Top journalists and academics came together in Glasgow last night to unpick the concepts of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’.
The ‘Alternative journalism vs Alternative Facts’ event was part of a series connected to INSP’s Uncovered: still homeless, still an issue exhibition at The Lighthouse gallery.
The debate featured journalist and broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove; Peter Geoghegan – journalism lecturer and director of The Ferret; Susan Smith – editor of Third Force News; Angela Haggerty – editor of CommonSpace and Tim Harris – founder and director of Real Change. It was chaired by investigative journalist and academic Dr Eamonn O’Neill. Scroll down to watch the full event.
The panel talked about the history of the fake news phenomena.
"#fakenews is something which has been endemic to #journalism long before the digital age" – @Detroit67Book @_INSP #UncoveredINSP #INSP
— Warriors Studio (@warriorsstudio_) March 30, 2017
But they also attacked whether we should use the words ‘fake news’ at all.
Agree w @PeterKGeoghegan "fake news" doesn't make sense. Use the proper terms ie. bad journalism, misinformation, lies, etc. #UncoveredINSP
— Dr Nadia Zainuddin (@Dr_NadZ) March 30, 2017
Following Brexit and the US Elections, they discussed the relationship between good journalism and democracy.
If Politicians just answered questions directly then right wing idiots like Farage and Trump wouldn't seem so real. #UncoveredINSP
— fay selvan (she/her) (@fayselvan) March 30, 2017
Part of the answer, they agreed, is for all of us to interrogate our sources – and work out for ourselves who we can trust.
Interesting #UncoveredINSP event last night on ‘fake news’ and more. Mulling it, the lack of general media literacy kept coming up. pic.twitter.com/HX0t89FGTR
— Ian Dunn (@Ian_Dunn) March 31, 2017
You can watch our Facebook Live stream of the event below.
Alternative Journalism vs ‘Alternative Facts’
We’re at The Lighthouse debating fake news, and starting the fight back!
Posted by INSP on Thursday, 30 March 2017