MIT-Brazil Conversation Series FALL 2022
Misinformation and fake news: how did we get here?
The phenomenon of media fragmentation is in the root of the problem we are increasingly facing.
Guest Speaker: Ricardo Gandour, media senior executive, researcher, and author of “Journalism shrinks, power expands: The second death of public opinion”, will discuss and analyze the current situation.
MIT Guest: Prof Justin Reich, MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing. Reich and his collaborators are concerned about citizens’ skills in distinguishing truth from distortions or untruths in informing their decisions. He will exchange ideas with the group and share how his team is testing methods of improving information literacy among populations usually overlooked in such work, including rural and low-income Americans without broadband access, older adults, and indigenous communities.
More on Ricardo Gandour: Ricardo was the general Director at CBN Radio Network and member of the editorial board of Grupo Globo, executive editor of the dailies “O Estado de S.Paulo”and “Diário de S.Paulo” (2002-2006), and reporter, editor, and director at the daily “Folha de S.Paulo”. He holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Civil Engineering and a master’s in Science of Communication from the University of São Paulo (USP). He was visiting scholar at Columbia Journalism School in 2016. About Ricardo Gandour’s book “Jornalismo em retração, poder em expansão: A segunda morte da opinião pública”: the author stresses the importance of professional journalism in an era when direct communication by government authorities, via social media networks, has escalated, while newsrooms have been shrinking for decades. Mixing practical hands-on experience with academic research, Brazilian journalist Ricardo Gandour brings statistical data on both phenomena and warns of the consequences for the information environment and democracies.
Prof Justin Reich has a grant from the MIT-Brazil Lemann Fund to do joint work with Federal University of Minas Gerais, addressing the urgent misinformation crisis that plagues both of Brazil and the US. The collaboration is being done in two phases. First, a pilot of the translation of existing materials into Portuguese and implementing within a community of practice. The second phase is planned as a more in-depth effort, to create new educational materials in Brazil and fully localize the learning experience. Conducting this work in Brazil could have immediate impact and provide a roadmap for localizing anti-misinformation online learning materials across the world.
If you're unable to make it in-person, join us over Zoom!