Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Maria Ressa, the embattled co-founder and executive editor of the Filipino news site Rappler now facing imprisonment, will be among the newsmakers and journalists featured on the World News Day event. It will be held virtually on September 28 at 7 p.m. ET.

World News Day, presented by the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) and the World Editors Forum, is dedicated to highlighting the value of journalism in an age of misinformation. Brian Stelter, chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and host of the weekly Reliable Sources, will host the webcast.

“We are living through a truth emergency on top of a global public health emergency,” says Stelter. “Throughout it all, newsrooms and journalists must stay tethered to the truth.

“We know there is a hunger for reliable news and information. So we have an enduring task: to keep unearthing it and working hard to tell it. World News Day is a valuable chance to celebrate the people who are winning the war on truth.”

Now in its third year, World News Day celebrates the stories, the people, the reporting and the professional news organizations that are dedicated to improving lives, challenging the status quo, holding those in power to account and supporting freedom and democracy.

Dr. Fauci, a top U.S. infectious disease expert, has been a prominent public presence during the COVID-19 crisis. Ressa was convicted of cyber libel in June in a controversial court decision which observers around the world regard as related to Rappler’s critical coverage of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and as an attempt to silence her in particular and the media in general. She will be in conversation with Kris Reyes, reporter with ABC7 News.

This event is presented by The Canadian Journalism Foundation. It is supported by Google News Initiative, with in-kind support from Cision, The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.  

The full World News Day program: