Panel in Walpole To Address Threats To Free Press

Print More

How can you protect yourself from fake news?  Are the news outlets you trust really verifying the accuracy of what they report?  Are social media warping our concepts of news or even of truth itself?

Three leading journalists in our region will take on these and other issues in “As a Matter of Fact: Journalism Under Threat”, a discussion to be held at the Walpole town hall on Wednesday, February 28, at 7 pm.

The panelists include Paul Miller, executive editor of the Keene Sentinel; Kristen Nevious, Director of the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University; and Nancy West, publisher of InDepthNH.org, our state’s on-line Center for Public Interest Journalism.

The three will explore the threats that journalism faces: the loss of financial support for investigative and in-depth reporting; a weakening of public trust in how journalists do their work; the rise of a political arena in which factual accuracy is routinely disparaged; and the increased reliance on social media for news.

Miller then will explain the ways in which reporters at the Sentinel and other legitimate news organizations work to verify their information. Nevious will dissect the pernicious concept of “fake news” and how we can identify it when we see it. Nancy West will detail the opportunities and challenges of operating an on-line news reporting organization.

The panelists will outline steps we all need to take to keep ourselves accurately informed and our news outlets thriving and reliable.

A discussion with the audience will follow.

If February 28’s weather cancels the event, it will be held on Thursday, March 1, at 7 pm at the Walpole town hall.

This event is sponsored by the Fall Mountain Alliance, a forum for informed community engagement.

For more details, call 603-445-2200 or e-mail bdaviss@comcast.net.

Comments are closed.