MEDIA ADVISORY: Post-election Yale symposium to explore “Truth in the Internet Age”

On Nov. 9, one day after the 2016 presidential elections, influential news media professionals and Yale professors will come together for “Truth In The Internet Age,” a symposium that will explore how the blurring of facts and opinion and the rise of hate and conspiracy theories in the cybersphere have affected the American political process.

Moderated by former Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, the event will take place from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Yale Law School auditorium, 127 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public and will be livestreamed.

There will also be a discussion featuring student leaders from all sides of the political spectrum about their role as consumers of media and engaged citizens; a look at free speech and its key role in democracy by Yale Law School Dean Robert Post; and student-created videos with highlights from the presidential campaign and other news interspersed with insights by Yale philosophers, law professors, psychologists, and scientists.

“Our goal is to illuminate how the ongoing revolutions in journalism and social media are threatening the integrity of the democratic process,” according to the event organizers. “The key question is what can be done to reverse a trend — fueled by new technologies — in which the American electorate has become more inflamed but less well-informed about issues, events, and policy.” The symposium is sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale.

The event includes conversations with: Glenn Thrush of Politico, Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal, Eliana Johnson of the National Review, Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek, Graeme Wood of The Atlantic, and Scott Carpenter of Jigsaw.