We are in unchartered waters. Political intimidation threatens media practitioners worldwide, and disinformation campaigns destabilize public trust. The Center for Media at Risk offers the chance to strategize in response to threatening political conditions. Knowing how media practitioners work under authoritarian regimes and circumstances of creeping authoritarianism can help free/defend/empower/protect/save the media.
Contextualizing The Penal Press of Eastern State Penitentiary
Episode 23 - Propaganda, Conspiracies and Search Manipulation by Center for Media at Risk
Over a year into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, how are Ukrainian journalism scholars and media makers thinking about the conflict, and where do they see it going next? Annenberg student and Center for Media at Risk steering committee member Liz Hallgren sits down with the Center's visiting scholars, Yevhen Fedchenko, Olena Lysenko and Dariya Orlova to unpack the state of play. Keeping a clear-eyed emphasis on the decade of conflict that led to this tipping point, Fedchenko, Lysenko and Orlova address the pivotal role of media – both in Ukraine and abroad – in the making and breaking of Ukraine's war effort, including how Ukrainian journalists have managed tensions with their Western counterparts and what changing narratives around the war say about Russia's grip on the information environment.
In the latest installment of the Center for Media at Risk podcast series, doctoral fellow Roopa Vasudevan speaks with Kelsey Halliday Johnson and Lisa Marie Patzer about art, technology and the rapidly changing world of machine intelligence and vision.
Episode 20.1 - Black Matter Philly: Jolie Means Pretty (In French) by Center for Media at Risk
Episode 19 - How the West Stands in the Way of Syrian Journalism by Center for Media at Risk
Episode 18 - Afghanistan: What Comes Next? by Center for Media at Risk
In this episode, journalists Amanda Sperber and Jack Hewson compare notes on what it's like to navigate the risks of reporting from Somalia and Iraq respectively, sketching a picture of some of the life of modern freelancing in a conflict. Dealing with militias, learning where it's safe to stay and finding ways to navigate access to sources and the economics of the job make up part of the difficult work of reporting from the ‘frontlines' of the the US' forever war.
Episode 16 - COVID in the African Newsroom by Center for Media at Risk
In this episode, Annenberg doctoral student Sophie Maddocks speaks with leading legal scholar and cyber civil rights advocate Mary Anne Franks, whose 2019 book "The Cult of the Constitution" argues that fundamentalist interpretations of the Constitution elevate certain rights above others.
In this episode, Annenberg PhD Candidate Natacha Yazbeck and award-winning journalist and human rights activist Zaina Erhaim discuss freedom, fear and identity as local journalists covering conflict zones.
In this episode Annenberg doctoral student Roopa Vasudevan discusses the new “Meme Tactics” art exhibition with two of its curators, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Josue Chavez. Their conversation touches on the value of memes as an amplifier for under-heard and under-represented populations.
Gitmo Media is a new three-part podcast series that examines how we experience and understand the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and its complex history. Produced by Annenberg PhD candidate Muira McCammon and Center for Media at Risk 2018-2019 postdoctoral fellow Daniel Grinberg the series considers how media forms have shaped the perspectives of visitors, personnel and detainees at the site and how they have used media to enhance public knowledge of this exceptional and often overlooked space. ”Detainee Diary," the third and final episode in the series, features an interview with Mohamedou Slahi, who was detained at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 until his release fourteen years later. Slahi documented daily life as a Gitmo detainee in the memoir Guantanamo Diary.
Gitmo Media is a new three-part podcast series that examines how we experience and understand the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and its complex history. Produced by Center for Media at Risk 2018-2019 postdoctoral fellow Daniel Grinberg and Annenberg PhD candidate Muira McCammon the series considers how media forms have shaped the perspectives of visitors, personnel and detainees at the site and how they have used media to enhance public knowledge of this exceptional and often overlooked space. “Visualizing Injustice” focuses on the challenges of visually representing the complexity of Guantanamo Bay's military tribunals.
