Episode # 102

How to Spot Fake News with Professor Emily Bell

Have you heard the term fake news? It’s been around for a while, but it was popularized by Trump who continues to dismiss all checks to his Big Lie and tries to continue muddying the waters around truth, facts, and reality.

We bring you a conversation with Professor Emily Bell of Columbia University School of Journalism. In it, you’ll get the tools to fight for reality, for facts, for science, and be on the factually correct side of history.

Have questions, comments, or concerns? Email us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com

“There’s a simple playbook you can see in every authoritarian territory and country, and it’s two-step. The first thing is to invert the truth. Tell the big lie, right out front. The next thing you do is to discredit the press. That two-step process happens everywhere and it’s really remarkable when you go back and look at any regime - it’s just always there.”
Professor Emily Bell

What to listen for:

The history of fake news, and how technology has exacerbated its spread
The roles of “traditional” journalism vs social media
How to spot fake news
What to do if you’re suspicious about something a friend shares on social media - how to push back in a productive way
What role critical thinking plays, along with psychological influences as to why people share and believe fake news

About Professor Emily Bell:

Emily Bell is the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism (link is external) at Columbia Journalism School and a leading thinker, commentator, and strategist on digital journalism.

Established in 2010, the Tow Center has rapidly built an international reputation for research into the intersection of technology and journalism. The majority of Bell’s career was spent at Guardian News and Media in London working as an award-winning writer and editor both in print and online. As editor-in-chief across Guardian websites and director of digital content for Guardian News and Media, Bell led the web team in pioneering live blogging, multimedia formats, data, and social media, making the Guardian a recognized pioneer in the field.

She is co-author of “Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present” (2012) with CW Anderson and Clay Shirky. Bell is a trustee on the board of the Scott Trust, the owners of The Guardian, a member of Columbia Journalism Review’s board of overseers, an adviser to Tamedia Group in Switzerland, has served as chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on social media, and has served as a member of Poynter’s National Advisory Board.

She delivered the Reuters Memorial Lecture in 2014, the Hugh Cudlipp Lecture in 2015, and was the 2016 Humanitas Visiting Professor in Media at the University of Cambridge.

She lives in New York City with her husband and children.

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