Good journalism is no longer sufficient to combat the assault on truth and democracy. Media companies are striving to counter the threat of information warfare by working in new and different ways, and to respond to the ethics challenges posed by this struggle.
CJR held The Disinformation War, a one-day conference on May 9, sponsored by CJR, the Poynter Institute, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, and the Newmark Centers at Columbia Journalism School and the Poynter Institute.
Journalists—including The Daily Beast editor Noah Shachtman, the Tow Center’s Emily Bell, NPR media correspondent and host of NPR’s On Point David Folkenflik, and founder and CEO of Rappler Maria Ressa—discussed building credibility in the era of liars and leaks. We dissected case studies with Poynter’s Kelly McBride and standards editors including The New York Times’ Philip Corbett. Watch below to better prepare for the future with insights from researchers, security experts, and big tech companies.
More of CJR’s coverage of journalism ethics and security
Should the media quit Facebook?
By Mathew Ingram
Is there an ethical case to be made that media companies, and the journalists who work for them, should sever their ties to Facebook completely?
Mapping the battleground for the next information war
By Emily Bell
Every part of the news process is affected in some way by the externalities of a digital environment, from the funding models and reporting processes through to hiring practices and diversity of participation.
The fascist next door: how to cover hate
By Sam Thielman
There remains significant disagreement over how to portray killers seeking notoriety, and the organizations that inspire and abet them.
The Editors are the staffers of the Columbia Journalism Review.