Gitmo Media is a new three-part podcast series that examines how we experience and understand the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and its complex history. Produced by Center for Media at Risk 2018-2019 postdoctoral fellow Daniel Grinberg and Annenberg PhD candidate Muira McCammon the series considers how media forms have shaped the perspectives of visitors, personnel and detainees at the site and how they have used media to enhance public knowledge of this exceptional and often overlooked space. “Documenting Detention” focuses on practitioners who visit Guantanamo Bay and try to convey their impressions of the contentious activities occurring there, amidst and in spite of rigorous information controls.
In this episode Annenberg doctoral student Florence Madenga interviews scholar, activist and media producer Chenjerai Kumanyika. Their conversation touches on the ethics of media production and research on and by people of color. They also discuss the challenges and opportunities for addressing forms of oppression in the contemporary political moment.
In this episode, Center for Media at Risk Research Fellow Sebastién Mort and Annenberg doctoral student Jeanna Sybert continue their discussion with Visiting Scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat about “The Authoritarian Playbook.” From press policies and strategies of repression to personality cults, Ben-Ghiat argues that the best way to understand Donald Trump and his contemporaries is by looking at him in the context of a century of authoritarian rulers from Mussolini onward.
In this episode, Center for Media at Risk Research Fellow Sebastién Mort and Annenberg doctoral student Jeanna Sybert sit down with Visiting Scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat to discuss “The Authoritarian Playbook.” From press policies and strategies of repression to personality cults, Ben-Ghiat argues that the best way to understand Donald Trump and his contemporaries is by looking at him in the context of a century of authoritarian rulers from Mussolini onward.
In this episode, Annenberg alum Nour Halabi talks with Lilie Chouliaraki and Minelle Mahtani, two scholars whose work touches on different aspects of the ethics of representation and care.
In this episode, doctoral student Florence Madenga interviews NYU professor and press critic Jay Rosen about the state of contemporary journalism and protecting the legitimacy of the American press.
Episode 07 — Form and Function: Art and Artists in East Germany by Center for Media at Risk
In this episode, we're trying out a new format. We're calling it an acoustic panel. Doctoral candidate Megan Genovese sent questions to leading leading voices in the ongoing debates around diversity in the entertainment industries. Each respondent sent in a recording of their responses and we've edited them together to make up a virtual panel. The result is a lively, if simulated discussion, touching on the industry, its guilds and unions, and representation, on screen and off. We'll ask our expert panelists about the state of the American entertainment industry in light of the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and a year into the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. The panelists include Marjorie David, television writer and producer and Vice President of the Writer's Guild of America West; Mo Ryan, a freelance journalist and television critic; and Joelle Monique, cultural critic and writer for Pajiba, Polygon, Mary Sue, and other outlets.
In this episode, doctoral student and producer Muira McCammon talks to Afef Abrougui about privacy rights in Tunisia and the role journalists play in unveiling the complexities and paradoxes of internet policy debates in North Africa and beyond.
In this episode, doctoral student and producer Muira McCammon talks to trans cartoonist Carta Monir about her writing process, the fluidity of technology, and the ways in which comics can serve as a welcoming medium for artists with trans, queer, and non-binary identities.
In this episode, doctoral student and producer Muira McCammon talks to five faculty members at the Annenberg School for Communication about what the term “media at risk” means to them. Professor Zelizer gives introductory remarks about how the Center for Media at Risk came to be.
In this episode, doctoral student and producer Muira McCammon interviews freelance journalist, Zoë Beery, about her recent article in the Columbia Journalism Review,a meditation on the history and future of edit tests. Zoë argues that the contradictions of the edit test are a microcosm of bigger challenges in the world of journalism, such as ongoing workforce precarities and diverging attitudes towards journalists' rights. Muira, a former freelance journalist herself, also considers the power of unionization and ways in which editors can strive to act more ethically, when hiring new writers.
In this episode, doctoral student and producer Muira McCammon sits down with Dr. Paul Farber and Dr. Bethany Wiggin of the Penn Program of Environmental Humanities, a collective of artists, students, scientists, and educators, whose mission is to generate local and global awareness and engagement in the ways in which stories are told about data. Together they explore a unique project at Data Refuge and consider the ways in which climate media is at risk in the 21st century.