Les Rendez-vous de l’Eco: “Information Under Influence: The Wavering of Traditional Media and Democratic Challenges”

As part of the “Rendez-vous de l’Eco” series, the University of Montpellier’s Faculty of Economics is hosting a conference on the topic: “Information Under Influence: The Shifting Landscape of Traditional Media and Democratic Challenges” on Thursday, January 30, 2025, starting at 6:00 p.m., at the Faculty of Economics’ Richter Campus.

Does the economic vulnerability of the media contribute to the spread of misinformation?

"Democracy can function only if it is built on a shared perception of reality, of verifiable and debatable facts" (in the sense of democratic debate) (Hannah Arendt, *Truth and Politics, Crisis of Culture*, 1954). New information practices, combined with the arrival of digital giants in the information landscape, are undermining the process by which traditional media produce information.

From the mass collection of personal data to the capture of users’ attention and the siphoning off of online advertising revenue, all these factors tend to undermine the business model for producing quality news, paving the way for the privatization of the public sphere for the benefit of companies that have turned disinformation and the polarization of public debate into a full-fledged business.

Speaker:

Nathalie SONNAC is a professor of information and communication sciences atParis Panthéon-Assas University. As a specialist in the economics of media, culture, and the digital economy, she focuses in particular on issues of competition and regulation, as well as the political and democratic implications of media and social networks in the new digital economy.

She served as president ofthe Institut français de presse (IFP), the Department of Information and Communication atParis Panthéon-Assas University (2009–2015). She was a member of the National Digital Council (CNNum) (2013–2015). She served as a member of the Board of the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) (now Arcom) from 2015 to 2021.