In this talk, Hannu Nieminen will interrogate how the contemporary media landscape is marked by social inequality. He puts forth that there is little public trust in the mainstream media, as it has increasingly become an outlet for social and political elites pushing their particular agendas.
The talk will present how social and economic policies of the last 20 years have resulted in increasing inequality and polarisation, alienating growing parts of the population in both Europe and the US, ultimately sparking a crisis for liberal democracy. Nieminen will look at how the crisis may be resolved – could a solution be reforms in the power-related structures that actively produce inequality and polarisation?
Hannu Nieminen is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Professor of Media and Communications Policy at University of Helsinki, Finland. He serves as an Expert in Public Service for the Administrative Council of YLE (Finland’s national public service broadcasting company). He is a member of the EuroMedia Research Group. His recent publications include ‘Media and Democracy From A European Perspective’ (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, 2016), ‘Digital divide and beyond: What do we know of ICT’s long-term social effects? Some uncomfortable questions’ (European Journal of Communication, 2016), and ‘A radical democratic reform of media regulation in response to three levels of crisis’ (Javnost/The Public, 2016).
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