Town Hall Seattle: Civics Series
Town Hall’s Civics series highlights everything from local policies to world politics. These events offer perspectives on a range of topics as diverse as Seattle itself—a bustling forum for activism, discovery, and thought-provoking discussion.
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Nov 14, 2019
During the final three years of the Obama administration, Richard Stengel—former editor of Time magazine and an Under Secretary of State—stood on the front lines of the new global information war. Stengel took Town Hall’s stage to recount his time as the single person in government tasked with unpacking, disproving, and combating both ISIS’s messaging and Russian disinformation. With insight from his book Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It, Stengel offered us a look inside the disinformation playbook used worldwide. He highlighted the tactics of Trump weaponizing the grievances of Americans who felt overlooked during the 2016 presidential election, ISIS terrorizing the world using social media, and Russia launching a wave of disinformation surrounding the annexing of Crimea. Join Stengel for a dramatic and eye-opening treatise on the multiple modern fronts in the modern information wars, and explore ways to combat the ever-growing threat to democracy and our global society.
Richard Stengel is the longest serving Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in American history. While at the State Department, he helped modernize State’s communications and led the department’s counter-disinformation efforts. Prior to serving as Under Secretary, Stengel was the Editor of Time magazine for seven years.
Presented by Town Hall Seattle. Recorded live in The Forum on October 29, 2019.