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AUBURN –The Auburn Public Library will present a month of programming related to ‘fake news.’
Beginning at noon, Wednesday, Feb. 7, the series will kick off with a “Where Do You Get Your News?” discussion, focusing on where people get their news, what sources they trust, and how to decide what is true or fake.
A screening of the 1976 film “Network” will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8. In the award-winning satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers he’s being put out to pasture. After threatening to shoot himself on live television, he instead launches into an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. The boost allows ambitious producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to develop even more outrageous programming. The movie won four Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Actress (Finch and Dunaway), Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight).
The library will hold a “Fake or Factual News Quiz” at noon Wednesday, Feb. 14. The library provides the headlines and participants see if they can tell the difference between real and phony. After the tournament of distorted news, staff will lead a discussion on how to be a more critical consumer of news.
There will be a screening of the film “Page One” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15. By looking into the lives and daily tasks of three writers at the New York Times, the documentary explores ways the Internet has changed print media. Covering 12 months of life at the Times, the film reveals the difficulties in maintaining the ways of traditional journalism in a changing news environment.
Bates College associate professor of rhetoric Stephanie Kelley-Romano will visit at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, discussing, “The Rise of Fake News.” Kelley-Romano recently taught a Presidential Campaign Rhetoric class, where students conducted a mock presidential election.
To wrap up programming, at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 1, the film “All the President’s Men” will be screened. The 1976 political thriller depicts how reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post helped uncover the Watergate scandal, which brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Jason Robards as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.
The Auburn Public Library is one of five public libraries from across the country to be selected for the Media Literacy @ Your Library project, a pilot program that trains library staff to help their adult customers become better news consumers.
The American Library Association and the Center for News Literacy @ Stony Brook University initiated the pilot program to better enable library workers to help their adult patrons become more critical news consumers. The Auburn Public Library is partnering with the Lewiston Sun Journal on the project, and Judith Meyer, executive editor, will be the lead collaborator.
For more information, visit www.auburnpubliclibrary.org.
PHOTO: TV anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in the 1976 Academy award-winning movie “Network,” which will be screened at Auburn Public Library on Feb. 8, part of its series on ‘fake news.’ (MGM photo)
