Fact-checking, once seen as a noble and common-sense endeavor to reduce errors and misunderstandings, has become increasingly contentious. Some autocrats have denounced it as a biased practice, as well as a violation of free speech that censors dissenting opinions. Amid concerns around misinformation and disinformation, a relentless news cycle on social media has made fact-checking an onerous process. As companies like Meta have announced they had stopped fact-checking, ostensibly to preserve free expression, questions loom about when inaccurate content should be removed from public sources. Is correcting false information a form of censorship? Can fact-checking endure in today’s climate of polarizing politics? How can the West restore this practice as a credible tool for safeguarding a free press and counter efforts to discredit it as biased or one-sided? Experts will discuss.
This event is co-sponsored by the Free Speech Project (Georgetown University) and the Future of the Humanities Project (Georgetown University and Blackfriars Hall and Campion Hall, Oxford).
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Videoplasty
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Aled Eirug is a journalist and former head of news and current affairs for BBC Wales. He ran the largest newsroom in the United Kingdom outside network news and has 25 years of experience with that public network and Independent Television News. In recent years, Eirug has served on the content board of Ofcom, the regulatory body for broadcasting in the United Kingdom. He is currently an honorary research fellow at Cardiff University.
Lisa Fazio, an associate professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University, studies how people learn new information, both true and false, and how to correct errors in people’s knowledge. This includes how to mitigate the effects of reading false information and how to increase classroom learning. Her research informs basic theories about learning and memory, while also having clear applications for practitioners, such as journalists and teachers.
Lauren Gibbons covers state politics and policy for Bridge Michigan. She previously worked at MLive, where she led coverage of the state legislature and the redistricting process, and before that covered the state Senate for MIRS News. She has covered the ins and outs of Michigan politics for nearly a decade and has won awards, both for her political coverage and her work documenting the sexual abuse case involving Larry Nassar, the former doctor of the U.S. women's national gymnastics team.
Carlos Hernández-Echevarría is the assistant director at Maldita.es, a Madrid-based nonprofit dedicated to combating disinformation and promoting information integrity. A seasoned journalist and media executive, he spent 15 years in television, primarily at laSexta. He is a former chair of the Association of European Fact-checking Organizations (EFCSN) and a professor of International Journalism at Universidad Carlos III.
Martin Williams directs Radar Public Relations in North Wales. He has more than 25 years experience in media and public relations, working at several newspapers, including the North Wales Weekly News, Visitor, and Daily Post. He previously was the head of communications at Wrexham University. His work has been published in the Daily Telegraph, the New York Post, the Sun, and the Mirror, among several others.
Michael Scott (moderator), senior dean, fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, college adviser for postgraduate students, and a member of the Las Casas Institute. He also serves as senior adviser to the president of Georgetown University. Scott previously was the pro-vice-chancellor at De Montfort University and founding vice-chancellor of Wrexham Glyndwr University.
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), president emeritus of Goucher College, is director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, which documents challenges to free expression in American education, government, and civil society. Director of the Voice of America under President Bill Clinton, he was also dean of the American University School of Communication and is a former co-host of "All Things Considered" on NPR.