SXSW 2019

How We Covered Nazis Without Getting Fired (yet)

Description:

Writing about American Nazis, as Luke O'Brien has for years, was already a tough job. Now that the Nazis know how to come after reporters' jobs, it's even tougher. HuffPost's Luke O'Brien found that out the hard way when he published a controversial story identifying a woman (who was not a Nazi) behind a powerful Islamophobic Twitter account. Nazis who hated O'Brien for his previous work seized on the outrage, writing pieces suggesting he was in league with them and complaining about him to executives at HuffPost's parent companies. At another organization — remember when MSNBC fired Sam Seder? — Luke's job could've been at risk. In this session, he (and HuffPost's editor-in-chief, Lydia Polgreen) will give you tips and tools to make sure you don't lose your job over a bad-faith attack.


Related Media

Other Resources / Information


Takeaways

  1. How to educate suits and bosses who don't cover political extremists about their bad-faith tactics.
  2. The steps you need to take as soon as you know you're facing a bad-faith attack on your job.
  3. What to do if it all goes wrong.

Speakers

  • Lydia Polgreen, Editor-in-Chief, HuffPost
  • Luke O'Brien, Senior Reporter, HuffPost

Organizer

Nick Baumann, Senior Enterprise Editor, The Huffington Post


Meta Information:

  • Event: SXSW
  • Format: Dual
  • Track: Media & Journalism
  • Track 2
  • Level: Beginner


Add Comments

comments powered by Disqus

SXSW reserves the right to restrict access to or availability of comments related to PanelPicker proposals that it considers objectionable.