• Ali Velshi and moderator John Stackhouse discuss how the creation of fake news obscures facts and prevents needed debate about important world events. Akber Dewji
    25 January 2017 | Ismaili Centre Toronto

    Award-winning author and journalist Ali Velshi gives Ismaili Centre International Lecture

    Ali Velshi and moderator John Stackhouse discuss how the creation of fake news obscures facts and prevents needed debate about important world events. Akber Dewji
6:00 PM
27 January 2017
5:45 PM
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The Ismaili Centre Toronto
Canada

Toronto, 26 January 2017 — Mixed Messages: Fact, Fiction, and Judgement was the title of a very timely Ismaili Centre International Lecture and discussion featuring celebrated author and journalist Ali Velshi.

“Fake news is fed by a view of the media as perpetrators of an ‘elite consensus’ that questions some assumptions more than others,” said Velshi, Chief Business Analyst at NBC News and an anchor at MSNBC, to a full audience that included executives from Ryerson University, Global News and civil society leaders.
 
”The biggest problem with fake news isn’t just that it exists. It’s that it’s a wolf in a journalist’s clothing,” he continued.”It's that it’s now being used... by people who would have you believe that the real news is fake.”
 
Velshi — who was previously CNN's chief business correspondent and a primetime anchor at Al Jazeera America — went on to present his interpretation of the two roles of journalism. The first is to simply bear witness to current events and document what is happening. The second is to hold authority to account, and to speak truth to power. He stressed that we should take great care to not become a society where “we are not even able to discern the truth.”
 
The event was moderated by John Stackhouse, Senior Vice-President in the Office of the CEO at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and former editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail. Global News anchor Farah Nasser was the emcee.
 
Closing remarks were given by Ismaili Council for Ontario President Sheherazade Hirji, who said, "it is not just the media’s responsibility to engage in respectful, ethical, balanced and reliable journalism. It is our collective responsibility...to ensure that the narrative and the manner in which we consume and share that information is consistent with the values and ideals of an inclusive and tolerant world where we embrace differences and diversity.”
 
Hundreds of people watched the event live on TheIsmaili.org. It was presented in partnership with Ryerson University’s Faculty of Communications & Design and Global News.