On April 13th, there was a panel held in Gregory Hall called, The War on Facts: Costs and Casualties. This panel discussion was about “the new federal administration’s disinformation campaign and its ‘running war’ with the mainstream news media”, as it reads on the flyer. That is exactly what is was about. The panel included Lynn Sweet, the Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief, Stephanie Craft, who is the author of our JOURN 200 textbook and who is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Communications, she also has her Ph.D. Others on the panel were John Nerone, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Communications, Media and Cinema Studies, lastly, is Ann Reisner who has her PhD. Is an associate professor in the Department of Media and Cinema Studies, the Institution of Communications Research, and the College of Medicine and an affiliate in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. The panel was moderated by Mira Sotirovic. This panel was interesting because we have been learning about fake news in class and the panel discussed the topic of fake news. Mira started by stating wars that Trump started, such as the media, and public health war, to name a few. She stated that the real war is the war on facts. Lynn Sweet mentioned that this is a time where journalism is made dramatically clear, people make mistakes, but the things Trump doesn’t like doesn’t make it a fact. Stephanie Craft said, “the more we talk about fake news, the more it becomes a thing.” She then went on to call it the word that shall not be mentioned. Jerome Nerone just touched on the subject that “what is news is not putting much investment into lying”. He also stated that a lie doesn’t have to be elaborate. Ann Reisner talked about how truth is in science, trust is alive, and you need facts you can agree on. She stated, “lies deny who we are as human beings, journalists have to have the ability to speak truth to power.” Ann Reisner talking on the subject was very intriguing and fun to listen to. The panel was overall was intriguing and eye opening about fake news and the war on facts.