HealthWatch was fighting ‘fake news’ in relation to health before the term was invented. As the converse of evidence-based medicine, it is the focus of HealthWatch's existence.

Earlier this year, a team at MIT published a report that revealed that false news actually travels faster than truth online.

Beyond acknowledging that we have a problem, can we do anything to correct it?

Following in the footsteps of previous popular HealthWatch debates, we have organised a meeting for 19.00 on Thursday, 4 October 2018 to discuss ways to combat mis- and dis-information. (We are consigning ‘fake’ to Trump and Twitter.)

It will be led by two researchers with a special interest in the subject:

Geoff Walton, from Manchester Metropolitan University has studied how young how people form judgements on online information, and

Jens Koed Madsen from the University of Oxford, who is passionate about the potentially harmful effects of misinformation and is trying to model how we might intervene to modify such information or beliefs.

They will be joined by award-winning medical journalist and GP, Faye Kirkland.

We also hope to invite authors, researchers and representatives of institutions concerned with the issues involved to come to offer informed contributions from the floor.

Chair: Susan Bewley, Professor of Women's Health, King's College London, Chair of HealthWatch

Attendance, at the lecture theatre, of King’s College (Franklin Wilkins building) in Stamford Street, near Waterloo, is free and open to all: Book your place now (free)

Details

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