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Fake News: What to Do About It?

On April 4, 2017, the College of Communication Journalism program hosted a panel of scholars discussing the issue of fake news encroaching on real reporting and the damage it causes politics and the public sphere at large.

The panel was moderated by Assistant Professor Jill Hopke .

Our panelists included:

Jessica Alverson is the Assistant Coordinator for Instruction of E-learning in the DePaul University Library. She currently coordinates the first-year library instruction program, as well as designs and provides support for online students. In her past role at New York University Libraries, she served as the Librarian for Media, Culture, and Communication and Journalism. She is also one of the authors of the Association for College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Standards for Journalism Students and Professionals. She holds an MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Ben Epstein is an assistant professor in Political Science at DePaul University. He has over 15 years of teaching experience in a variety of high school and university settings around the nation and teaches courses in American politics, media and politics, political communication, and racial and ethnic politics. His research is focused primarily on American political development and political communication with particular emphasis on the intersection of the internet and politics. His first book, The Only Constant is Change: The Political Communication Cycle, is currently in contract with Oxford University Press and will be available in early 2018. The book explores the technological, behavioral, and political aspects of political change over time and, in doing so, identifies a recurring pattern that can be used to compare periods across time and explore the choices of different types of political actors. Ben is a Minnesotan at heart living in Chicago with his wonderful wife and two great kids.

Frank LoMonte joined the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) in January 2008 after practicing law with Atlanta-based Sutherland Asbill & Brennan and clerking for federal judges on the Northern District of Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Before law school, LoMonte was an investigative journalist and political columnist for daily newspapers in Florida and Georgia. LoMonte graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a senior editor of the Georgia Law Review. His articles about the First Amendment and media-law topics have been widely published in Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Slate and in many other outlets. He teaches media law as an adjunct instructor with the University of Georgia law and journalism schools.

Samantha Rivera was born in Chicago, raised in the Northwest suburbs, Samantha is a senior at DePaul University, pursuing a Bachelor's in Journalism and Public Relations  and Advertising. She's currently an assistant producer under Carol Marin and Don Moseley with DePaul's Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence, a sports beat/news writer for the national award-winning newspaper, The DePaulia, and reported for DePaul's Chicago Emmy Award-winning show, Good Day DePaul. On top of school-related work, Samantha is a news/sports co-host for Univision and Radio DePaul’s La Hora Picante on 1200 AM, a show for bilingual millennials. She's also a communications intern for PCG Sports Desk Media, a sports marketing consulting firm. When she's not working, you can find her catching up on her favorite shows, Jane the VirginLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit, and of course, the tear-inducing show, This Is Us.