Tuesday, March 5, 2019
12:30 – 2:00pm
Bernstein-Offit Building Room 500
1717 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036
Complimentary copies of the SAIS Review and lunch will be provided.
The role of the media as the “fourth estate” of public life and international politics has long been defined by its role as a provider of information and a check on state power. Emerging challenges to freedom of the press worldwide, alongside changes in the production and consumption of media, are threatening to reshape this role. Join the Editorial Board of The SAIS Review of International Affairs for a roundtable lunch and discussion on the role of the media in international affairs with three expert contributors to SAIS Review’s Fall 2018 issue, The State of the Fourth Estate.
Madiha Afzal is a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. Dr. Afzal is the author of Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State (Brookings Institution Press, 2018). She writes regularly for Pakistani and international publications including Dawn, The Cairo Review, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, etc., and is also the author of several book chapters, policy reports, and journal articles. She previously taught at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park, and has also taught at SAIS.
Patrick Butler is president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations. He previously served as senior vice president of The Washington Post Company, special assistant to US Senate Majority Leader Howard H. Baker, Jr., and speechwriter for President Ford. He was also a founder of the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press and a member of the board of the Pew Research Center.
Dr. Steven Livingston is a professor in the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs and the Elliott School of International Affairs. He is also a senior fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research focuses on the role of information technologies and media on governance, development, accountability and human rights.
This event is on the record and open to the media.
For disability accommodations, please contact the event organizer at
