Why Newspapers Still Matter at a Time of
Hype, Hate & Social Media Dominance 

Walter V. Robinson, an investigative reporter and editor-at-large at The Boston Globe, led the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that brought worldwide attention to the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals and subsequent cover-ups. Michael Keaton portrayed Robinson in the film “Spotlight,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2015.
 
Pamela Constable is an award-winning staff writer for The Washington Post’s foreign desk, covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Asia and Latin America. She recently returned from a reporting trip to Ukraine. A graduate of Brown University, she is the author of three books, has held numerous writing fellowships and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and president of the Afghan Stray Animal League.
 

Newspapers today are often seen as a dying breed, an anachronism in a world of 24/7 news and instant commentary. Yet, as Walter Robinson notes, “The advent of the internet made it possible for misinformation and disinformation to foment discord, fuel conspiracy theories and warp the national conversation on too many issues. At the same time, the internet robbed traditional news outlets, principally newspapers, of the revenue that had long made it possible for journalists to provide in-depth coverage of important issues.… Because of that, journalism's most important role, holding powerful people and institutions accountable, has been seriously diminished.”

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Pam Constable comments, “I see newspapers as a vital antidote to this trend, a medium that emphasizes thoughtful analysis rather than hyperbole and partisan riposte, and that aims for accuracy rather than speed. [Too many] new communication and social media sources bombard people with a confusing mix of propaganda, opinions, falsehoods and too much information to absorb and assess.”

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Tickets for the event are $50.