EVENT: The theme for the 2025 conference held by the UC Irvine Forum for the Academy and the Public is “Facts Under Fire: Reporting in Impossible Times.” Experts from a diverse range of contexts will explore various serious threats to journalism and journalists due to extreme technological shifts and autocratic trends that menace democracy and democratic institutions in the United States and internationally.

WHEN/WHERE: 4:30-6:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, and 9:15 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8. Registration is free and open to the public.

The annual conference will take place in EDU 1111 in UC Irvine’s School of Education/School of Law, 401 E. Peltason Drive, Irvine, CA 92617. (bldg. 3, grid D7 on this campus map: https://web.communications.uci.edu/assets/email/dfa-tds/TDS-Website/maps/Main_UCIrvine-Map.pdf)

Please visit the UCI Transportation and Distribution Services website for detailed information about parking locations and daily permit rates.

The full schedule for both days can be found here: https://sites.uci.edu/factsunderfire/schedule-2.

INFORMATION: Featuring a keynote event on Friday and various panels and conversations on Saturday, the conference will focus on coverage of major global problems in the current era: the targeting of journalists around the world; the rise of powerful and potentially dangerous technologies like AI in contributing to false narratives about wars and election coverage; and the threats to accurate reporting on climate change. You can learn more about these topics here: https://sites.uci.edu/factsunderfire.

Media interested in attending can register here: https://sites.uci.edu/factsunderfire/registration.

If you’re planning to attend and want to speak with any of the organizers, panelists or participants from UC Irvine, please contact Cara Capuano at 949-501-9192 or ccapuano@uci.edu.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Friday, Feb. 7

4:30-6:15 p.m.Keynote event featuring Dean Baquet, former executive editor of The New York Times, titled “Crisis in the Newsroom”

Saturday, Feb. 8

9:45-11 a.m. panel: “The American Election”

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. panel: “Journalists as Targets”

12:30-1:30 p.m. lunch: “A Dialogue on War Zones”

1:30-2:45 p.m. panel: “Tech Challenges to Truth in the Age of AI and Algorithms”

3-4:15 p.m. panel: “Climate as a Story or the Story”

BACKGROUND: The UC Irvine Forum for the Academy and the Public is co-directed by Amy Wilentz, professor in the literary journalism program, and Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of history, and is administered through UC Irvine’s Humanities Center.

The following UC Irvine schools and centers have partnered to make the 2025 conference possible: the School of Humanities, School of Law, Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences, School of Education, School of Social Ecology, School of Social Sciences, Long U.S.-China Institute, Newkirk Center for Science and Society, Center for Critical Korean Studies, Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy, Center for Storytelling, literary journalism program, Department of East Asian Studies, Department of History, Humanities Core, International Center for Writing and Translation, Global Engagement Office, Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, and Steckler Center for Responsible, Ethical and Accessible Technology.

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