Dark PR: Disinformation for Hire

Sep 30 2020

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Sep 30, 2020 at 12:00pm

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Online

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Professional Development

The National Press Club Communicators Committee invites you to join the first in a series of critical conversations on disinformation and how we can address it as journalists and communicators.

Disinformation, or the intentional spread of false information, is not new. However, the use of social media platforms and big data have taken it to a unprecedented new level, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal brought to light following the 2016 election.

Propaganda is no longer the domain of governments and politics. Disinformation for hire efforts have been exposed at leading public affairs agencies in the United States and the problem is not going away any time soon. Disinformation or “dark PR” campaigns continue to pollute public discourse and plague the communications profession.

Our panel includes whistleblowers from Cambridge Analytica and the health insurance industry, a leading disinformation investigative journalist, and a propaganda researcher and author who will provide an overview of the "dark PR" industry and offer their unique insights.

Learn how disinformation campaigns are planned and executed, who’s is doing it, and how to identify disinformation and protect your businesses, causes, and the public.

And stay tuned for information on our second panel discussion in October, where we will look for solutions from leaders in the battle against disinformation. If you want to mark your calendar now, that conversation takes place on October 15th at noon.

Registration for National Press Club Members is free. $15 for all non-NPC members.

Speakers

  • Dr. Emma Briant, Visiting Research Associate in Human Rights, Bard College; Author, Propaganda Machine: Inside Cambridge Analytica and the Digital Influence Industry
  • Brittany Kaiser, Co-Founder, Own Your Data Foundation; Cambridge Analytica whistleblower
  • Wendell Potter, Former health insurance communications executive and whistleblower; Author, Deadly Spin
  • Craig Silverman, Media Editor, BuzzFeed; Award-winning journalist, author, and leading expert on disinformation and fake news

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