Dean Post to Speak at Symposium on 'Truth in the Internet Age'
“Truth in the Internet Age” is the focus of a Yale symposium to be held on campus on Wednesday, Nov. 9, the day after the 2016 presidential election.
The symposium brings together influential professionals from the news media, social media, and academia to explore how the blurring of facts and opinion and the rise of hate and conspiracy theories in the cybersphere have affected the American political process.
“Our goal is to illuminate how the ongoing revolutions in journalism and social media are threatening the integrity of the democratic process,” according to the event organizers. “The key question is what can be done to reverse a trend — fueled by new technologies — in which the American electorate has become more inflamed but less well-informed about issues, events, and policy.” The symposium is sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale.
Former Fox news anchor Greta Van Susteren will moderate the symposium, which will also include a discussion will featuring student leaders from all sides of the political spectrum about their role as consumers of media and engaged citizens; a look at free speech and its key role in democracy by Yale Law School Dean Robert Post; and student-created videos with highlights from the presidential campaign and other news interspersed with insights by Yale philosophers, law professors, psychologists, and scientists.
The event includes conversations with: Monika Bickert, head of policy for Facebook; Glenn Thrush of Politico, Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal, Eliana Johnson of the National Review, Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek, and Graeme Wood of The Atlantic.
“Truth in the Internet Age” will take place 6-8:30 p.m. in the Law School auditorium, 127 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public.
