During a live-streamed public event “Public Debates in Turbulent Times – Academia and Media” at a state-of the-art studio in Victoria on March 19th, 2019, some high profile experts from Canada and Europe discussed the changing world of communication and mass media, the challenges that expert knowledge faces with the proliferation of ‘fake news’, and the ability of university experts to contribute to public debates in a meaningful and effective way. The starting point of the discussion was the assumption that the access to and critical debate of information in the public realm is a key component of contemporary democratic life.

Panel 1:

What role can academia and the media play in facilitating processes of public deliberation as the cornerstone of democratic practices?

• Speakers: Dennis Pilon, York University, Laurel Collins, Victoria City Councillor, Ben Isitt, University of Victoria and Victoria City Councillor, Tom Junes, Human and Social Studies Foundation, Sofia
• Moderator: Oliver Schmidtke, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria
• Video Contribution: The Crises of Democracy, the Global South, and Globalization from Below? Boaventura de Sousa Santos, University of Coimbra and James Tully, University of Victoria

Panel 2:

What do distinctive democratic traditions offer to the debate?

• Speakers: Pablo Ouziel, University of Victoria, David Owen, University of Southampton, Antje Wiener, Universität Hamburg
• Moderator: Rebeccah Nelems, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria

The event was co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria and the generous award of the Stream of Consciousness, a digital media company based in Victoria, BC.

For the full programme and report visit : https://bit.ly/2VKAV1K​