You’re invited! A free reader Q&A on how to fight back against misinformation in Pa.

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With the continued decline in local news across Pennsylvania, partisan groups are taking advantage by launching efforts that mimic traditional news operations but have undisclosed or disguised political agendas.

Those efforts — as well as others intended to mislead, confuse or trick people, as we saw in last year’s election — spread more quickly than ever across social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

On Tuesday, April 20 at 5 p.m., join Spotlight PA’s Editor in Chief Christopher Baxter in conversation with journalists and information experts about the negative effects of misinformation, how to detect it, and how to fight back against it. You can RSVP for FREE by clicking here.

And they’ll be taking your questions, too. Other panelists will include:

• Jim Friedlich, executive director and CEO of The Lenfest Institute, the nonprofit owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer

• Anthony Orozco, Latino communities reporter for WITF Public Media

• Dr. Kathleen M. Carley, director of the Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity at Carnegie Mellon University

You can RSVP for FREE and submit your questions in advance here.

» Spotlight PA’s events operate on a “pay-what-you-can” honor system. If you value this public-service event, pay it forward and contribute any amount to Spotlight PA now so we can keep our programming free for everyone: spotlightpa.org/donate.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE… If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.