9th Annual Gershowitz Conference on Media & Democratic Governance 2021
Theme: Pandemic Paralysis: What the Media and Government Learned
November 5, 2021
Time: 11:00 – 5:00 pm
Venue: virtual
Organizers
Center for Media and Peace Initiatives
School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University, Newark NJ
Overview
A year later, it’s clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world, lives, professions, and indeed everything in lasting ways, and glimpses of that transformed system are already emerging. In education, many countries are in the middle of massive experiments in new ways of teaching and learning, and new ways of dividing responsibilities between home, school, and work. Media professionals, civil servants, businesses, and many others learned how to work from home.
While the pandemic has unleashed a wave of innovation in several sectors that has accelerated change and prompted blue-sky thinking throughout the system, it also exposed lots of failures in journalism practice and governance processes. The wave of misinformation in the media exacerbated the already fragile credibility of the media while deepening the trust deficit in public administration. At the same time, inequality and marginalization of vulnerable population persisted.
How can societies keep breaking down barriers of inequity through what we learned in the pandemic? What are the failures and successes of the different levels of government during the pandemic? Did the media provide appropriate guidance to the society and political leaders during the pandemic? Overall, did media practitioners and government functionaries find new ways to spark their creativity, harness technology, and provide the services they need to succeed?
Join top-level leaders to discuss these questions and more at the 9th Gershowitz Conference on Media and Democratic Governance – a daylong virtual event.
Speakers
Dr. Robert Shick
Affiliated Faculty at SPAA, Conference Co-Chair.
Dr. Uchenna Ekwo
President, CMPI – Conference Co-Chair
Gabriel Gershowitz
Attorney – Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, NY
George J. Hill, M.D. D.Litt.
Surgeon, Educator, Author, Volunteer, Captain, Medical Corps, US Navy (retired)
Dr. George Hill draws on forty years of experience as a physician and surgeon, and a parallel career as a teacher, writer, and leader of non-profit organizations. Dr. Hill was the first U.S. Navy Medical Officer to graduate from the U.S. Army Airborne School, Fort Benning, Georgia. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Fellow of The Explorers Club.
Alain TCHEGNON
Foreign Press Correspondents Association, NY
Alain TCHEGNON is a COVID-19 Response Specialist at Philadelphia Department of Public Health with a background in Media and Journalism. With over ten years of experience in Journalism, Alain has covered two presidential elections his native country, Republic of Benin. In 2005, he joined the French Union Press Organization before traveling to France and to Switzerland in 2006 where he explored the international dimensions of journalism. In 2011, Alain relocated to the United States of America where he continued to pursue further education and training in Mass Media and Journalism studies.
Mehran Sahami, Ph.D.
Professor at Stanford University
Mehram Sahami is the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering, and Professor (Teaching) and Associate Chair for Education in the Computer Science department at Stanford University. He is also the Robert and Ruth Halperin University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Google. His research interests include computer science education, artificial intelligence, and ethics. He co-authored “System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot.”
Mike Wagenheim
Senior U.S. Correspondent at i24NEWS
Mike is American sportscaster turned Israeli-based political TV reporter. With vast experience in radio, television and Internet broadcasting, including reporting, hosting, narration, production and editing, writing for print and broadcast, Mike’s well-rounded skills in media relations, social media, community relations and event management makes him a valuable asset in the media industry.
