SOF Discussion Reception: The Role of the Media on the 2020 Elections
As we approach the 2020 Presidential election, all eyes are on the media. How do we salvage the critical role the fourth estate plays in building a robust democracy comprised of a citizenry capable of separating fact from fiction while considering multiple political perspectives free from bias? Speaker Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times, will examine the duty of the press in the upcoming election, what the industry learned from its role on the 2016 Presidential race, and how social media and data-driven analytics impact the national conversation on politics and policy. In this dynamic battle for the White House, the media holds an ever-powerful grip on the attention of Americans; how it manages this important responsibility will shape course of history. The conversation will be moderated by Garrett Graff, Executive Director, Cybersecurity & Technology, The Aspen Institute. More details and speakers will be announced soon.
This reception is part of our Society of Fellows Discussion Reception Series in DC, which is generously underwritten by Wilma and Stuart Bernstein and Carolyn and Bill Wolfe.
**If you are not a member of the Society of Fellows, and you would like to join, please contact the SOF Hotline at sof@aspeninstitute.org or at 970-544-7980.
Speaker Bio:
Elisabeth Bumiller is Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, a position she was named to in September 2015. She oversees daily operations and leads all news coverage from Washington for The Times.
Previously, she held the position of Washington editor and before that, deputy Washington bureau chief.
She covered the Pentagon, John McCain’s 2008 campaign and, from 2001 to 2006, she was a White House correspondent.
From 1999 to 2001 Ms. Bumiller was The Times’ City Hall bureau chief, responsible for covering Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his Senate race against Hillary Rodham Clinton from 1999 to 2001. Before that she worked on The Times’ Metropolitan staff as a general assignment reporter and as one of the writers of the Public Lives column. She has also written for The New York Times Magazine.
From 1979 to 1985 Ms. Bumiller worked for The Washington Post in Washington, New Delhi, Tokyo and New York.Ms. Bumiller is the author of three books: “Condoleezza Rice: An American Life”; “May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India”; and “The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family.”
Ms. Bumiller was born in Aalborg, Denmark, grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She lives in the Washington area with her husband, Steven R. Weisman, and has two grown children, Madeleine and Teddy.
Moderator Bio:
Garrett M. Graff, a distinguished magazine journalist and bestselling historian, has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology, and national security. Today, he serves as the director of the Aspen Institute’s cybersecurity and technology program, and is a contributor to WIRED, Longreads, and CNN. He’s written for publications from Esquire to Rolling Stone to the New York Times, and edited two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine.
Garrett is the author of multiple books, including The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller’s FBI and the national bestseller, Raven Rock, about the government’s Cold War Doomsday plans, as well as Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battles Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat, authored with his Aspen Institute colleague, John Carlin.
His most recent book, an instant New York Times bestseller and #1 national bestseller, entitled The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, compiling 500 Americans as they experienced that tragic day, was called a “a priceless civic gift” by the Wall Street Journal.