THE INFODEMIC: How Censorship Turned COVID-19 into an Assault on Truth

Tuesday, April 26, 2022
6:00pm — 7:00pm ET
Columbia University / virtual event

Join us online Tuesday, April 26 at 6pm ET for a conversation about censorship and the pandemic. One overlooked aspect of COVID-19 is that autocrats around the world—in China, Russia, Egypt, Iran, Brazil, India, and the Trump White House—have used the pandemic to censor information and flood the airwaves with lies, in the name of crisis management. As a result, democratic institutions and governance across the globe have vastly deteriorated, and the effects may be felt long after the pandemic is over.

CGR director Nicholas Lemann will moderate a conversation between authors Joel Simon and Robert Mahoney, longtime senior leaders of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr founder and director of ICAP, and investigative journalist Sheila Coronel discussing how to use the pandemic experience to strengthen our information ecosystem—and restore trust in our democratic institutions worldwide.

Watch the video

Featuring:
Joel Simon, fellow at the the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, and coauthor of The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free.

Robert Mahoney, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and coauthor of The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free.

Wafaa El-Sadr, founder and director of ICAP, director of Columbia World Projects, and director of the Mailman School's Global Health Initiative.

Sheila Coronel, director of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School.

Nicholas Lemann, Dean Emeritus of the Columbia Journalism School, and director of Columbia Global Reports.

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As COVID-19 spread around the world, so did government censorship. The Infodemic lays bare not just old-fashioned censorship, but also the mechanisms of a modern brand of “censorship through noise,” which moves beyond traditional means of state control to open the floodgates of misinformation, overwhelming the public with lies and half-truths.

Learn more and get your copy of The Infodemic here.

Register Here