What is Fake News? Seminar at Mark Twain Library on March 21

Register HERE. If all news is fake, how do we know what is real? Fake, misleading or inaccurate information disguised as news is not a new phenomenon. What is new: Anyone with a smartphone and wifi connection can create and perpetuate content. This two-part seminar will equip us to become media savvy. Part One examines the habits of fact-checkers and the impact of filter bubbles, as well as the tools we can use in order to be productive participants in online and in-person discourse. Part Two will examine the evolution of the news industry and its effect on our media consumption. This discussion will cover the evolving challenges in the newsroom and what sophisticated news consumers need to know about digital media and how news is produced.

Part Two Presenters:

Merrill Brown is an educator, consultant, advisor, investor and veteran media executive and journalist. He has written for The Washington Post, The Washington Star, Media General Newspapers, The Winston-Salem Sentinel, and The St. Louis Post Dispatch. Brown launched MSNBC.com and was the website’s founding Editor-in-Chief. He is former Director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University.

Mark Weinberg is a digital media consultant who started his career at The Dallas Morning News, serving as fashion editor, features/lifestyle editor and Sunday front page editor. He later went on to Knight Ridder, where he helped launch the nation’s first digital newspaper network; then AOL where he served as executive editor and vice president for network programming; and Hearst Magazines where he was vice president of programming and product strategy for the company’s digital media division. 

Register on the Library website HERE.