"Instant news, social media – the new vulnerabilities for power" by Nik Gowing

Past Event

Date
30 October 2013, 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Location
Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Real-time media is changing our world. Digital connectivity and cheap, easy to use IT are disruptive game changers. They challenge the inadequacy of the structures of power to respond quickly and effectively to crises and rapidly evolving events. As vulnerabilities increase, mindsets and systemic behaviour cease to fit the needs of the new public information space.

Nik Gowing, international broadcaster, presents an overview and update on the implications for power of his Skyful of Lies analysis. The presentation and discussion will focus on the key questions posed by this new public information space (and in particular the explosion of social media) for government ministers, civil servants, defence and security agencies as well as for corporate institutions and NGOs.

There will be a drinks reception following the seminar. All welcome, please register above


About the Speaker

Nik Gowing has been a main presenter for the BBC's international 24-hour news channel BBC World News since 1996, where he presents World News Today with Nik Gowing, BBC World Debates, Dateline London and location coverage. For 18 years he worked at ITN where he was bureau chief in Rome and Warsaw, and Diplomatic Editor for Channel Four News (1988-1994). He has been a member of the councils of Chatham House (1998-2004), the Royal United Services Institute (2005-present), and the Overseas Development Institute (2007-), the board of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (1996-2005), and the advisory council at Wilton Park (1998-). He is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation. In 1994 he was a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Barone Center in the J. F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.