The League of Women Voters Whitewater Area will be sponsoring a program about the impact of misinformation on voting.

According to information released by the group, a presentation, titled: “The Impact of Misinformation, Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories on Voting,” will be given by University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication Michael Wagner.

The program will be held Thursday, April 18, at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library, 431 West Center St., Whitewater, between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The release describes the presentation as a “special election year program,” during which Wagner will “discuss the influence of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories on voting and their relationship to political intimidation and violence.”

The release further notes that Wagner was interviewed by PBS in November of 2022 about the topic for the agency’s program “Here and Now,” hosted by Frederica Freyberg.

Wagner holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and earned his doctorate in political science at Indiana University, the release states.

The professor “centers his research, teaching, and service on the question: ‘How well does democracy work?’” according to the release.    

Wagner’s full bio, as presented on the UW-Madison website, is here: https://journalism.wisc.edu/news/staff/michael-wagner/.

About the league

According to information released by the group, the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Further information about the group is available on it website: https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/whitewater-area.