KEY TAKEAWAYS

Each year, The Media Rumble brings together leading news professionals, tech innovators, policymakers, filmmakers, and investors from across the world to discuss the future of news, tech, and policy.

• The fifth edition of The Media Rumble took place on September 22-25, 2021. TMR 2021 was held virtually and was live-streamed with viewers and speakers from across the world joining in.
• News is the public square of our digital age. It empowers, entertains, shapes opinion, sparks debate, and drives legislation. The forum pushes the industry to look within and provides a common platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities confronting it.
• The forum kicked off on September 22 with an informed discussion on the effects that media trials have on affected individuals and communities, as well as the larger media ecosystem. The session explored the influence of certain instigating phrases, like “corona jihad” and “organized bio-warfare”, the fight for justice in court, and the process of framing perceptions. ● Powered by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a session titled “How The World Sees China” explored perceptions on China from both a media as well as a research standpoint. How does China control its image internally and among international communities, and how does this impact the way it’s perceived? These questions were discussed by panellist Sowmiya Ashok, an independent journalist who lived in Beijing, which explained how her interaction with people in China was based on the resolve to steer clear of bilateral views.
• On the academic-policy divide, C. Raja Mohan, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, University of Singapore, explained how “expertise does not translate into policy or good judgement”. Journalist Bill Birtles weighed in on how fostering extreme nationalism leads locals to allude to a very narrow image of foreign media, one that is out to smear China’s image. Dr. Samir Saran, President, The Observer Research Foundation, reflected on the distinction between American and Chinese hegemony, with the former being a democracy that could take the internal and foreign criticism that comes its way.
• The session on “Climate Action” raised the need for collaborative measures to tackle the problem of the climate crisis, with a focus on technologically driven and economically efficient cooperation between India and other countries.
• Elias Marini Schafer, programme officer, Konrad Adenauer-Foundation, expounded on the climate emergency by highlighting the increase in global temperature and its corresponding impact on the marine ecosystem, diversity and food production.
• With a pressing necessity to act with tailor-made responses, the discussion resonated on the importance of technologically open and economically efficient partnerships.
• Cooperation over competition drew consensus as a preferred response for viable exchange of green energy know-how to aid in tackling a global crisis.
• The prevailing dichotomy between the messages brought out by science and solutions such as the introduction of clean technology often miss out on the importance of climate literacy to create active change. The human dimension to the problem thus becomes essential.
• The Media Rumble culminated with a session on the “Afghanistan Crisis”. The focus was on the current situation in Afghanistan, with the Taliban forming the interim government and the future that it holds for its citizens and the international community.
• The panel also dealt with the nuances of human rights and violence especially in the context of women's rights. Furthermore, the role of the United States and other countries was also discussed, with a detailed account of the criticism that the US has faced on account of its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• The forum led to informed and nuanced discussions that set the ground for further research and the way forward.

To continue reading the whole outcome report kindly refer to the attached pdf on the same website.