The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University partnered with Equis Institute and the U.S. Department of State to deliver programming as part of a State Department Summit that convened leaders from across the Americas to discuss the best practices for combating disinformation, conspiracy theories and hyperpartisan narratives in the media.
The Cities Summit of the Americas featured a number of government officials, journalists and research experts engaging in a robust conversation on how to protect fact-based democratic discourse and support those who deal with the offline consequences.
Cronkite School Assistant Dean and Associate Professor Dawn Gilpin and Juan Mundel, Executive Director of Global Initiatives and Associate Professor, represented the Cronkite School at the summit, which took place Friday, April 28 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.
Gilpin spoke on a panel titled, “Online at the Frontlines: Civil Society Perspectives on Countering Disinformation and Misinformation,” with journalists, researchers and experts in digital communication and countering disinformation.
The event also featured remarks from Army Gen. Laura J. Richardson, commander, U.S. Southern Command, and Kerri Hannan, deputy assistant secretary of state, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Other panelists included Clauida López Hérnandez, Mayor of Bogotá (Colombia), Jena Griswold, Secretary of State (Colorado), and members of civil society from Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. .
The Summit took place less than a year after the Cronkite School joined with the State Department and Equis Institute to host the First Media Summit of the Americas at the ASU California Center in Los Angeles. The Media Summit was a multilingual conference designed to address a growing information crisis in the hemisphere.