Harvard panelists discuss future of journalism in ‘fake news’ world
That “fake news” is both pervasive and dangerous is no longer in doubt. How best to respond, however, is still an open subject. Because of that, the topic made for a lively panel at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Moderating the discussion on Thursday, titled “Fake News, Concrete Responses: At the Nexus of Law, Technology, and Social Narratives,” Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School, began with a basic question: What is fake news? The range of possibilities, said Berkman Klein Fellow An Xiao Mina, is broad enough to render the term almost meaningless, and can encompass everything from “when an Onion article is cited as news to dealing with state-sponsored propaganda botnets.” Professor Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law and co-founder of the Berkman Klein Center, offered a definition based on intent, defining fake news as that which is “willfully false,” which he said means a story...