01
December 2016
Past Event
Kleptocracy and Democracy Debate Series: The Crisis of Big Money Media

Kleptocracy and Democracy Debate Series: The Crisis of Big Money Media

Past Event
Busboys and Poets
December 01, 2016
(Swell Media/Getty Images)
Caption
(Swell Media/Getty Images)
01
December 2016
Past Event

1025 5th Street N.W., Cullen Room
Washington, DC 20001

Speakers:
Jeffrey Gedmin

Senior Fellow, Georgetown University

Martha Bayles

Former Visiting Fellow

Megan McArdle

Columnist, Bloomberg View

Is It Time to Rein in Kleptocrats Who Seek to Dominate the World's Information?

It’s an increasingly prevalent phenomenon across the globe: media companies are being taken over by business tycoons and kleptocrats less concerned with honest journalism than with their own political and financial self-interest. Their wealth itself isn’t necessarily a problem. There are genuine philanthropists now sustaining serious news publications and opinion outlets, and serious investors seeking new revenue streams to pay for high-quality news. But the overall trend is disturbing.

What to do? Are there safeguards that governments can put in place? Does that even make sense in a digital age? How might governmental responses be squared with Western faith in free economic competition? Does that still offer a path forward, or is the global erosion of media freedom best described as a market failure?

On Thursday, December 1, Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative hosted the first in a series of debates on kleptocracy and democracy. Featuring Hudson Visiting Fellow Martha Bayles of Boston College and Megan McArdle of Bloomberg View, this event was held at the 5th & K Busboys and Poets.

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