University to host prestigious talk series event on disinformation

Media industry experts and academics will discuss the challenge of protecting the integrity of news reporting at an event at Aberystwyth University later this month.

The University is hosting the latest event in a high-profile talk series addressing geopolitical issues facing the UK and US.

The guest speakers at the ‘Disinformation today’ event are Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, Associate Editors at The Washington Post, and Shayan Sardarizadeh, Senior Journalist at BBC Verify.

Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan are Pulitzer Prize winning journalists. They were The Washington Post’s co-bureau chiefs in Tokyo, Mexico City and London. They have covered many of the biggest stories of recent years, both domestic and from dozens of countries on six continents, and have won a number of awards for their coverage. 

Shayan Sardarizadeh is a Senior Journalist reporting on disinformation, conspiracy theories, verification, AI, open source investigations, and extremism for BBC Monitoring’s disinformation team as part of BBC Verify.

Professor Tim Woods, Professor of English and American Literature at Aberystwyth University, said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming three prominent experts from the world of news-reporting, and to hear their insights into the nature, spread, and impact of disinformation. The proliferation of misleading information and fake news has become a pressing challenge for democratic societies, and is of even greater significance in this historic election year, so this event is timely indeed.”

‘Disinformation today’ takes place at 18:00 on Wednesday 9 October in Theatr y Werin at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Penglais Campus. The event is preceded by a welcome reception at 17:00.  Places can be booked free of charge at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/disinformation-today-tickets-1022574436667

The event will be hosted by Aberystwyth University in collaboration with the US Embassy and the American Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association. 

It forms part of the travelling ‘Unfolding Our Shared Future Talk Series’ hosted at UK universities. 

The event will also be live-streamed at https://bit.ly/3NlqYAt, and a recording will be made available in the series archive.

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