Fall 2020 Annenberg Lecture: Mark Thompson, New York Times

"Between a Rock and Hard Place: Securing the Future of Independent News"

Serious independent journalism faces two existential threats: economic destruction because of the failure of so many news organizations to find an adequate response to the digital challenge; and political and cultural rejection, not just by a new generation of populist leaders but by activists and pressure groups across the ideological spectrum. Mark Thompson, the outgoing CEO of The New York Times and a former Director-General of the BBC, explores these two profoundly interconnected threats and proposes how the news business can fight back and secure its own future.

Jeffrey Green, Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Andrea Mitchell Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication and Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the Annenberg School, will co-host/moderate the event.

The Fall 2020 Annenberg Lecture is cosponsored by the Annenberg School, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the Center for Media at Risk, and the Andrea Mitchell Center.

About the Annenberg Lecture

The annual Annenberg Lecture brings to Penn leaders in academia, politics, public policy, or the media. It combines two previous lectures, the Walter and Leonore Distinguished Lecture in Communication, which started in 1992, and the Leonore Annenberg Lecture in Public Service and Global Understanding, which began in 2006. Both series, and the subsequent single lecture, honor Ambassador and Mrs. Annenberg, without whose vision and support the Annenberg School and Annenberg Public Policy Center would not exist.