My fabulous Graduate Research Team will be conducting a workshop with me at a local Toronto Housing Cooperative Community this April 10.
Navigating the News: Panel and Discussion with Professor Megan Boler (Social Justice Education, OISE/University of Toronto) and Navigating News Research Team: Kate Jackson, Gordon Katic, Michael Primrose
Overwhelmed or confused by the news media environment? How to choose what to read? How to identify trustworthy sources? Debating whether to quit Facebook? The panel provides an overview of the challenges posed by information overload and digital propaganda in the news media environment. We address:
- the phenomenon of filter bubbles, fake news, increasing political polarization and public mistrust of media
- the history of journalistic ethics and commitments to democracy
- how the alt-right capitalizes on social media to disseminate ideologies, influence and recruit
- debates about “disconnecting” from Facebook and other social media
We will conclude with a discussion of whether critical reading skills provide sufficient defense in the face of new modalities of propaganda.