A conversation with Ilana Bet-El

The media and journalism are nowadays commonly assumed to be interchangeable. But in truth, they are truly different: journalism is an honourable profession, dating back at least to the 19th century and devoted to reporting facts and discovering the truth; media are platforms upon which everything from journalism to pure hatred are distributed widely and profoundly. Nevertheless both remain essential to the modern pursuit of power and its daily exercise in our lives — be it political, military, cultural, social and many others. From Covid to wars, government scandals to climate change, we need journalism to bring us the facts, and we need the media to help communicate them.

Women journalists and reporters have long been a strong pillar of the profession and expert media actors. In this December episode Ilana Bet-El, noting her start in journalism in the 1980s, debates its current transformations with Suzanne Lynch, Chief Brussels Correspondent and Associate Editor at Politico Europe and host of its EU Confidential podcast, and Stefanie Bolzen, UK correspondent for Die Welt and Welt am Sonntag.

The conversation explores such issues as what drives people to become journalists (ambition, interest and chance), the differences and synergies between media, journalism and communication, and the sector transformation with the move to digital. Both women also share their behind-the-scenes of different capitals, highlighting the similarities and differences from a reporter’s perspective between Brussels, London and Washington and how they navigate between reporting international and foreign news while reaching out to national and global audiences. In a fun and flowing episode there are many ideas, inspirations and gems of advice scattered throughout!

The episode was recording on the 7th December 2022