American Academy in Rome / NPR "Conversations That Matter" 27 July 10 from Corey Brennan on Vimeo.
On Tuesday 27 July 2010 the American Academy in Rome and NPR (National Public Radio) cohosted a public program on “The Future of News in the Digital World.” Academy Director Christopher Celenza (FAAR’94) moderated a discussion between Vivian Schiller, President and CEO of NPR, and Sylvia Poggioli, NPR Senior European Correspondent.
The event was live streamed Tuesday 27 July at 6 PM Rome time, with an email forum for questions, that allowed for participation from audiences globally. Above you can view a recording of the program, which runs for approximately 72 minutes.
This event—the first event hosted by Celenza, who began his term as Director of the American Academy in Rome on 1 July—kicks off a new series of Conversations That Matter, hosted by the American Academy in Rome to engage international audiences on current issues that affect people across the world.
Celenza commented: “Conversations That Matter will allow the American Academy in Rome to address matters that are current and that affect the lives, work, and thought of many people. These conversations will bring the Academy’s spirit of intellectual adventure, manifest in all of its endeavors, to a broad audience. I am excited to be a part of this new endeavor and look forward to the conversation with Vivian Schiller and Sylvia Poggioli.” (You can read about Celenza’s appointment as AAR Director here.)
The internet has revolutionized journalism and how we view the world today. “The Future of News in the Digital World” centered the discussion around topics such as crowd-sourcing versus traditional news-gathering; the power of non-profit entities; NPR’s role as a leader in maintaining and in some cases expanding its international coverage against the changing media landscape; NPR’s place in the social economy of news in the US; who gets their news from NPR and why; for what other reasons do people turn to NPR; the success of NPR’s expanded blogosphere and podcasting ventures; and the role of the international reporter as cultural translator.
A media executive and journalist with 25 years experience in the industry, Vivian Schiller joined NPR as President and CEO in January 2009. Schiller leads all NPR’s worldwide media operations, including the organization’s partnerships with a network of more than 900 public radio stations, and their service to the 27 million people who listen to NPR programming and newscasts. In her role, Schiller is charged with assuring the fiscal, operational and journalistic integrity of NPR, building the organization and revenue base to further the public service mission of the NPR member station network. As a strong advocate of innovation, she is a key driver in leveraging new technologies to advance NPR’s core mission and grow audience for all of public media.
Sylvia Poggioli is Senior European Correspondent for NPR’s foreign desk and reports from Rome, the Balkans, other parts of Europe, and the Middle East. Poggioli can be heard on NPR’s award-winning newsmagazines Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Since joining NPR’s foreign desk in 1982, Poggioli’s on-air analysis has encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and noteworthy coverage from Prague. In early 1991, she supplemented NPR’s Gulf War coverage, reporting from London on European reactions to events surrounding the war.
The daughter of Italian anti-Fascists who were forced to flee Italy under Mussolini, Poggioli was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated from Harvard University in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in romance languages and literature. She later studied in Italy under a Fulbright Scholarship.
Special thanks to AAR Programs Associate Lexi Eberspacher, who organized the event for the Academy.