‘When Images Lie’ symposium to explore information manipulation
The manipulation of political messages and images — including images of war and political narratives — will be explored during the fourth Poynter Fellowship Symposium “Truth and the Internet Age” on Tuesday, March 6.
The symposium, “When Images Lie: Information, Manipulation, Falsehood,” will take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. It is free and open to the public.
The event will consist of two moderated conversations. The first, titled “Images of War,” will feature three panelists: John Durham Peters, the Marîa Rosa Menocal Professor of English and Film and Media Studies at Yale; Fred Ritchin, dean emeritus of the International Center of Photography; and David Hume Kennerly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer known for his images of the Vietnam War and of American presidents. The panel will be moderated by Jenifer Fenton, television journalist and 2017-2018 Poynter Fellow in Residence.
The second panel, titled “Politics and Other Images,” will also feature three panelists: Holly Rushmeier, computer scientist and professor at Yale; Charles Bakaly, senior counselor and lead of Edelman Litigation Communications Practice and former aide to independent counsel Ken Starr; and Joe Lockhart, NFL executive vice president of communications and former spokesperson for President Bill Clinton. The panel will be moderated by Marta Figlerowicz, a professor of literature at Yale.
John Durham Peters is a media historian and social theorist, and he is the inaugural María Rosa Menocal Professor of English at Yale. His books have been translated into eight languages, and they explore the history, philosophy, and culture of communication.
Fred Ritchin is dean emeritus at the International Center of Photography School, and he was also the founding director of the school’s Documentary Photography and Visual Journalism Program. Ritchin has previously served as a professor at New York University and picture editor at The New York Times Magazine, and in 1994-1995, he created the first multimedia version of The New York Times. He has published three books on the future of imaging.
David Hume Kennerly is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer best known for his imagoes of the Vietnam War. He also photographed the Ali-Frazier fight in Madison Square Garden, and he was Gerald Ford’s chief White House photographer. He has photographed every president since Nixon.
Holly Rushmeier is a computer scientist and professor at Yale. She is known for her contributions to the field of computer graphics and data visualization. She leads the computer graphics laboratory at Yale.
Charles Bakaly, currently a senior counselor at Edelman Litigation Group, served as an aide to independent counsel Kenneth Starr during his investigation into the Whitewater inquiry and Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Bakaly counseled Starr to be more approachable to the media and helped raise his approval ratings.
Joe Lockhart served as Bill Clinton’s chief spokesman and senior adviser. On his first day on the job, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that the President be impeached. He began his career as a journalist and has worked as a press secretary for several Democratic campaigns. After several corporate communications jobs, Lockhart now serves as NFL’s executive vice president of communications.
The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus journalists from a wide variety of outlets who have made significant contributions to their field. Among recent Poynter fellows are Elizabeth Kolbert, Scott Anderson, and Graeme Wood.
