“Rebuilding trust is the challenge of our times, because we are in an era of uncertainty, which is perhaps its main enemy,” and at the heart of this global crisis, “more than the emergence of the strong man, we have seen the competent woman.”
This is how Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, opened the lectio magistralis ‘Rebuilding Trust’ on 25 March 2021.the inauguration of the academic year of the Master in Journalism and Multimedia Communication at Luiss. This digital event featured not only the former Prime Minister but also numerous notable personalities: President of Confindustria and Luiss Vincenzo BocciaPresident and Director of the MasterLivia De Giovanni and Gianni Riottaas well as figures such as Giuseppe Tornatore, Diego Piacentini, Costanza Sciubba Caniglia, Paola Antonelli, Vittoria Colizza and Alberto Barbera.
“After the pandemic,” Gentiloni added, “trust will return, perhaps even more than we can imagine today, and we must all work on it, each according to our responsibilities, knowing that it is time to heal wounds but also to bet on the future, and to do it now, not at some hypothetical later time.”
The event began with greetings from Vincenzo Boccia: “In ‘Rebuilding Trust,’ everything is already there. It says a lot about what we want to be at Luiss and in Italy: European citizens of Italian nationality. ‘Trust’ invites us to deep reflection directed at students; communication is a determining condition for the evolution of the country.”
Several guests attended the event. Among them was Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator at MoMAwho said, “Trust is not just between human beings; the fact that design is a tool for building a more sustainable world is fundamental.” For Giuseppe Tornatore, the Oscar-winning director, “The great difficulty today is that faith in a given solution is no longer taken for granted; however, we know that without trust there is no salvation. For this reason, there is a need for a new narrative to build it.”
“The role of journalists is fundamental,” said Costanza Sciubba Caniglia
a researcher at Harvard specializing in disinformation issues. “Now more than ever, they have the task of equipping themselves with new tools, not only to tell stories but also to understand how disinformation campaigns work”. Diego Piacentini, former Extraordinary Commissioner for the implementation of the digital agenda and Senior Vice President of International Consumer Business at Amazon, also commented on the journalism profession: “The profession of quality journalism can never be replaced by any technology; however, it must learn to embrace, understand, and use it. Seeking the truth is arduous, but artificial intelligences and research can help us.”
Vittoria Colizza is the Research Director at Inserm (the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) in Paris, where she leads EPIcx, an excellence laboratory that studies epidemics using mathematical models, particularly focused on Coronavirus. “Science does not do politics but provides information to those who decide. It is a two-way process: in order to provide support, it must take into account social and economic issues.”
Alberto BarberaDirector of the Venice Film Festival, emphasized the fundamental role of art in rebuilding: “If vaccines and monoclonal antibodies are the cures for the body, culture is the only possible cure for the spirit weakened by months of isolation. A new form of humanism is needed, one that reconciles physical, environmental, and mental health.” According to Livia De Giovanni, “We must remain in our place, exercising our role. As a professor, I have understood how important it has been for us to be disseminators of knowledge for our students, even though the means have changed.”
MediaFutures
MediaFutures is a Data-driven innovation hub for the media value chain. A project, submitted by a consortium including Luiss that received funding for nearly 5 million euros. Falling under the EU Program for funding research and innovation, Horizon 2020, the project is centered on “DT-ICT-05-2020 Big Data Innovation Hubs”. The aim is establishing a Data-driven innovation hub to offer grant funding and support for startups and artists, with a civic orientation. One of the Luiss research activities for MediaFutures was the Luiss Master of Journalism open day, a moment to spread awareness as well as highlighting the importance of supporting various forms of fight against disinformation and debunking false news.