Fake News, The Future of Media, and Keeping Silicon Valley Honest

The rise of Silicon Valley technology companies as the lead purveyors of information brought with it a significant shift in the media landscape: a move away from substantive, nuanced journalism toward provocative click-bait. This shift--along with recent allegations that tech companies enable the proliferation of fake news as well as censor viewpoints that do not align with those held by company leadership--raises a number of important questions. What are the downstream consequences for journalists? What, if anything, can new media companies do to ensure objectivity and fairness in their reporting? How do the cultures inside media and tech companies affect the viewpoint diversity of the content they produce and disseminate?

In this Zephyr Salon, we explored these questions with Ned Desmond, COO of TechCrunch.