This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

“You can’t believe everything you read in the papers.” Everyone knows this, but few people realise this truism extends far beyond the celebrity pages and gossip columns, and spills into ‘real’ news. Here, the near-invisible influence of PR companies is often pivotal in deciding what news gets told, and how it gets reported. By taking a brief look at the history of modern journalism, and using real examples taken from recent headlines, Michael Marshall will show why you really, really can’t believe everything you read in the papers.

Michael Marshall is the Project Director of the Good Thinking Society and President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society. He has lectured on the role of PR in journalism for The University of Sunderland, Sheffield Hallam University, Bournemouth University, and the University of São Paulo. He regularly speaks with proponents of pseudoscience for the Be Reasonable podcast. His work has seen him organising international homeopathy protests, going undercover to expose psychics and quack medics, and co-founding the popular QED conference. He has written for the Guardian, The Times, New Scientist and New Statesman, and is the Editor of The Skeptic magazine in the UK.

This event is being run by Skeptics in the Pub Online, a coalition of UK-based Skeptics groups. Formed as the Covid-19 epidemic brought our country to a standstill, we are working to deliver high quality online events focussing on science, reason, and critical thinking.