Democracy, News and Social Media
Mark Laity, David Patrikarakos, Daniel Pearl, Adam Thomas, Rachael Maskell

• Saturday 10 June 2017, 2.00PM to 3.30pm
• Free admission
  Booking required
• Ron Cooke Hub, University of York (map|getting to campus)
• Wheelchair accessible

Event details

David Patrikarakos, Poynter Fellow at Yale University, Contributing Editor to The Daily Beast and Politico and author of the forthcoming book War in 140 Characters: How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century, delivers the keynote speech. Afterwards, members of our panel, including Daniel Pearl, Channel 4’s Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs, explore the effects of social media and fake news on democracy.

Supported by The Morrell Centre for Toleration which is generously funded by the C and JB Morrell Trust.

Speakers:

• Mark Laity, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (Chair)
• Rachael Maskell, MP York Central (May 2015 to May 2017)
• David Patrikarakos, The Daily Beast and Politico  
• Daniel Pearl, Channel 4
• Adam Thomas, European Journalism Centre

About the speakers

Mark Laity has been involved with defence, the media, and latterly Strategic Communications for over three decades, both as a journalist and in a variety of posts as a spokesman and senior manager for NATO. His experience covers all levels, from political and strategic, to the frontlines of major conflicts and peacekeeping missions.

Since 2007, Mark has been the Chief Strategic Communications (StratCom) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). He is the first holder of the post, created in response to the growing importance of information campaigns in military operations. His office has led in the creation of StratCom policy and now oversees its implementation and further development in NATO operations.

This followed nine months in Afghanistan in 2006-7 as NATO Spokesman in Kabul and Media Adviser to the ISAF Commander, the first of three tours covering much of the worst of the fighting in Afghanistan. For his service in Afghanistan he was awarded NATO’s Meritorious Service Medal. Nowadays he is part of the NATO effort to deal with the challenge of so-called ‘Hybrid Conflict’ which has at its heart the uses and abuses of information and the nature of ‘post-truth’ communication.

Mark joined NATO after 22 years in journalism, mostly in BBC radio and television. This included, from 1989, 11 years as the BBC's Defence Correspondent. He reported from the frontlines of most major conflicts of the ‘90s, but particularly the break-up of Yugoslavia and the first Gulf War. 

Rachael Maskell was elected as the Member of Parliament for York Central in 2015. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with a degree in physiotherapy in 1994. On starting work, she rapidly became a trade union rep, going on to become a Regional and then National Official for Unite, where she led many campaigns. On the national stage, Rachael led the union’s equality agenda, campaigning against discrimination and for equal pay. She then spent seven years representing the charity sector on improving voluntary organisations and the opportunities for those who work in the sector. When the last Labour Government was elected, Rachael moved back into health to represent over 100,000 health workers, leading the campaign to protect the NHS.

In Parliament, Rachael campaigns for a progressive Living Wage, skilled jobs, a sustainable city, affordable housing and to integrate health and social care. In May 2015 Rachael was appointed as a Shadow Defence Minister for Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans and served in this position for nine months before being appointed to the Shadow Cabinet. In February 2016 Rachael was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and served in this position until resigning in February 2017 prior to the vote on Article 50.

David Patrikarakos is the author of Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State, a Poynter Fellow in journalism at Yale University and an Associate Fellow of the School of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. He is a Contributing Editor to The Daily Beast and Politico andhas written for the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. His latest book, War in 140 Characters:How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century will be published in November. You can follow him on Twitter at @dpatrikarakos 

Daniel Pearl is Channel 4’s Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs. He commissions Channel 4 News from ITN and is also the Editor of Dispatches, Channel 4’s award-winning current affairs strand. Daniel has over 20 years' experience producing, editing and commissioning high profile news and current affairs television. Prior to joining Channel 4, he was the Deputy Editor at BBC Panorama and also Deputy Editor of both the BBC1’s Ten O'clock News and BBC2’s Newsnight. In 2010, he was appointed to the high-profile role of Editor of the BBC's first ever Prime Ministerial Election Debate.

Adam Thomas is the Director of the European Journalism Centre and an award-winning journalism and technology leader. The European Journalism Centre (EJC), established in 1992, is a non-profit international foundation with the remit to improve, strengthen, and underpin journalism and the news media. This mission has two main aspects: on the one hand, it is about safeguarding, enhancing, and future-proofing quality journalism in Europe and on the other hand, it is about supporting initiatives towards press freedom in emerging and developing countries.

Previously, Adam was Chief Product Officer at Storyful, where he was responsible for the vision and delivery of over 20 innovative journalism products to 150 of the world’s biggest media organisations. Prior to this, he was Head of Communications at the international nonprofit Sourcefabric, where he managed communications strategy and community growth. Adam has worked on media development projects in over 50 countries worldwide. His
teams and projects have won an INMA Global Innovation Award, the African News Innovation Challenge, a Guardian Digital Innovation Award (Best Technology for Social Change) and a Knight-Batten Innovations in Journalism Award. He tweets at @datatheism.

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