Tag Archives: democracy

Events, Renewing American Democracy

Beyond Belief


The effort to destroy facts and make American ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere.  It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism, according to Lee McIntyre.  In “On Disinformation” he shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. McIntyre explains how autocrats use propaganda to manipulate the populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread and offers ten smart steps to fight back and win the war against truth.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. His most recent book is ON DISINFORMATION: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy.  He is also author of Dark Ages, Post-Truth, The Scientific Attitude and How to Talk to a Science Denier, all published by MIT Press.

Joining the conversation is Joan Donovan, assistant Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media Studies at Boston University.  Donovan leads the field in examining internet and technology studies, online extremism, disinformation and media manipulation.  She is founder of The Critical Internet Studies Institute, a non-profit that advocates for a public interest internet and co-author of MEME WARS: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America with Emily Dreyfuss and Brian Friedberg.

Donovan’s research explores how media manipulation is a means to control public conversation, derail democracy, and disrupt society.  She conducts research, develops methods, and facilitates workshops for journalists, policy makers, technologists, and civil society organizations on how to detect, document, and debunk media manipulation campaigns. 

Donovan was the former Research Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy, where she directed the Technology and Social Change Research Project. Her team researched media manipulation, disinformation, and adversarial media movements and published open access textbook, the Media Manipulation Casebook. Her public scholarship has been showcased in a wide array of media mainstream outlets, including MIT Technology Review, NPR, Washington Post, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic.

Recorded 10/17/2023

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Events

Cartoonists, Racism, & Free Speech In A Threatened Democracy

What is the role of the cartoonist in today’s convoluted world?

Cartoonists, Racism & Free Speech

Is it poking fun at the powerful, parodying the absurdities of life or according to cartoonist Rob Rogers, acting as “a troublemaker”. He should know for when Rogers depicted Donald Trump too angrily, he was fired from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  So, stakes run high for picking up the artistic pen.

But while Rogers poked fun at Trump, Scott Adams embraced Trump’s world view.  Adams, whose “Dilbert” cartoon strip catapulted him to fame, recently courted controversy by describing Black people as a “hate group.” Consequently, more than 300 publications announced they would no longer be running Dilbert.  Critics say his politics crept into his art when he introduced a token Black character to represent his negative views on racial diversity, albeit with greater subtlety. 

Is there still a role for Adams in the world of cartooning and are there any topics that are off-limits? Do cultural norms and political climates affect what is acceptable to ridicule?  

Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter for GBH News will act as guest moderator for this timely discussion which features three prominent cartoonists.

Barbara Brandon-Croft, the first black female syndicated cartoonist in America and author of a new book, “Where I’m Coming From: Selected Strips 1991-2005” says she drew cartoons because her voice needed to be heard.

“Kal” Kallaugher, the international award-winning cartoonist for The Economist magazine, whose career spans 45 years, two continents and 10,000 cartoons.

Dan Wasserman, from The Boston Globe will complete the trio.  Wasserman began cartooning for The Globe in 1985 and drew for the editorial page for 35 years; his work has been syndicated internationally since 1980.  In 1984, Wasserman was a finalist for the H L Mencken Human Rights Award for cartooning.

Recorded April 11, 2023

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democracy, Events

Can We Save Journalism In America?

Respect for a free press is the cornerstone of democracy. But after all the fake news and tweeted lies, what will it take to restore public confidence and trust in American journalism? Charlie Sennott, founder of The Ground Truth Project, will share his ideas and we will hear from a couple of his young journalists working for Report for America who are injecting fresh energy into the field, on assignment around the country.  

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Recorded 12/4/2020

Matt Taibbi, award-winning writer and celebrated Rolling Stone correspondent, will talk about the financial challenges facing the press and discuss his recent book, HATE INC.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another.

Learn why Taibbi says most people think of news as “a twisted wing of the entertainment business.”

Do you agree?

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democracy, Events

How to make meaningful conversation

Discover the art of building a good dialogue! Architect and designer, Fred Dust considers ways to have constructive conversations which are critical to problem-solving in all sorts of different settings from schools, to non-profits and governments.  

Dust’s new book, Making Conversation offers readers a tool kit, outlining 7 essential elements for meaningful conversations.

Constructive conversation is one of humanity’s first and most powerful tools.

Recorded 11/16/2020

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Dust has designed conversations for all sorts of scenarios from the Aspen Institute to victims of gun violence in Brooklyn.  Dust contends that 7 principles can be applied universally to stimulate conversation.

Dust chairs the board of Parsons School of Design and sits on the board of NPR, the New School and Sundance Institute.

Seth Henderson is from Aspen Institutes’s Better Arguments Project, a new national civic initiative created to help bridge ideological divides and help train Americans to conduct better arguments. He says that arguments don’t have to drive us apart but can bring us together and that the more Americans engage each other, the healthier and stronger our democracy will be.

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democracy, Events

Trust In A Polarized Age

Have we have reached an all-time low in terms of trusting our politicians and the media? Are we caught in a downward spiral that must end in institutional decay or even civil war, or can we restore trust through our shared social institutions?

Recorded October 23, 2020

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Kevin Vallier, author, political philosopher and libertarian blogger at Bowling Green State University tackles this question as Americans go about selecting a new leader. 

Jane Mansbridge is a Harvard political scientist and one of the world’s most prominent scholars of democratic theory.

She warns, “Listening only to one’s own side can generate dangerous amounts of unrealism.”

Watch this forum on the GBH Forum Network

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Archive, Events, Radio

Chinese Democracy in Crisis: The New Long March

In light of the escalating developments in Hong Kong with pro-Democracy demonstrators becoming increasingly galvanized in response to the Chinese government’s crackdown, we examine the current situation both inside and outside mainland China with regard to human rights.

Teng Biao, is a human rights lawyer currently attached to the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, at NYU and he will be joined by Uyghur-American Salih Hudayar and activist Kyle Olbert, who will discuss the challenges facing both the Chinese Communist party and the ethnic minorities who resist the Chinese policy of oppression which they say is being carried out under the guise of “counter-terrorism”.

Recorded September 11, 2019

Watch this forum on the WGBH Forum Network

democracy, Events

Surveillance Capitalism and Democracy 


Recorded 1/23/19 Watch video here.

Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard Business School professor emerita, discusses her new book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power with moderator Christopher Lydon, radio host of WBUR’s Open Source.

The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal was just a glimpse of the ways big tech companies exploit personal data without our knowledge, and how those data are used to shape our behavior. Our challenge now is to move past the shock and revulsion to ask the most important question of our time: Will we be the masters of the information age or will it master us? 


THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM reveals what is at stake for our digital future and how we can reclaim control by harnessing the power of indignant citizens, journalists and policymakers.