Book launch: Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is pleased to invite you to join us for a panel discussion to mark the launch of a new UN-published handbook designed to tackle the global “disinformation war” – a “war” in which journalists and journalism have become prime targets.

Featuring guest speakers:
Alan Rusbridger, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, and former Editor in Chief of the Guardian
Inga Thordar, Executive Editor (Digital) CNN International
Julie Posetti, Co-author Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation (UNESCO 2018), Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford
Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford
Thomas Hughes, Executive Director, Article 19

In a global-first act of collaborative research and knowledge sharing involving leading international experts, the UN has published a new handbook that aims to help equip journalism to tackle the scourge of ‘information disorder’. The book, Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation, was edited by Julie Posetti, Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and Cherilyn Ireton, Executive Director of the World Editors Forum.

The handbook was commissioned by the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in the context of growing international concern about a “disinformation war” — a “war” in which news reporters are now targets. This targeting — by “strongman” politicians and deceptive corporate actors, from Trump to Duterte, Cambridge Analytica to Bell Pottinger — makes fighting back against weaponized information mission critical for journalism.

The book is free to download here.
You can read about the book at Nieman Lab.

Timings:
17:30 – 19:00 Panel Discussion
19:00 -19:30 Drinks Reception