Report: Opening session

From left: Filip Láb, Tomáš Trampota, Epp Lauk and Slavko Splichal
© Jakub Plíhal

Keynote: Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana

Speakers

Filip Láb, Charles University in Prague
Epp Lauk, University of Jyväskylä
Tomáš Trampota, Charles University in Prague


The Central and East European Communication and Media Conference 2012 was opened by Tomáš Trampota, a representative of the organizing Faculty of Social Sciences. His short introduction was followed by a speech by Epp Lauk who addressed a “change in paradigm” within the media sphere in the transforming states. She recalled the various steps taken on the path to developed media society in CEE countries, such as various regional meetings and scholarship projects and compared these rather youthful efforts with the 40-year tradition of Scandinavian media conference.

Following was the keynote speech by Slavko Splichal, professor of communication from Ljublana. He pre-stated three issues to be dealt with: transition, transnationalization/globalization, public sphere. Moving straightforward to the social processes taking places in the post-revolutionary CEE society, he stated: “We could observe a certain imitation of the Western media sphere – in particular transnationalizaton and what I call ‘italiasitation’”. Transnationalization in his view is not a part of the transition proccess but rather its essential driving force. Prof. Splichal then turned his attention to Slovenian particularities concluding with a claim that the “prevailing view in the majority of CEE countries is that people were better off economically during Communism”. Adrressing the issue he calls the “double paradox”, he stated: “On one hand the democratic changes in 1990’s were seen as primarily political but were, in fact, driven by economic globalization. 20 years later, the economic crisis is in fact triggered by a primary political crisis." According to the speaker, the globalization proccesses lead to increased power of the executives accompanied by dillution of responsibility. Within the nation states, a representative democracy is ever more lacking active citizenship which deepens the ‘democratic deficit’.

Slavko Splichal during the speech
© Jakub Plíhal

In the second part of his extensive speech, Splichal addressed the public sphere from a market standpoint, quoting Karl Marx: “The distinctive feature of the press that it can transform a particular interest into a common intrest”. The public sphere in the speakers belief needs to serve as an opinion market which offeres equal access to everyone. By imitating market system, the public sphere is to be losing a large part of its autonomy, being stripped of political aspects and credibility. “There is no public sphere without an acting public”, he stated. Moving to the issue of new media, the speaker made a certain distinction between the Internet and traditional media – unlike them, it enables open dialogue but at the same time cannot promote values and set standards. “While media are still trusted more by the public than political institutions, they however largely fail in performing their controlling role”. Education and democratic dialogue ought to be the solutions to the issues on hand. "What is really needed, is social scientists becoming true examples", he concluded.