After six weeks of his presidency, the media covering Trump’s administration is beginning to get a feel for the challenges that lie ahead. The president has labeled the press “the enemy of the American people” and excluded some news outlets from briefings; the First Amendment feels like it’s under threat; and fake news and “alternative facts” abound. The unorthodox nature of this environment has raised questions: How important are press briefings? What are the ethics of using anonymous sources and leaked data? And how should we respond to a disinformation campaign targeted at the media?
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To get a handle on this, the Columbia Journalism Review has partnered with Reuters and The Guardian to bring together some of the best minds in the business for a one-day conference today Covering Trump: What Happens When Journalism, Politics, and Fake News Collide. The event includes panel discussions on press coverage in a no-access era, the rise of fake news, investigating Trump’s connections to Russia, and the ethics of reporting on data leaks. There will also be a lunchtime keynote with New Yorker Editor in Chief David Remnick in conversation with Columbia Journalism School Dean Steve Coll.
The conference will be livestreamed below from 10:30 am, and we invite viewers to join in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #coveringtrump.
Conference Agenda:
10:40-11:55 am — Reporter Roundtable: What Happened and How Are We Planning on Covering Trump? Moderated by Kyle Pope with Sabrina Siddiqui, Elisabeth Bumiller, Jelani Cobb, Brian Stelter, and John Carney
12:15-1:30 pm — Lunchtime Keynote: David Remnick in conversation with Steve Coll
1:45-3:00 pm — Fake News: What Have We Learned, Moderated by Emily Bell with Steve Adler, Sheryl Huggins Salomon, Yochai Benkler, and Ben Smith
3:15-4:30 pm — Following Rubles and Dumping Data, Moderated by Todd Gitlin with Jesse Eisinger, Tom Hamburger, Jonathan Peters, and Brian Ross
Follow our speakers on Twitter:
Steve Adler, President and Editor-In-Chief, Reuters @stephenjadler
Emily Bell, Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism @emilybell
Yochai Benkler, Faculty Co-Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University & Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies, Harvard Law School @YBenkler
Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington Bureau Chief, The New York Times @BumillerNYT
John Carney, Financial Editor, Breitbart News @carney
Jelani Cobb, Staff Writer, The New Yorker and Ira Lipman Professor of Journalism, Columbia Journalism School @jelani9
Steve Coll, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism, Columbia Journalism School @SteveCollNY
Jesse Eisinger, Senior Reporter, ProPublica @eisingerj
Todd Gitlin, Professor & Chair, Ph.D. Program, Columbia Journalism School @toddgitlin
Tom Hamburger, Reporter, The Washington Post @thamburger
Jonathan Peters, Assistant Professor of Journalism, University of Kansas and Press Freedom Correspondent, Columbia Journalism Review @jonathanwpeters
Kyle Pope, Editor and Publisher, Columbia Journalism Review @kylepope
David Remnick, Editor-In-Chief, The New Yorker @NewYorker
Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent, ABC News @BrianRoss
Sheryl Huggins Salomon, Senior Editor-at-Large and former Managing Editor, TheRoot.com @sherylhugg
Sabrina Siddiqui, Political Reporter, The Guardian @SabrinaSiddiqui
Ben Smith, Editor-In-Chief, BuzzFeed @BuzzFeedBen
Brian Stelter, Host, Reliable Sources, CNN @brianstelter
Shelley Hepworth , formerly a CJR Delacorte Fellow, is Technology Editor at The Conversation in Australia. Follow her on Twitter @shelleymiranda.