RECAP: Fake News Game Show at the Wellington Library

There was coffee, doughnuts and arguing?

On Feb. 21, SPJ Florida held its latest rendition of the Fake News Game Show at the Wellington Branch Library.

The event was part of a new partnership with Palm Beach County Libraries as part of its media literacy initiative.

Director Lulu Ramadan served as the night’s host and ran through two rounds of the trivia-style game with about 20 participants.

“This was a great way to expand our efforts to a new crowd,” VP of Programs Emily Bloch said after the event. “Tonight was lively! And it really got people thinking. At one point, a woman said she thought a story we presented was ‘real’ because she saw it on Facebook. But when we pointed out that the story she saw might have been fake to begin with, you could see that lightbulb moment. There were a lot of epiphanies tonight. It was awesome.”

So far, the game shows have been hosted across the state, as well as at media conferences outside the Sunshine State.

“The Palm Beach County Library reached out to us with the goal to partner on an event about media literacy, and we thought our Fake News Game Show was the perfect fit,” said SPJ Florida President Christiana Lilly. “People find that they’re unsure about all the stories they read, and this fun, interactive game teaches them tips on how to tell if they’re reading fake news.”

In the end, a team called “The Not So Yellow Journalists,” ended up winning the game. Each member took home a copy of author Kevin Young’s “Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News,” generously provided by Palm Beach County Libraries.

Want to see the Fake News Game Show in your town? Email us.