As feminists say, “you need to see it to be it.”
We live in what is called the “Information Age.” And it’s true that more people are exposed to more media than ever before. It’s also true that women are underrepresented in the media and that the distance between facts and Fake News, between the world privileged with media and one deprived of electricity, or even literacy, has never been greater. Many factors have contributed to this situation. The panel will address such crises as increasing censorship of both traditional and online news sources; lack of fact-checking; advertising as censorship; physical assaults on and jailing of journalists—and the fact that much of this behavior is encouraged by some political leaders.
It will also discuss such subtle threats as media control by media moguls; how the media shapes our understandings through the representations of society—of women in particular; and issues such as “false equivalency;” cyber-bullying; or “trolling” that suppress ideas and groups. We will discuss how to make an individual, group, fact, idea, or chosen identity visible in today’s media landscape.
Laure Adler is a journalist, author of more than 25 written works, publisher, and radio/TV producer. She has served as cultural adviser to the French President François Mitterrand. Adler teaches at Sciences Po Paris about women and feminism and published most recently Francois Mitterrand: Le roman de sa vie.
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer, media critic and activist. Her writing appears regularly in international media and she frequently speaks on topics related to feminism, free speech, sexualized violence and media portrayals of gender. She is a co-founder and director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project.
Nassira El Moaddem is a journalist and one of the few female editors-in-chief of a French media outlet. She began her career as a reporter and news anchor at Itele/Canal+ before joining France 2. In 2016, she took the helm of the Bondy Blog, a news website that gives voices to the voiceless, especially those living on the outskirts of cities.
Elaine Welteroth, editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, has been credited with reinventing the magazine as the go-to source for socially conscious young people and increasing the brand’s emphasis on diversity, feminism, and cross-generational conversations alongside fashion and entertainment news. Welteroth first joined Teen Vogue in 2012 as the beauty & health director, and most recently served as Teen Vogue’s editor.
Lauren Wolfe is an award-winning journalist and photographer who has written for publications from The Atlantic to The New York Times. She is currently a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and the director of WMC Women Under Siege, a journalism project on sexualized violence in conflict originated by Gloria Steinem at the Women’s Media Center in New York.
Watch this event live via Livestream on Nov. 2 at 7pm (EST).