As day after day the spectacular benefits and potential monstrosities of data technologies and their utility are made more conspicuous, and against the background of the many urgent and related issues in media and politics that are dominating headlines globally, questions about the exploitation and control of information have never been more important.

In 2021 the World Ethical Data Forum will not only continue to explore the cutting edge of data, privacy, and AI, it will also welcome leading lights in the worlds of journalism and social media to its stage. Celebrated figures from print journalism will explore the tension between the edited story of the independent press and the unmediated factual morass — or information anarchy — of a fifth estate that has never been more significant politically; while television networks from across the ideological spectrum will examine the various serious contradictions in the practice of journalism — between journalism as a pursuit of truth and journalism as one of the most powerful instruments available to governments and corporations for bringing about shifts in the attitudes and feelings of the public.