October 2022
NCAS
Public Lecture Series
Not
Exactly Lying:
Fake News and Fake
Journalism in American History
Andie Tucher, Ph.D.
H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of Journalism
Director, Communications Ph.D. Program
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Saturday, October 8, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
2nd Floor (West Room)
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, MD [
map] [
directions]
(Bethesda Metro station)
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members
Andie Tucher will be
talking about her new book, Not Exactly Lying: Fake News
and Fake Journalism in American History.
Fake news has marked
American journalism since Publick Occurrences hit
the streets of Boston in 1690, but an even greater danger is
posed by the more recent phenomenon of fake journalism: the
exploitation of the outward forms of professionalized
journalism in order to lend credibility to falsehood,
propaganda, disinformation, and advocacy. As the media have
grown ever more massive and ever more deeply entwined in the
political system, so has fake journalism, to the point where
it has become an essential driver of the political
polarization of public life. What happens to democracy when
fake journalism looks more and more like truth, and fake
truth like journalism?
Andie Tucher, the
H. Gordon Garbedian Professor and the director of the
Communications PhD Program at the Columbia Journalism
School, writes widely on the evolution of conventions of
truth-telling in journalism, photography, personal
narrative, and other nonfiction forms. In addition to
Not
Exactly Lying, she is the author of
Froth and
Scum: Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and the Ax Murder in
America’s First Mass Medium (The University of North
Carolina Press, 1994) and
Happily Sometimes After:
Discovering Stories from Twelve Generations of an American
Family (University of Massachusetts Press, 2014). She
previously worked in documentary production at ABC News and
Public Affairs Television, Inc, and holds a Ph.D. in
American Civilization from New York University.
Unfortunately, due to technical limitations,
this NCAS
lecture will not be livestreamed.
Annual Membership Meeting (Part 2)
Following the talk and the question-and-answer/discussion
segment, Part 2 of the annual meeting of NCAS members will
begin, resuming our September discussion of the future of
skepticism and NCAS.
Prez Sez
By Scott Snell
Here's a recap of what was discussed at the September 10
NCAS membership meeting ("Part 1"). The topic was
"Skeptics: The Next Generation." How can we best educate
the public, especially young (high school and college)
people?
Some of our members are science professors (or emeritus) and
other educators. What opportunities exist, or can be created,
to allow these professionals to continue their craft, but
re-purposed: specifically teaching critical thinking skills to
the public? Are there opportunities at local
colleges/universities, and/or community colleges, to offer a
course of study? (Not discussed at the meeting: Perhaps the
Smithsonian Resident Associates could sponsor such a program.
Also not discussed: This could be presented in terms of
"Consumer Education" or similar.)
A formal course of study could go a long way towards
producing top-notch skeptics of the future.
However, have college campuses become unfriendly
towards free and open inquiry? If true, this hopefully
will not always be so.
On campus or off, an "echo chamber" outsider is often
perceived as a threat, rather than someone who may be
bringing useful information or perspectives.
At the high school level, NCAS members have participated
in judging science fair projects. As prizes, we distribute
skeptically-themed books such as Carl Sagan's "Demon-Haunted
World."
There was discussion about whether young people would
want to attend in-person events, or instead just watch from
home. Also, this age group may be very focused on digital
entertainment.
There was a brief kudos for how far we skeptics have
come. During the 1970s and 80s, books, magazines, and TV
shows often ignored evidence and viewpoints provided by
skeptical investigators. The public didn't have an
opportunity to hear what we had to say. Now, skeptics can
usually get their findings to the public. An important
example is the "Guerrilla Skeptics of Wikipedia," founded
by Susan Gerbic, who received the NCAS Philip J. Klass
Award this year.
Regarding skeptical volunteerism, the "Pareto
principle" was mentioned in the context of suggesting that
20% of skeptics are "getting 80% of the work done."
The online presentation style of NCAS productions was
compared/contrasted favorably against those of other
skeptical organizations. Questions and comments during
NCAS livestreams are visible to all online particpants,
not hidden away at the discretion of the host (except for
obvious "trolling," which is promptly dealt with). This
offers an excellent opportunity for participants to
develop questions together, pooling their knowledge.
Visually, NCAS remote presentations show only the
presenter and/or his/her slides. There's no need to see
the host on the other half of the screen ...all of us want
to get a good look at our guest on the full screen! The
voiceover of the host is adequate (and probably
preferable) during the Q/A segment.
With what organizations does NCAS interact? National
Science Foundation was one. During a very productive
several years, NCAS lectures were held at NSF's large
meeting room in Arlington. NSF scientists, many of whom
temporarily relocate to the DC area, found NCAS, attended
(and gave) presentations, and shared social time.
Unfortunately, NSF relocated, and its meeting facilities
are no longer available for NCAS. NCAS hopes to hold
about half of its in-person events at Arlington Central
Library, and to get the word out to current NSF
scientists.
Balticon is another such organization, offering
skeptical talk opportunities that NCAS has sponsored
and/or recorded for our YouTube site.
There was affirmation of Barry Markovsky's method of
storytelling of a personal experience that might be
regarded as supernatural or mysteriously meaningful,
followed by prosaic explanation, as a public outreach
method.
