Round Table – June 8, 2021
16:00 – 17:30 CEST
10:00 – 11:30pm EDT / 7:00 – 8:30am PDT
Location: Online Zoom Webinar
Misinformation among citizens is becoming an increasingly serious problem for all societies, due to the spreading effects of social networks, which can amplify the circulation of falsehoods. In addition, cable news networks promoting misinformation and “alternative facts” have found a foothold in the United States and are starting to spread across the Atlantic.
Who is responsible for finding solutions to this challenge — public authorities or private corporations? Can the deliberative approach help solve partisan polarization and manipulation? Is it better to remove patently false information from platforms or rather just to flag it? Are there other solutions to combating polarization and manipulation? The outcome of these debates matters for democracies whose dynamics are experiencing volatility related to freedom of speech and censorship.
Keynote speech: James Fishkin (Stanford University) “Can Deliberation Solve our Partisan Polarization and Manipulation?”
Discussants: Yael Eisenstat (Berggruen Institute), John Gastil (Penn State University), Charles Sabel (Columbia University).
Moderator: Giancarlo Bosetti (ResetDOC)
This event is being organized in anticipation of the conference cycle on Restoring Dialogue and Deliberation to Democracy to be held in collaboration with the Italian Academy at Columbia University in Fall 2021. It is one of two round tables held over Zoom in May and June 2021.