Media Freedom 2018

 Seemingly self evident freedom is hard won and comes at a cost in media, culture and society. Media freedom evokes our right to communicate, where access to media and public spheres holds the promise of freedom of expression, diversity of representation, and media accountability. The constraints on media freedom occur in the form of state control, a lack of public accountability and restricted access to technological infrastructures and content across geographical and economic borders. Constraints also appear where the market freedoms of media institutions eclipse the civic freedoms of audiences and users. In the current climate of the rise of populism, fake news and filter bubbles within the social network media economy, neo liberal politics and commercial logics threaten to narrow civic liberties within the populist divide, This international symposium critically examines media freedom and stricture, addressing both the values of creative freedom and communicative rights and the ways in which these may be compromised.