NCAS is a long-lived (35+ years) community. This is
unusual for non-profits, and an advantage in many ways for
getting attention and access to the public.
Later, Susan Gerbic watched the YouTube video of the
discussion and commented:
There were many great
statements said that I heard, but they were all over the
place. You need to ask manageable questions. Something
specific. For example, "How do we expand our membership?",
"How do we attract POC, women and students?", "What are should
our goals for 2023 be?", "How do we know we are being
effective?"
My thoughts are to look at what NCAS's assets are. Who are
your members now, how can you mine them for resources? Do you
have people who work with students? Then liaison your way into
their classrooms and give talks, invite the teachers to
suggest student speakers, offer scholarships to students (to
conferences), recruit students to help cover an event.
Do you have people who work in local (or bigger) media? Then
liaison your way into that, NCAS can write a column for that
media, become the expert on that station or however you can
exploit the liaison.
Do you have people who are grant writers, or work in
advertisement? Well use that to your advantage
Do you have members that own/run a pub or restaurant or venue?
Then start throwing "Skepticism on Tap" events, or one-time
events in those venues, spread out the social events so that
it keeps people engaged in areas closer to where they live.
Get a volunteer within the group to handle that one thing.
Don't assume that the same ole people will do all the work.
You have to expand your team, grow your leadership. [Prez
note: pre-pandemic, NCAS had "Drinking Skeptically" events,
occasional skeptics talks at the pub, and dinners/meetups
before movies or talks.]
Do an event at a health fair, get a booth, come up with
something interesting to talk about in the booth (a theme) and
pull in membership to help. See William London's last two
Skeptical Inquirer articles (on line) for ideas.
FIND people who are social
butterflies! They are like diamonds and gold, precious
personalities that make people want to continue showing up for
talks and events. Several times in the discussion it sounded
like you all were focusing on the PhD's. NO you want to find
personalities that are people-persons. Let them use their
skills, throw more social events. Hang-outs and small one time
events. Everyone goes for pizza, How about getting a group to
go on a ghost tour! Go see a psychic event. OMG pick fun
things that involve DOING SOMETHING. Anyone can sit at home
and watch YouTube videos. That isn't the solution, if it were
to keep coming out with good talks, we wouldn't be having all
the problems in the world. [Prez note: NCAS has created, and
will continue to create, SkepTours, which is similar to this
set of ideas.] [PS: the discussion about PhDs was the idea of
them educating the public and especially the next generation
of skeptics in a college or Smithsonian setting.]
IN person events, people can hang out, share a beer or plate
of fries with.
AND I seriously think your group should start building up for
a skeptiCamp. Maybe at the sci-fi conference? Are you watching
what DragonCon does with their Skeptic Track. That kind of
thing, look at their old videos. [Prez note: NCAS board
members have organized SkeptiCamps, but it's been a while.
Balticon has been and is a good opportunity for us.]
The last thing, is to pick something that you want to be good
at, known for. Again what is it that is unique to NCAS? Being
in Washington DC is kinda unique. Maybe something related to
the government? Maybe something else in the area that is
unique you can liaison with? I love the idea of getting back
to the science group you were doing talks with, they have the
venue and people who are like-minded but need some reason to
start attending your meetings. [Prez note: I think
convenience/access to the NSF community, our offering an
antidote to their general social isolation, and shared values
is what helped us connect with them. I doubt we can regain
that type of access, but we can try. This effort was in
progress before the pandemic hit.]
But really what people like is achieving something together,
being known for doing something. Like someone said "it's
getting to be cool to be a skeptic, we are pushing the agenda,
getting in faces, making change" (okay they didn't say all
that, but you know what I mean) Pick one thing to make a
difference on, what is it? Push that one thing, get in the
media with that one thing, something unique to your
area/group, push push push it and own it. Is there a specific
person/activity that is really harmful that you can focus on?
Make a difference with that one thing.
And thinking more about it, yes possibly that sci-fi
conference could be one of the things you own, get a skeptic's
track running. You were starting to do it before, bring in a
few speakers that will draw people over to your track, if you
have to fund them to come in, do so. You have Kenny Biddle a
few hours away. Use him! Get him to organize a ghost adventure
for your group. That will be a blast and encourage youth to
want to go as well. A weekend event with ghost photography and
stuff. How fun!
And find someone in your group (or maybe more) who will write
up an article for Skeptical Inquirer online every couple
months. Talk about what your group is doing and that will
attract others.
So I know I'm writing from the other side of the USA, but if
you can stand me giving my 5-cents (inflation) send me notice
you are doing this again, a couple days in advance.
Hope to see you all again!
[Prez note: Thank you,
Susan! Alas, Part 2 will not be livestreamed.]
September PhACT
Lecture
Our skeptical neighbors to the
north, the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking
(PhACT), posted a video of their September lecture.
Behavioral scientist Stuart Vyse discussed his book,
The
Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Rational to be
Rational, looking at the aspects of human nature that
are not altogether rational but, nonetheless, help us
achieve our social and personal goals. As he did for his
CFI and NCAS lectures, Dr. Vyse focused on yet another
chapter of the book, rather than covering the same topics
again. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DjFd0DHles
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