Solving Fake News, Changing the Media, and the Future of Journalism: News & Journalism Track Sessions for SXSW 2018

Join us this March at SXSW for the News & Journalism Track and explore how journalism and analysis is dispersed and how it will be impacted by the future of technology.

According to SXSW Programmer Brianna Carney, "As the credibility of media is thrust into the spotlight now more than ever, the News & Journalism Track explores how news and the media continue to inform and engage us through ideas like representation, the pivot to video, and the use of social media." Discussions range from how social media sparked social evolution in Korea to the many faces of modern media censorship, as well as a deep look at communicating authentically in the age of social media.

Dive deeper into the News & Journalism Track from March 10-15 during SXSW Convergence programming. SXSW Convergence programming features a range of topics that straddle the cultural and technological intersection at the heart of SXSW with primary access granted to all SXSW Badges.

News & Journalism Session Highlights

The Only Solution to Fake News: Education for All

Speakers: Esther Wojcicki (Journalistic Learning Initiative), Ed Madison (University of Oregon), and Barbara McCormack (Newseum)

Your mother shared a fake news story. Your students cited “alternative facts.” There’s only one thing to do: implement news and media literacy education. In this session, education experts discuss why a system-wide change is needed to support informed, effective news consumers, and the characteristics of effective responses. Case studies of successful education programs will prepare participants to empower all participants in the news media cycle, from students to seniors.

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Investigative Journalism in the Social Media Age

Speakers: David Fahrenthold (The Washington Post), and Sonya Gavankar (Newseum)

Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold won a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for his national reporting on then-candidate Donald Trump's charitable giving. Fahrenthold used Twitter to fact check his reporting, asking for help from Twitter users. This conversation will focus on the future of transparent investigative journalism in the age of social media and during the Trump administration.

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Latinx Representation, Resistance & Identity

Speakers: Curly Velasquez (BuzzFeed), Joanna Hausmann (YouTube Producer & Personality), Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez (Writer), and Andrea Gompf (Remezcla)

Representation, resistance, and identity are crucial elements to making Latinx-targeted content work. Panelists will answer questions like: How do you listen to your audience carefully to create content that they want – and need? Why is the Latinx representation so varied – what identifies us and what brings us together? And how do you market to and target such a diverse community? Finally, learn what resistance means for the Latinx community and how it's portrayed in Latinx-targeted content.

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The Humanoid Future of Journalism

Speakers: Hanna Tuulonen (Göteborgin Sivukonttori), and Robin Govik (MittMedia)

Learn how modern newsrooms in Sweden and Finland use automated content as an editorial platform, with algorithms analyzing the facts, writing the news and pointing the journalists to the most interesting stories. Panelists will present academic research on automation in the newsroom, and practical experiences from Sweden and Finland – where robots now write more news articles than humans – as well as how all this will affect the news industry in the future.

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Browse All News & Journalism Sessions

Crossover Track Recommendations

Explore topics outside of your focus area and learn from SXSW sessions across all 24 Tracks of Conference programming. These recommended sessions are outside of the Food Track but will interest any SXSW attendee.

• Documenting The Unknown-Storytelling in the Amazon – Alexander Santa (Rainforest Partnership), Rafa Calil (duo2), Matt Lankes (Photographer), and Niyanta Spelman (Rainforest Partnership)
  Track: Making Film & Episodics

• The Misinformation Age: Can AI Solve Fake News? – Amie Stepanovich (Access Now), Andy O'Connell (Facebook), Mark MacCarthy (Software & Information Industry Association), and Sameena Shah (Thomson Reuters)
  Track: Startup & Tech Sectors

• Nardwuar’s Video Vault! – Nardwuar The Human Serviette (Nardwuar the Human Serviette Inc)
  Track: Music Culture & Stories

Purchase your SXSW Badge and reserve your hotel today to experience these sessions along with 10 days of screenings, showcases, exhibitions, networking, and more this March 9-18 in Austin, TX. Take the Tracks Quiz to discover which badge will suit your needs.

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Teaser Photo by Akash Kataria