The political division is constantly escalating. We are experiencing a reality that is less and less common across society. Some people are afraid of immigrants, others are afraid of losing their homes. Some people do not believe in the existence of the Corona virus, and some people religiously believe in science and objectivity. However, others attribute anything they don't understand to ancient aliens.
Our societies are more saturated with media than ever before. The proliferation of content for the sake of content makes it difficult for viewers to determine its relevance. This disruption, this destabilization of meaning is what happens every time a major technological shift pushes society out of its established habits.
A few decades ago, digital progressives promised a new era, one in which the Internet and its conveniences would bring freedom and democracy, making our lives easier and more enjoyable. Today, most media diets are dominated by frivolous advertising, political propaganda, and constant noise from content farms.
Who can we blame for all this? Today's guests have some knowledge to offer.
Mercy Abang is an award-winning journalist from Nigeria. She is a media entrepreneur, co-managing director and CEO of Hostwriter, based in Berlin, Germany.
Lina Al-Shawaf is a Syrian journalist and founder of Radio Rozana, which broadcasts in Arabic to the Syrian audience in Syria and abroad. It operates from Gaziantep, Türkiye.
Peter Kreko is a political scientist and social psychologist at ELTE University. He is the director of the Institute of Political Capital, an independent think tank based in Budapest. He is also a frequent author and long-time friend of Eurozine.
We meet them in the wonderful library of the Faculty of English and American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University, in the heart of Budapest, Hungary.
Creative team
Rika Kinga Papp, Editor-in-Chief
Murphy Akiel, Artistic Director
Zylvia Pinter, producer
Zofia Gabriella Babb, executive producer
Margareta Lechner, writer and editor
Priyanka Hutchenreiter, Project Assistant
administration
Hermann Riesner General Manager
Judit Ksikos is project manager
Ms. Chela Kardos, Office Administration
Budapest video crew
Nora Roszkay, audio engineering
Gergely Aaron Babai, Photography
Laszlo Halasz, photography
Post production
Nora Roszkay, lead video editor
Dialogue Editor Katerina Kuzmenko
art
Animation by Victor Maria Lima
Cornelia Frischoff, theme music
Hosted by the English and American Studies Library at the Faculty of Humanities, ELTE University, Budapest
More sources
Pictures used
Plato and Malala Yousafzai from Felker. A little girl reading here, more girls reading here, a suffragette there, and determined women everywhere. Really, everywhere.
Captions and subtitles
Julia Sobota, Daniela Unifazo, March Zaslavsky, Marta Verdebar, Olena Yermakova
disclosure
This talk show is produced by Display Europe: a content sharing platform that will be debuting soon.
This program is jointly funded by the European Union's Creative Europe Program and the European Cultural Foundation.
Importantly, the views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for it.
