[FoME] Save the date: FoME Symposium 2017 - Power Shifts. Media Freedom and the Internet, Nov. 16-17

[Matthias Spielkamp | iRights.info]

Dear friends and colleagues of FoME,

please find below the Save the date for this year's FoME Symposium.
Please circulate widely in your networks.

We're looking forward to seeing you all in November in Berlin!
Matthias


Power Shifts. Media Freedom and the Internet
FoME Symposium 2017
November 16-17
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Berlin
Hosted by iRights

In many countries, not only in the developing world, governments are
pushing for more control over the Internet. Censoring content is a
growth industry, and Internet and social network shutdowns in response
to civil protest and unrest are on the rise. Online surveillance is
exploding and people are being increasingly intimidated or detained
because of their online activities.

Therefore it is vital for civil society and the media to work together
in order to shape the Internet of the future and ensure it remains in
the service of democracy. And the role of international media assistance
needs to be reconsidered in this context.

At the core of the symposium will be the following questions:

- How to address Internet filtering and blocking in authoritarian regimes?
- How to counter “fake news” without stifling freedom of expression?
- How to minimize risks emerging from cyber security initiatives?
- Should the media development community engage more in the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF) processes?
- Should media development focus its attention more to international
digital media enterprises?
- How to regulate or control the expansion of digital surveillance programs?
- Should digital information literacy be more prominent on the media
development agenda?

These and other issues will be discussed at the 2017 symposium of the
Forum Media and Development (FoME), taking place in Berlin on November
16-17. The FoME symposium will bring together journalists, media
managers, media development specialists, activists, academics and
representatives from government and private companies from around the
world to exchange views and foster ideas to keep the Internet free and
open – for media and citizens around the globe.

The symposium is organized and hosted by iRights in cooperation with
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. FoME is an initiative of 20 organisations from
German-speaking countries active in international media development,
including iRights, Reporters without Borders, CAMECO, Deutsche Welle
Akademie, ECPMF, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung,
IDEM, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and others. Detailed information
regarding the FoME Symposium 2017 will be available from September 15th
at www.fome.info.