Conference | Breaking the News, Free Speech & Democracy in the Age of Platform Monopoly
Open Markets Institute and the Tow Center at the Columbia School of Journalism gather a variety of speakers for a multi-panel conference on how the power and business models of large online and telecom intermediaries affect the ability of reporters and editors to gather and distribute news in the 21st century.
How do we ensure that America’s journalists are fully independent, and that they are robustly supported to report the news, both nationally and locally, that is so vital to sustaining our democracy?
Check out all four of our panel discussions exploring this question below along with keynote speeches from:
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee
Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, Department of Justice
Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law
Mark Thompson, CEO, The New York Times
Robert Thomson, CEO, News Corporation
Panel 1 - The New Gatekeepers: Journalism in the Era of Platform Monopoly
Keynote Speech:
Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, Department of Justice
Read his speech transcript here.
Panelists:
Jason Kint, CEO, Digital Content Next

Julia Angwin, Author of Dragnet Nation and former Senior Reporter, ProPublica

Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Buzzfeed

Lina Khan, Author of Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox and Director of Legal Policy, Open Markets Institute
Panel 2 - The Effects of Information Bottlenecks: Propaganda, Misinformation, Loss of Privacy
Keynote Speech:
Robert Thomson, CEO, News Corporation
Read his speech transcript here.
Mark Thompson, CEO, The New York Times
Read his speech transcript here.
PanelISTS:
Roger McNamee, Managing Director, Elevation Partners

Marc Rotenberg, President, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

Sally Hubbard, Senior Editor, The Capitol Forum

Esha Bhandari, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project

Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist, Financial Times, and Global Economic Analyst, CNN
Panel 3 - The Effects of Information Bottlenecks: The Decline of Local and Special Interest News
Keynote Speech:
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee
PanelISTS:
Janet Hasson, Regional Vice President & Publisher, The Providence Journal

Terrance Egger, Publisher, Philadelphia Media Network

Ryan Kelly, Pulitzer Prize Winner and former Photojournalist at The Daily Progress

Stephenetta Harmon, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Emily Bell, Professor of Professional Practice & Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University
Panel 4 - Private and Public Pathways to Independent and Diverse Journalism in the 21st Century
Keynote SPEECH:
Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law

PANELISTS:
Richard John, Professor of History & Communications, Columbia Journalism School

Tom Wheeler, Former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

Christian D’Cunha, Head of Private Office of Giovanni Buttarelli, European Data Protection Supervisor

Olivier Sylvain, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University

Jason White, Director of News Partnerships, Facebook

Jonathan Kanter, Partner, Paul/Weiss, Antitrust Practice

Zephyr Teachout, Author of Corruption in America and Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University