THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6
10:30 - 12:00 FACT CHECKING WORKSHOP
// ZENGER ROOM
Fact checking may not be a sexy undertaking, but it plays a vital role in journalism.
Filmmakers, particularly those working in the documentary mode and making films
inspired by the investigative instinct, often lack the institutional infrastructure that
supports fact checking as part of their production process. How do filmmakers
go about verifying the veracity of their claims, or those of their film subjects?
Penny Lane, director of NUTS! and a self-described fact-checking junkie, took
an innovative approach by creating an interactive database of over 300 detailed
“footnotes” which serves as a companion to NUTS! Each footnote provides detailed
context about the truth status of a given claim or image presented in the film and is
tagged with a “ truth value”.
Speakers include Penny Lane, director, NUTS!
1:15 - 2:45 INVESTIGATIONS WITH AN AGENDA: NAVIGATING
LOADED TERRAIN
// HOLEMAN LOUNGE
Journalists and filmmakers are often not first on the scene of a promising story.
Sometimes, investigators paid by private clients--investment groups, political
parties, advocacy groups, even a person wronged--have gathered information,
and seek a reporter or filmmaker to carry their work forward. But how should
such material be treated, if at all? How can an independent filmmaker or journalist
evaluate the findings of an investigation produced for a private client? Sometimes,
the original investigation has influenced the atmosphere surrounding further
inquiry. What sensitivities and traps lie in wait when not just the information has
been polarized, but the method of obtaining it? In an environment where the
power of a reporter, whether in film or print, derives from an impartial stance,
how does one protect both the perception and reality of an independent and fairminded inquiry?
With moderator Richard Behar, contributing editor, Forbes; Ted Braun, director, BETTING
ON ZERO; Andrea Crosta, founder, WildLeaks; Hongxiang Huang, investigative journalist;
Christine Richard, journalist; Glenn Simpson, partner, Fusion GPS.
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