In cooperation with Entertainment One on January 23 the Clingendael Institute organised an exclusive preview of the award winning film 'The Post'. An audience of over 100 from government, corporate sector, NGOs, journalists and communicators attended a pre-debate and watched Steven Spielberg's latest film featuring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. The film unravels the events surrounding the famous Pentagon Papers, which were revealed by journalist Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, and depicts the rivalry between The Washington Post and The New York Times to get the scoop in disclosing these secret government documents on the Vietnam war. How far are you willing to go in sharing the truth with the whole world? 

Even in current times we experience the tensions between Western governments and the media, and our image of journalistic freedom changes. The White House portrays CNN as broadcaster of Fake News and French President Emmanuel Macron wants to censure websites during election times But what is fake news? And what is not? How do social media alter the relations between government and civil society? And what does this entail for international relations?

Prior to the preview Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal (host of TV news show Nieuwsuur and America expert) and Jan Melissen (Senior Research Fellow the Clingendael Institute) discussed the topic of fake news in a short pre-debate, moderated by Rem Korteweg (Senior Research Fellow the Clingendael Institute). The film can be seen in cinemas worldwide from February 1.

For the full photo stream of this event click here.