Freedom Movements and the Press – Part 1
What happens when you sit journalists from the world’s most powerful and influential publications at the same table with a Polish columnist or the editor of a small Slovakian daily? How does the dialogue between America and Europe change when voices from Eastern Europe are included? The Institute of Human Sciences at Boston University found out in November 2005 during a two-day conference on Media and Politics, held in conjunction with an exhibit (Poland on the Front Page: 1979-1989) of front page newspaper stories from US and Polish titles depicting the evolution of journalism in Poland and the role of the media in shaping public perceptions and as an instrument of democracy.
Over the next several weeks the EU for You podcast will feature unedited recordings that conference. The recordings were recently digitized and we are making them available to the public for the first time.
The first session of the conference, Freedom Movements and the Press, brought together three of the journalists featured in the exhibit (keynote speaker Adam Michnik, Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza; John Darnton, Associate Editor, The New York Times; Jackson Diehl , Deputy Editorial Page Editor, The Washington Post) with other writers active on behalf of freedom movements in Eastern Europe (Martin Simecka, Editor-in-Chief, Sme and Veton Surroi , Member of the Parliament of Kosova for the ORA Civic Group; Former Chairman, KOHA Media Group, Pristina). Opening Remarks were given by John Schulz, Dean of the College of Communication at Boston University. Jonathan Schell , Harold Willens Peace Fellow at the Nation Institute, chaired the discussion.
Today’s podcast features the keynote speech by Adam Michnik. Adam is translated by Elzbieta Matynia, Associate Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies at New School University in New York. In two weeks, we will bring you a recording of the panel discussion.
