Brooks Jackson, the author of “unSpun – Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation” will speak Thursday at the noon meeting of PRISM, the organization of Public Relations Individuals of Southern Maryland. The luncheon will be at the new Hilton Garden Inn in southern Calvert County at 13100 Dowell Road. To rsvp, contact Kim Flynn at Flynn@navmar.com or (301) 863-7980. The cost is $12 for members and $15 for non-members. For more information about the speaker or PRISM, contact Marc Apter at St. Mary’s College of Maryland at mlapter@smcm.edu or (240) 895-4381.
Jackson is a Washington D.C. journalist who covered national politics for 34 years, reporting in turn for The Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and CNN. At CNN he pioneered the “adwatch” and “factcheck” form of stories, debunking false and misleading political statements starting with the Presidential election of 1992. His investigative reporting for The AP and the Journal won several national awards.
He is the author of two previous books: Honest Graft: Big Money and the American Political Process (Knopf, 1988) and Broken Promise: Why the Federal Election Commission Failed (Twentieth Century Fund: 1990). His most recent book, “UnSpun”, is co-authored by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Jackson and Jamieson are the editors of the Web site FactCheck.org. The Web site is the winner of two “2007 Webby People’s Voice Awards” and was twice chosen as one of Time.com’s “25 Sites We Can’t Live Without.”
“One message I have is that the news media do a poor job of helping voters and consumers sort out the deceptive claims from the solid evidence,” said Jackson. “The book makes the point that it’s up to us — the consumers and voters. The good news is that the Internet, for all the garbage and nonsense it contains, is a powerful tool for getting good information, if you know how to use it. And we tell you how.”
Participants may bring their own copies of Jackson’s books to the luncheon to be signed by Jackson or purchase his most recent one at the event. The new Hilton Garden Inn features 100 guestrooms, including eight suites. A full service Great American Grill restaurant serves breakfast and dinner. The facility includes a heated indoor pool, workout facility, 24-hour business center, wireless high speed Internet access and 3600 square feet of divisible meeting and banquet space. The hotel began accepting reservations July 9.
PRISM is the organization of public relations and marketing professionals in Southern Maryland. It holds bi-monthly luncheon meetings and occasional workshops to foster professional development and networking opportunities for its members. The meetings rotate between Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties. For more information, or to join contact Marc Apter at St. Mary’s College of Maryland at mlapter@smcm.edu or (240)-895-4381 or log on to www.prismonline.info.