Fake News: Journalism and Disinformation in the Digital Age

Description

Dr. Melissa Zimdars' research examines the global circulation of television programs and their interplay with media industries and communication policies. As Assistant Professor of Communication at Merrimack College, her teaching areas of interest span critical media industry studies, television studies, global media and new media. She is also a member of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and the National Communication Association, and hosts a radio show on Merrimack College’s station, WMCK.

When she’s not researching and teaching, or on the radio, Dr. Zimdars uses her textual and discourse analysis skills to work on OpenSources.co, a project that navigates fake and otherwise misleading “news” websites. Join us at the Rockport Public Library as Dr. Zimdars works to define contemporary fake news - broadly construed - and how it is connected to contemporary practices in journalism and growing distrust in our mainstream media institutions. She even promises to include some tips for determining the credibility and kinds of news sources that we come across.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Rockport Public Library