The 24/7 news cycle – How can international organizations adapt?

Hosted by Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)
Tuesday, June 23 / Pumpenhaus

Rapid advances in technology, expanding audiences on social media, increased competition from state-controlled and privately owned media, and a large number of people in rural areas who continue to receive information in traditional ways pose challenges for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Decentralized means of communication, openness and transparency are the models to aim for, but how can organizations with a long history in areas such as foreign policy and diplomacy move towards that ideal, especially at a time of crisis? In a 24/7 news cycle, organizations accustomed to the slow pace of public diplomacy need to adapt.

With journalists increasingly using Twitter as the fastest mode of receiving and disseminating information, is there a future for the conventional news release and media briefing? How can organizations such as the OSCE counter false and misleading information to help journalists to report factually and ethically? And what about the wider audience? Now that “masses communicating” have replaced “mass communication”, how international organizations reach and engage key audiences? With all their opportunities, social media are nonetheless a place where YouTube can be hijacked by groups such as ISIS and Facebook can be used to play out grievances over the Ukraine conflict. How can international organizations contribute to making sure fiction does not replace fact?

Experts in different forms of communication from the OSCE will share their thoughts on all aspects of this matter, ranging from the protection of free media and the promotion of Internet access through to providing support to journalists to get and tell their stories and the use of social media as a means of putting the facts straight.