In collaboration with Chatham House and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Luminate launched 'Future-Proofing Media Freedom,' a new Undercurrents podcast mini-series, to explore the challenges facing public interest media in the 21st century and to highlight how a range of actors are seeking to tackle them. Ben Horton (Chatham House) and Dr. Julie Posetti (ICFJ) co-hosted the three-part series.
The series kicked off with A Modern Market Failure, a discussion with Joyce Barnathan (ICFJ), Nishant Lalwani (Luminate), and Renata Rizzi (Nexo) on how we can ensure the financial survival of independent media organisations amidst the rise of social media and the internet-driven proliferation of free news, which has fundamentally undermined traditional media business models.
In the second episode, Misinformation Matters, Mevan Babakar (Full Fact), Melissa Fleming (United Nations), Sonny Swe (Frontier Myanmar), and Ethan Zuckerman (University of Massachusetts) looked at how media organisations are responding to the ongoing crisis of disinformation.
Maria Ressa (Rappler), David Kaye (Former UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion & expression), Caoilfhionn Gallagher (Doughty Street Chambers), and Joel Simon (Committee to Protect Journalists) wrapped up the series with An Increasingly Dangerous Profession?, an episode focused on the growing number of crackdowns, shutdowns, and attacks on media professionals.