Fighting Fake News

We hope you enjoyed the latest in our series of Suncoast Spotlight Webinars: GET THE FACTS: FIGHTING “FAKE NEWS”. Understand the difference between fact, myth, and opinion. There was plenty of content covered in regards to truth and the facts and we’d like to thank our moderator John Wilson, Former TV News Anchor, WTVT-Tampa, and panelists Angie Drobnic Holan, Editor-In-Chief, PolitiFact, and Steve Contorno, Political Editor, Tampa Bay Times who generously shared their knowledge and expertise.

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John Wilson

Former TV News Anchor, WTVT-Tampa

John Wilson served as primetime news anchor for WTVT-Tampa and WTSP-Tampa for 35 years, part of a 50-year career as TV News Anchor, News Director, Producer, and Commentator. He worked on-air in Tampa, St. Louis, Charlotte, Norfolk, Richmond, and for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in Panama. This veteran reporter and Fox TV anchor covered world-shaking events in Washington, Moscow, the Middle East, France, Haiti, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Romania, and Panama, among others. He has covered major international news events for NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX television. Wilson has earned three Emmy® awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, plus awards from the Associated Press, the Broadcasters Club of Florida, and the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association.

John currently serves as a lecturer on Media Ethics for the Poynter Institute, which is owned by Florida’s leading Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times. For the past twenty years, John has served as News Anchor/Media Ethics consultant for FOX NEWS affiliated stations in 27 states. Additionally, he is an entertainer, Program Host, and Media Executive specializing in the production of commercials, documentaries, movie production, advertising, and branding.     


ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN

Editor-In-Chief, PolitiFact

Angie Drobnic Holan is the editor-in-chief of PolitiFact. She has extensive experience fact-checking the presidency, Congress, and political campaigns, and was a reporter on the PolitiFact team that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. She serves on the advisory board of the International Fact-Checking Network.

She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a master’s of library science from the University of South Florida. Her undergraduate degree is from the Plan II liberal arts program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a native of Louisiana and attended the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts.


STEVE CONTORNO

Political Editor, Tampa Bay Times

Steve Contorno is the political editor for the Tampa Bay Times, writing on politics, power and influence in Florida. He has covered state and national politics for more than a decade, reporting for newspapers in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. before moving to Florida in 2015. In 2019, Steve’s political reporting was recognized as the best in the Southeast by the Society of Professional Journalists. He was previously the Times’ National Correspondent and Hillsborough County reporter after working as a writer for PolitiFact. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and holds a master’s degree in public affairs reporting.