Filled with Falsehoods and Errors: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the Battle Over Freedom of the Press -- Then and Now

 

Monday, April 4, 2022 at 7 p.m.

Schar College of Education Room 138, Ronk Lecture Hall

Ever since the Founding Era, Americans have been debating the problem of disinformation in a country committed to freedom of the press. This event will bring an historic perspective to "Truth in the Age of Disinformation" by discussing the ways in which the contentious political atmosphere of the 1790's led to one of the most acrimonious elections in our history, as well as a controversial 1798 law that made it illegal to criticize the federal government. 

Robert M.S. McDonald is a professor of History at the United States Military Academy. He is the author of Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson's Image in His Own Time (University of Virgina Press, 2016)

Co-Sponsored by the Ashbrook Center

 

Is There Free Speech on Social Media?

Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, 7 p.m. Hawkins Conard Student Center Auditorium.

Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are at the center of debates about integrity of U.S. elections and the limits of free speech. Are these platforms responsible for policing disinformation? What free-speech rights should citizens, journalists, and politicians have online?

Sohrab Ahmari is the op-ed editor of the New York Post, a columnist for First Things, and a contributing editor of the Catholic Herald. Previously, he served as a columnist and editor with the Wall Street Journal opinion pages in New York and London, and as senior writer at Commentary. In addition to these publications, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Spector, Dissent, and America.