Discussing Democracy at 10th Global Communication Summit

Faculty, alums, and students gathered in Washington, D.C., on Friday, November 1, to talk democracy, polling, politics, and the media at the 10th Annual Global Communication Summit.

Hosted by the Emerson-Blanquerna Center for Global Communication, a collaboration between Emerson’s Communication Studies Department and the Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations in Spain, the theme of this year’s event was “From Campaign Rhetoric to Civil Discourse: A Call to Action.”

“The focus of the global summit this year was to enrich Emerson’s long history of deliberative dialogue and conversation. We are asking people to not use technology, but to engage in conversation and dialogue with the audience as well as other members,” said Co-Director of the Emerson-Blanquerna Global Center and Communication Studies Chair Greg Payne. “It really comes down to celebrating Emerson as being a world leader in communication arts and storytelling since its founding in 1880.”

PBS senior correspondent and NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff led the morning session with a keynote discussion with President Jay Bernhardt on “America at the Crossroads.”

America at the Crossroads is a series Woodruff created in 2022 to look at the growing divisions between America: its causes, its consequences, and its solutions. Woodruff said she intended it as a two-year project, but that she would be extending the series, which airs on PBS and can be found on YouTube, into 2025.

Woodruff said going forward, the team would be looking at efforts Americans are making to cross ideological and cultural divides and work with their neighbors.

“It’s not that we’re going to agree on everything that debate is healthy. Compromise is not a dirty word, and we … need to understand the notion that somebody can have a completely different political view, but not be a bad person and not be somebody we should hate,” she said.

She also talked about the role journalists have in rebuilding trust in the media and providing citizens with well-researched, fair, contextualized information. News consumers today get so much opinion and not enough straight news, she said.

“We should have opinions. But at the end of the day, what we need from reporters, and the way I think we’re ever going to win back the trust and confidence of the American people, is by showing that we’re telling them the whole story. Even if we don’t particularly love the bottom line in that story, whatever happened today or the next day,” she said.

The afternoon keynote featured Emerson College Polling Director Spencer Kimball and Communication Director Camille Mumford presenting the latest polls.

In addition to sessions on timely topics, including Deliberative Dialogue, Disinformation and Gender-Based Violence, Digital Democracy, and Distrust in the Media, students, scholars, and alums led lunchtime breakout sessions.

Alums in attendance included Vital Voices Global Partnership President/CEO Alyse Nelson ’97; NBC/MSNBC political analyst Susan Del Percio ’90, MA ’92; Scott Ratzan, MA ’86, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy; Lee Schwebel ’90, Senior Carl Stokes Fellow, Cleveland Leadership Center; Peter Loge ’87, director of the George Washington School of Media and Public Affairs; actress/author Trinitee Stokes ’24; and Emerson Trustees Pat Peyton ’84 and Andrea Montoni 78.

Collective Media, a student-run media and content agency, contributed to this report.