SXSW 2021

Can Truth Please Stand Up? Chasing Truth, Online

Description:

This is a panel on technology and the pursuit of truth. Panelists cross the boundaries of old media and new media, technology and law, examining how a democratic society can find real and sustaining solutions to the problem of fake news, weaponization of toxic speech, and partisan information silos, all without concentrating power in the hands of a few or damaging free expression. Social media has dimished traditional gatekeepers. The panel explores key tasks undone by the transformation: finding consensus, uncovering truth and falsity, setting boundaries on power. Technology can make democracy vibrant; it can also be a breeding ground for information chaos, abuses of power, and silencing of necessary voices. Which future we get depends on a confluence of law, ethics, and technology.


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Takeaways

  1. The protections of a free press came into existence in a time before digital media.Must we rethink those protections and tailor them to a new ecology?
  2. With the proliferation of fake news and partisan information silos online, has the mainstream media lost its ability to be a gatekeeper for truth?
  3. Can anything be done to counter the efforts to delegitimize the press and rein in press freedom?

Speakers


Organizer

Rebecca Taylor, Director, Fountech Ventures, Inc.


Meta Information:

  • Tags: Media & Journalism
  • Event: SXSW
  • Format: Panel
  • Track: An Uncharted Future
  • Track 2
  • Level: Intermediate


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