Maria Exner, 2023 Thomas Mann Fellow is joined by Colin Maclay, Research Professor of Communication and the Executive Director of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, and Maria Eryn Brown, Editorial Director at Zócalo Public Square, a selected group of journalists, entrepreneurs and researchers to provide insights into their work practice.

During her time the Thomas Mann House, Maria Exner will deal with the question of what contribution journalism and media can make to maintaining social cohesion in times of technology-driven polarization of opinion – and what journalistic self-image must underlie this contribution. Taking into account the perspectives of experts in California, the USA, and Germany, generalizable lessons will be drawn and made available to the public and the next generation of journalists. This evening is an opportunity for experts from both sides of the Atlantic and from different professional backgrounds to discuss issues related to journalism, technology and democracy.

Maria Exner studied journalism in Munich. She then trained as a journalist in Berlin and worked as a reporter for the WELT Group. After studying cultural sociology at the London School of Economics, she became the cultural editor at ZEIT ONLINE in 2011. Since 2015, as deputy editor-in-chief she has developed future-oriented magazine journalism and innovative digital projects for ZEIT ONLINE and ZEIT. Since July 2020, Exner has been Deputy Editor in Chief of ZEIT-Magazin. She is founding director of Publix, a new Berlin-based organization with the goal to strengthen independent media and free, critical discourse.

Eryn Brown is a Los Angeles-based editor and writer who joined Zócalo Public Square as an editor-at-large in 2017. A former staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and at Fortune Magazine, she has covered science, health, business, and a variety of other subjects, and has written stories for the New York Times, Wired, Nature, and other outlets. She graduated from Harvard College in 1993. Founded in Los Angeles in 2003, Zócalo Public Square is an ASU Media Enterprise, syndicating journalism to 290 media outlets worldwide.

Colin Maclay is a Research Professor of Communication and the Executive Director of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. Situated at the intersections of disciplines, sectors and communities, AnnLab takes a think-and-do approach to exploring the interaction of society’s wicked problems — and opportunities — with media, technology and culture. Colin has long been motivated to understand how radical changes in communications capacity, information generation and processing affect otherwise immutable organizations and institutions, recognizing that humans and organizations are more complex than technology. Ultimately, his work asks what mix of forces will help these emerging technologies and practices to work for – not against – people and society broadly. Previously, he was founding director of the Digital Initiative at the Harvard Business School. He remains a senior researcher and member of the center’s Fellows Advisory Board.  He also spent a decade helping to build, scale and make sustainable Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Maclay holds a PhD from Northeastern University.