By Sarah Stortz
[email protected]
News junkies turned podcast junkies may have “On the Media” in their library, which involves journalists Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone delving into both hot topics and current events alike.
At 2 p.m. Sept. 24, Gladstone will appear in the Englert as a part of the Intellectual Freedom Festival, giving listeners the opportunity to leave their podcast library for one afternoon.
Originating in New York City, “On the Media” is produced by WNYC. Over its 20 years, the series has grown to be nationally renowned, even earning a Peabody Award in 2004 for its excellence in reporting and commentary.
The discussion will be hosted by the Iowa City Public Library as part of its annual Intellectual Freedom Festival. Gladstone will give a presentation focused on fake news and the current media.
In her years of working in journalism, her experience in news includes working as a reporter for Cablevision, being an editor for National Public Radio, and reporting from Moscow for NPR, later cracking a joke at the expense of her growing age.
One of her most recent works is a book, The Trouble With Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time, which further tackles fake news.
Gladstone said she wrote the book as a response to the confusion many felt after 2016 presidential election.
“I wanted to see I can try to see if I can get to the bottom of this distress,” she said. “It seems to be so much deeper than the election of a president you don’t like or trust.”
Public Library adult-services coordinator Maeve Clark was responsible for assembling a committee to help produce the festival on a wider scale.
“This year, we decided to do a bigger program, which is why it’s at the Englert,” she said. “We really want to use the intellectual freedom as a way to make it more visible about fake news. Fake news is a huge issue right now. As a library, we try to educate people how to verify sources and to become a critical reader.”
Clark commended the journalists on “On the Media” for their approach to the ongoing accusations of news organizations producing misleading news.
“Brooke Gladstone is a phenomenal commentator,” Clark said. “We’re hoping the name recognition will help. The whole idea of critical thinking, learning how to evaluate news, that it will draw people to the program and lead to a discussion after she’s done with her speech.”
IowaWatch Director Lyle Muller (also a writing coach for The Daily Iowan) will accompany Gladstone during the discussion.
Mueller said he is concerned about how common the phrase has been used in the media.
“The phrase ‘fake news’ has now become a part of our vernacular where we try to determine whether what we’re reading or hearing is true, but I think what’s more important, whether what we’re reading or hearing is being manipulated to make us do something,” he said. “I take the stance that there’s no such thing as ‘fake news.’ We should call it what it really is, and that is misinformation, usually on purpose so you can persuade someone of something.”
Clark encouraged anyone to stop by at the Englert to hear Gladstone’s
presentation.
“[College students] are great consumers of news, and the way you consume news is so different than the way I used to consume news,” she said. “It’s important for people to know when they consume information on the Internet, that they need to think about where it came from.”
