New Zealand’s civil society, businesses and branches of government all need to be armed with the appropriate tools to respond to the complex and changing needs of the media landscape in the future.

The Civics and Media Project consists of three workshops and accompanying discussion papers, which will examine whether citizens and communities have the news and information they need and want in a digital age and determine what a well-informed, civically engaged New Zealand will look like in 2030. This is an initiative of Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Auckland, NZ On Air, the Royal Society of New Zealand, the McGuinness Institute and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The purpose of the project is to inform and encourage public discourse and engagement regarding civics and media, with the ultimate aim of informing decisions by individuals, industry and institutions across society. The discussion papers produced during the course of the project will be published on the Civics and Media Project website when they become available.

The project will run three workshops:

  • Workshop 1 will be held on Wednesday 2 September in Wellington.
  • Workshop 2 will be held on Tuesday 27 October in Auckland.
  • Workshop 3 will be held on Thursday 19 November in Wellington.

Together with the Royal Society of New Zealand we will be running Workshop 3, which will be a full-day workshop focused on the question ‘How do we ensure a well-informed, civically engaged New Zealand in 2030?’ To learn more see the Civics and Media Project website. Please register your interest by emailing [email protected].

Workshop 1 is a closed workshop due to the limited space of the venue. We invited individuals based on their expertise and the unique and varied perspectives they would bring to the table. However, we intend that this discussion be as wide-ranging and open as possible; as such, we invite people to comment on the Civics and Media Project blog posts, email us and follow the #Civics&MediaNZ conversations on Twitter. We plan to make all the workshop outputs accessible to everyone on this website.

For more information see the Civics and Media Project FAQ page.

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