Good News/Bad News: The Current (and Future) Media Landscape

media release: A Civics Lab Conversation with Manu Raju and Tomás Dodds

Journalism has often been referred to as the “Fourth Estate” for its vital watchdog role and for providing us with the information we need to make informed decisions and fully participate in civic life. How can we protect the borders of that estate in an era of misinformation, polarization, and artificial intelligence?

Join us for an evening of lively discussion with Manu Raju, anchor of Inside Politics Sunday and CNN’s Chief Congressional Correspondent, and Tomás Dodds, Assistant Professor in Journalism and Mass Communication and Director of the Public Tech Media Lab at UW-Madison.

Raju will talk about his career path from UW-Madison to CNN and the day-to-day realities of covering Capitol Hill, reporting on Donald Trump, and preparing for the 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Students interested in similar career paths are highly encouraged to attend. There will be ample time for audience questions.

Together with Raju and Dodds we’ll explore questions such as:

• How can media convey trust in a “post-truth era” in which artificial intelligence and deep fakes are fast becoming the norm? Is AI leading to an existential moment for reporters, audiences, the future of news—and democracy? In short: what is happening, why, and what are the consequences?
• How can media keep up with the speed of events, and do media add to the acceleration?  What are the effects of trying to keep up with the rapid-fire nature of today’s information ecologies?
• Have media and democracy begun to part ways and what is the current relationship between the media and public trust?

The Civics Lab examines the factors that impede civil dialogue and the exchange of informed perspectives. In this timely conversation, we aim for wrinkles, complication, and nuance, and different perspectives based on expertise and experience. The Civics Lab is supported by The Wisconsin Exchange program, and was previously supported by a grant from the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue. Previous speakers in this series include Corey Robin, Musa al-Gharbi, Christine Goding-Doty, and Virginia Hefffernan as well as a panel discussion, Humanities NOW: Dissent on Campus.

Tomás Dodds is the founding director of the Public Tech Media Lab, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. His research examines the evolving relationship between journalism and technology, focusing on how media organizations develop open-source tools and artificial intelligence systems that serve the public interest. His book, Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination, co-authored with Seth Lewis and Rodrigo Zamith, is forthcoming from Polity in 2026.

Manu Raju is the anchor of Inside Politics Sunday and CNN’s Chief Congressional Correspondent, covering Capitol Hill and campaign politics. Raju is a veteran reporter in Washington, having previously served as a top Capitol Hill correspondent at Politico for seven years. Prior to his time at Politico, Raju reported for The Hill newspaper, Congressional Quarterly and Inside Washington Publishers. He has long been a frequent guest on political talk shows on TV and radio.

Raju has won multiple journalism awards for his reporting on the major battles consuming Washington and his coverage of campaign politics. In 2026, Raju received the RTDNA’s First Amendment Award for his reporting on Capitol Hill. In 2022, Raju was part of a team of reporters who won the David Bloom award from the Radio and Television Correspondents Association for their coverage of the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. In 2022, the Milwaukee Press Club also recognized Raju with its Sacred Cat award, given annually to a national reporter for making distinguished contributions to the field of journalism. In 2021, Raju was part of a team of CNN journalists who were selected as winners of the David Bloom Award by the Radio-Television Correspondents Association for their coverage of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. In 2012, Raju was part of a team of four reporters who won the White House Correspondents Association’s prestigious Merriman Smith award for presidential reporting under deadline pressure for their coverage of the debt ceiling crisis. In 2015, Raju also was awarded first prize by the Society of Professional Journalists in D.C. for beat coverage of the 2014 midterm elections, and a Folio: Eddie Award for a feature profile on Senator Elizabeth Warren. In 2017, Raju won the Joan Shorenstein Barone award, given annually for best congressional reporting by the Radio and Television Correspondent Association.

Raju has developed a reputation as a reporter who can find out what politicians are privately discussing out of the public’s view. And he is well known for his sharp and skillful questioning of politicians, a skill he showcased in 2014 when he moderated debates in two of the biggest races in the country – for a key Senate seat in Colorado and a hotly contested governor’s race there as well.

Raju got his start in media working at the student newspaper The Badger Herald at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his alma mater. And his writing roots extend to his late grandfather, Gopalakrishna Adiga, a legendary poet from South India who wrote in the language of Kannada. Raju is a long-suffering Chicago sports fan and a native of the Greater Chicago area.