Fake News vs. Real News – and how to tell the difference
Sometimes the stories are made up, like "Pope Francis endorses Donald Trump." Sometimes they're politicians' spin, like dueling claims of lawmakers in Tallahassee and Gov. Rick Scott over money for economic development. And sometimes, they're flat-out lies. As more and more of us expand our news sources – going beyond newspapers and television to websites, Facebook and Twitter -- we're running into more and more stories that raise questions. Fake News? Real news? Something in between? And how do you tell the difference?
Join the First Amendment Foundation for an evening with professionals -- a reporter from PolitiFact, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its fact-checking, and a newspaper and a television editor -- who'll talk about what you can do to identify where a story comes from, and what’s behind it.
Tickets: $15 [Click the REGISTER NOW button at the bottom of this page to register.]
Panelists: Amy Hollyfield (PolitiFact), Matt Brown (WFTS) & Graham Brink (Tampa Bay Times)
Moderator: Tim Nickens (Tampa Bay Times)
Bios:
Amy Hollyfield is the deputy managing editor for politics and features for the Tampa Bay Times. She directs national political coverage, including the Times bureau in Washington, and PolitiFact.com, PunditFact.com and PolitiFact Florida, the Times' fact-checking websites. PolitiFact was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In addition, Amy oversees features news, Perspective and Floridian magazine. She has worked at the Times for more than 15 years, after previous stints at the Miami Herald and Florida Today.
Matt Brown is the News Director at WFTS – ABC Action News in Tampa. Matt has worked in broadcast journalism for the past 22 years across six different TV markets, including Wichita, KS; Austin, TX; Tulsa, OK and Kansas City, MO. For the first 12 years of Matt’s career, he was a reporter and anchor in a small Texas TV market. He left there in 2006, making the jump to full-time management. He’s been at WFTS in Tampa for the past 2.5 years, where their team has focused on growing their digital platforms and reaching new audiences. During the 2016 election cycle, WFTS & Scripps partnered with Politifact to produce weekly fact-checks on the presidential race for all 24 Scripps-owned markets.
Graham Brink, an assistant managing editor at the Tampa Bay Times, oversees Metro and Business news. He joined the Times in 1997 as a reporting intern after graduating with a master's degree from the University of North Carolina.
Tim Nickens has been editor of editorials for the Tampa Bay Times since 2008. He first joined the Times in 1983 and has served in a variety of reporting and editing positions. In 2013, Tim and colleague Daniel Ruth won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for a series that led to Pinellas County restoring fluoride to the drinking water.
