![Reimagining The Media In A Liberal Democracy In The Digital And AI Age [Podcast]](https://thekamugasachallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/newspaper-600x320-1.jpg)
John Adams, a Founding Father and the second U.S. President (1797-1801), famously stated, “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
2. This is significant because of the incessant warnings of a ‘post-truth’ landscape and the pervasive spectre of ‘fake news’, which can tempt us to reduce politics to a mediated performance. While the sway of platforms and the fury of social media exchanges demand attention, an exclusive focus on these communicative channels threatens to eclipse the core of the political endeavour and the role of the media.
3. Thus, the sweeping forces of structural inequality, technological change, political realignment, and social transformation are reshaping our world. Political communication is now intertwined with complex debates about populism, political activism, and the legacies of slavery and colonialism. Given this reality, the critical question is this: How can we reimagine the media in a liberal democracy in the digital and AI age?
4. Given his background as a British journalist and broadcaster, coupled with his current role as a visiting fellow at Newcastle University (since 2024), Alex Renton is exceptionally well-placed to shed light on this vexing question. His education includes studies at Ashdown House, Eton College, Brighton College, and the University of Exeter, where he focused on English.
5. Alex is the author of several historical and investigative books, including Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class (2017) and Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family’s Story of Slavery (2021). In 2023 he co-founded the advocacy and education group Heirs of Slavery.
6. In this episode, we discuss the topic: Reimagining the Media in a Liberal Democracy in the Digital and AI Age.
7. Look up Episode 022 of Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa, and please follow the Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa podcast through your favourite podcast app to listen to the latest insights from our guest thought leaders.
Recommended Reading:
Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family’s Story of Slavery (Canongate Books; Main edition (September 28, 2021)). By Alex Renton.
A Dedication:
This episode is dedicated to the journalists who have fallen in pursuit of truth. From Gaza to every corner of the world, they stood between silence and accountability, bearing witness in the darkest corners. We honour their sacrifice and recommit ourselves to the ethical imagination their courage embodies. May their memory always remind us that a free press is the conscience of democracy.