Previous Plenary Speakers
2009's plenary speakers were Bettina Peters and James Curran
2009 Plenary from 11:30 Wednesday September 9th 2009 (The video will run using Windows media player on your local computer)
Bettina Peters is the Director of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) a network of 500 media assistance organisations from around the globe.
Before joining GFMD, Bettina worked as Director of Programmes at the European Journalism Centre with responsibility for EJC’s programme of journalism training, especially in the Middle East/North Africa and Eastern Europe.
From 1990 until 2002 Bettina worked at the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) as European Coordinator and then Deputy General Secretary.
She holds a Master’s degree in Politics and Journalism from the University of Hamburg and has edited a range of publications including a global survey of women in journalism, the EJC Handbook on Civic Journalism and the Handbook on Human Rights Reporting in Africa.
James Curran is Professor of Communications at Goldsmith’s College University of London where he is Director of the Goldsmith’s Media Research Programme. James has held a personal Chair at Goldsmith’s since 1989 along with endowed visiting chairs at Penn, Stanford, Stockholm and Oslo Universities.
He has been a member of the Annenberg Press Commission, USA and is currently the UK representative on the European Commission Committee promoting research on broadcasting in Central and Eastern Europe.
He has written or edited eighteen books including Power Without Responsibility, Media and Cultural Theory, Mass Media and Society, Contesting Media Power; Alternative Media in A Networked World and Media and Power.
James Curran, Goldsmith’s College University of London
2007's plenary speaker was Peter Preston
Peter Preston is a columnist for the Guardian and the Observer. He was previously editor of the Guardian for 20 years, from 1975 to 1995, and has written two books, Bess (1999) and The 51st State (1998).
Peter's plenary offered reflections on "Trends and Predictions for Newspapers in the 21st Century".