The Intercept and BuzzFeed News Team Up for Northside Report
“You are fake news.”
On January 11th, 2017, those words—directed at CNN reporter Jim Acosta—from then-President-elect Donald Trump were meant to chastise not only the reporter himself, but his entire organization, and, in a larger sense, the profession and a free press. Unless you were living under a rock, you heard this quote in one way or the other, and it had a rippling effect. For most, it was an incoming-president’s further attempt to discredit a press that was rightly (and lawfully) critical of him. For loyal followers, it was a further battle cry from a maverick leader that was taking a stand against what they felt had long been broken.
Whichever camp you fall in, it’s easy to see that we find ourselves in a time of uncertainty and unchartered territory. There’s a sense of difficulty in this age of “fake news” that tests our previously established norms for identifying truth, and that which is real. And now, this strange and nascent landscape has sparked the creation of Northside Report, a new media and journalism-focused series held for the first time at Northside Festival on June 8 and 9, as a part of the festival’s Innovation segment. The keystone event, titled ‘ “You are Fake News”: Truth, Lies, and Politics in the Age of Trump”, will be held at the tilt-supported William Vale Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Expert media panelists will delve straight into our present media quagmire, examining the nature of the news cycles—both fake and real—with experienced insights to help us navigate it all in 2017 and beyond.
The event is produced in partnership with The Intercept and BuzzFeed News and will feature major personalities from each. Among others, The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Betsy Reed will appear, along with BuzzFeed News’s Ben Smith and Shani Hilton. Lydia Polgreen of HuffPost will be appearing, as well as Kara Swisher of Recode. Finally, another man you may all have heard of, Bill de Blasio, will be on hand to provide his two cents (or more) on it all.
During the two-day event, panels will include conversations about about Feminism in the Age of Trump, Surveillance, Extremism and Immigration in the Trump Era, as well as The Business of News In the Age of Facebook. There will also be live musical performances and live podcast tapings from both BuzzFeed News and The Intercept. All of this will be streamed online via Facebook Live.
We’re living in a strange—some might even say surreal—era; that much is for sure. But there is a way forward, and you can join that effort this June with the Northside Report.
Tickets for Northside Report will be included for Northside Innovation and Premium badge holders. Innovation badges, still at early bird pricing, are $499 with access to 150+ speakers; Premium badges are also available for $549, providing access to all events at the festival—including headlining musical performances by Miguel and Dirty Projectors. Get them here.