Wilby (formerly editor of the Independent on Sunday and the New Statesman, now Guardian columnist; Don Foster (Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary);Sir Norman Fowler (Chair of the Lords Select Committee on Communications). Chaired by Professor James Curran, (Director of Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre). Friday 6 November 2009, 5.30-7pm at The British Academy, Lecture Hall, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH (http://www.britac.ac.uk/contact/map.cfm) Followed by a drinks reception and book launch of New Media, Old News: Journalism and Democracy in the Digital Age, edited by Natalie Fenton and published by Sage. The seminar will address the questions: HAVE JOURNALISTS AND POLITICIANS LOST THE TRUST OF THE PUBLIC? IS CORPORATE MEDIA FAILING DEMOCRACY? ARE NEWS ORGANISATIONS IN CRISIS? In response to the research of the Centre and with the publication of its first book, this seminar brings together a panel of politicians, policy makers and journalists to debate the relationship between news media, democracy and media policy at a time when newspaper circulation levels are at an all time low and no-one seems to know how the sector will survive; local and regional newspapers are cutting jobs and closing titles; ITV in the regions is in demise; online and mobile platforms have expanded while advertising revenue has fallen. The depreciation of the current business model together with the increasing commercial pressures are claimed to devalue the pursuit of news journalism that is in the public interest and ultimately detrimental to democracy. What, if anything, should the next government do? Please reply ASAP to Elisabeth Baumann-Meurer (E.Baumann- [log in to unmask]) to reserve a place. There is no charge for this event. Very best Natalie Fenton Co-Director Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre: Spaces, Connections, Control