UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Join our next free international event:
QUICK REGISTER: CLICK LINK BELOW
FALL 2026
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY AND UI SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
As we navigate the high-stakes 2026 election cycle, the tools of political persuasion have become more sophisticated and harder to detect.
Alex Scott explores the front lines of modern electoral influence, focusing on how AI-generated deepfakes are blurring the reality of candidate messaging and how social media algorithms can supercharge partisan division through emotional engagement. David Dowling examines the role of podcasts in creating fragmented "realities" that often leave voters isolated in information silos. Together, they provide a critical overview of how audio and visual communication can be leveraged for manipulative content and voter profiling. Designed to empower citizens, this program provides strategies to verify digital content by recognizing manipulative AI-generated images and video as well as the rhetorical tactics of extremist podcasts. The aim is to ensure your vote is based on facts rather than fabricated narratives.
David Dowling, PhD, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa, is the author of 13 books in addition to over 70 articles and book chapters on media, communication, and culture with an emphasis on narrative journalism from print to the digital age. His current research in podcast studies intersects with the fields of political communication and digital culture in Podcast Journalism: The Promise and Perils of Audio Reporting (Columbia) and Extremist Voices: The Global Rise of the Far-Right Podcast Ecosystem (forthcoming, Pennsylvania). His work on authorship, publishing industries, and mass culture appears in Emerson’s Proteges (Yale) and a critical history of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop titled A Delicate Aggression (Yale). These and his other books have earned coverage and reviews in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New Republic, The London School of Economics Newsroom Report, Wired, and elsewhere. In addition to his role as executive editor of the Journal of Communication Inquiry, he serves on multiple editorial boards of academic journals including Literary Journalism Studies. At Iowa, he teaches graduate seminars in journalism studies and qualitative research methods along with undergraduate courses on feature reporting and writing, environmental communication, digital culture (influencers, AI, and interactive media), and media history.
Alex Scott, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. His research investigates the meaning potential of images and the construction of social difference in non-fiction visual practices. This research is influenced by his previous career as a photojournalist, and he is particularly interested in the political, economic, and aesthetic currents that influence the production of news. He is a co-founder of the Visual Media Lab at Iowa, which explores the issues and opportunities produced by artificial intelligence technology and synthetic media. He also serves as an associate editor for Visual Communication Quarterly.
Propaganda and Disinformation:
Social Media, Podcasts, AI, and Cable News
Friday, September 11, 2026
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Iowa City Public Library
ALSO STREAMING ONLINE: > CLICK THIS LINK <
%20(11).png)
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, UI DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, FREEDOM HOUSE, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE
As the 2026 US midterms approach, this panel examines democratic backsliding worldwide and its direct and indirect effects on electoral integrity, voter participation, and political norms—at home and abroad. Expert panelists will define backsliding, identify common tactics and warning signs, compare cross-national case studies, and discuss strategies for preventing and reversing democratic erosion that can distort elections and undermine public trust. Attendees will gain a clear, comparative understanding of what democratic backsliding looks like in practice, how it alters the conduct and outcomes of elections globally, and concrete strategies—particularly at the local level—to defend and restore democratic processes.
Gerardo Berthin is president of Freedom House. He previously served as vice president of international programs at Freedom House. Berthin has nearly three decades of experience working on democratic governance, anticorruption, human rights, and civil society strengthening. He has worked in over 50 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. Previously, he was director of the Latin America and Caribbean programs at Freedom House. Prior to joining Freedom House, he was a senior associate at Tetra Tech’s Democracy and Governance sector, where he managed large USAID-funded projects. From 2009 to 2014, he was the governance and decentralization policy advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Service Center for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama. He has done consultancies for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Swedish Agency for Development Cooperation, among others.
Seongjoon Ahn is an Assistant Professor of Political Science specializing in American Politics, Democracy, and Public Opinion. His primary research focuses on the variations in people's conceptions of democracy and how these variations relate to political behaviors and attitudes, as well as the potential for democratic backsliding. His research mainly explores American public opinion on democracy at both the national- and state-levels but often extends to other advanced democracies. Before coming to the University of Iowa, he earned a PhD in Political Science at the University of Illinois, an MA in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, and a BA in Political Science and International Relations at Korea University.
Wayde Marsh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He studies American elections and voting behavior, polarization, public opinion, and local political economy. He is a collaborator on the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, a collaborative project bringing together academics, practitioners, and industry experts to identify and test “interventions to improve Americans’ commitment to democratic principles of political engagement.” He also researches in the areas of political psychology, politics and religion, and racial and ethnic politics. His work has been published or is forthcoming in the American Political Science Review, Public Opinion Quarterly, American Politics Research, and Politics, Groups, and Identities.
Democratic Backsliding:
What is It, How Does It Impact Elections, How Can It Be Stopped?
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Iowa City Public Library
ALSO STREAMING ONLINE: > CLICK THIS LINK <
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FILMSCENE AND THE STANLEY CENTER FOR PEACE AND SECURITY
On August 6, 1945, a revolutionary new weapon destroyed Hiroshima, a Japanese city of 300,000 inhabitants. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. America’s secret super-weapon was lauded for bringing about victory in the Pacific and ending World War II. President Truman’s official announcement included half-truths that shaped the government’s official narrative: “Sixteen hours ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese army base.” In fact, the bomb was aimed at Hiroshima’s city center for maximum psychological effect; the army base on its outskirts escaped much damage.
Eighty years after the devastating atomic bombings that ushered in the nuclear age, Bombshell explores how the U.S. government manipulated the narrative about the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through propaganda, censorship and the co-opting of the press, the government presented a benevolent picture of atomic power, minimizing the horrific human toll. Bombshell sheds light on the efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth.
Beverages and appetizers available for all attendees before the screening, along with free popcorn for students courtesy of The Stanley Center for Peace and Security.
Bombshell Film Screening
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
FilmScene at The Chauncey
*** To register, click the link to visit FilmScene’s website, scroll down on the page to "Showtimes," click the 7:00 pm time, and follow the steps to complete your registration.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, WORLD PRESS INSTITUTE, STANLEY CENTER FOR PEACE AND SECURITY, AND HAWK THE VOTE
How do reporters hold power to account in an era of propaganda and misinformation when the stakes are high and the political climate is charged? Join us for a panel discussion featuring the 2026 World Press Institute international journalists as they share their experiences covering elections in the political environments of their home countries. They explore the critical role of the media during tense electoral periods, how they navigate political pressures, and the challenges of maintaining press freedom while striving to inform the public. Attendees will learn how to ensure that the election information they receive is credible—and how to recognize what is not reliable—as well as how to support pro-democracy media.
Freedom of the Press and the Ballot:
Covering Elections Around the World
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
11:30 AM - 1:00PM
Iowa City Public Library
ALSO STREAMING ONLINE: > CLICK THIS LINK <