00:00:00 Opening: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Bernhard Eitel, Rector of Heidelberg University
00:07:12 Introduction: Prof. Dr. Rafael Lang, Klaus Tschira Stiftung
00:14:20 Lecture: „Exhausting our critical thinking. Science journalism against misinformation and for democracy“
Dr. Michele Catanzaro, Nature Marsilius Visiting Professor 2023
Dienstag, 25. Juli 2023, 19.00 Uhr, Aula der Alten Universität
The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” This is how chess champion and activist Garry Kasparov describes one of the challenges of contemporary media. The most detrimental effect of misinformation is not merely the belief in "fake news", but rather the erosion of trust in reliable news. This challenge to democracy is particularly relevant in the realm of science, in times of pandemics and climate change. However, it is not a new one. Science journalism has grappled with it since the days of the first news pamphlets, where one can already detect a tension between rigor and bias. Fast-forward to modern science journalism and the same tension still persists, in the shape of a complex machinery of agenda-setting. Social networks and Artificial Intelligence bring this tension to a whole new level. Throughout history, reliable science journalism has proven to be the best defense against misinformation - even today, in the midst of a crisis in the media ecosystem. How do we foster high-quality science journalism? How can we uphold journalistic values in a changing media landscape? How do we help audiences in shifting from a diet of junk information to a healthier one?
www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/tran...