Understanding Fake News and How to Combat It

Listen to the latest research on identifying fake news and learn strategies for combating it.

As recent elections, international crises, and the COVID-19 pandemic have shown, “fake news” poses a unique threat to public discourse in the digital age. The rapid and dangerous spread of misleading or patently false information can have damaging consequences for our politics, individual health, and society as a whole.

The forces that drive misinformation and the steps we can take to combat it remain poorly understood.

Helen Lee Bouygues, founder of the Reboot Foundation which advances critical thinking research and education, and Manon Berriche, a misinformation researcher at SciencePo in Paris, will discuss the latest research into fake news, how it makes its way through social networks and influences world events, and what strategies can be helpful in combating its spread.

Bouygues is especially interested in what schools and parents can do to foster deeper critical thinking and media literacy, while Berriche has expertise in the psychological and social mechanisms that help fake news proliferate and cause harm.

The discussion will target political and media journalists interested in the impact misinformation has on public discourse, as well as education and technology reporters who want to know more about making students better critical thinkers.

The audience will come away with a more nuanced understanding of the challenges our media environment poses to democracy and education, and the tools available to confront those challenges.

Suggested Speaker(s)

  • Helen Lee Bouygues
    Founder and President, Reboot Foundation
  • Manon Berriche
    Researcher and doctoral candidate, SciencesPo Medialab (The Paris Institute of Political Studies)