Harry, 14 other commissioners and three co-chairs will conduct a six-month study on the state of American misinformation and disinformation.
Journalist Katie Couric, president of Color of Change, Rashad Robinson, and Chris Krebs, former director of the United States’ Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency, are the co-chairs.
“This information crisis undermines confidence in our democratic institutions and directly affects the foundations of society,” said Krebs in a statement.
This is what Aspen, a leading nonprofit organization, wants to look at. The institute announced its Information Disorder Commission in January with a mandate to develop “actionable public-private responses.”
The commission will begin meeting in April and hold a series of briefings with external experts.
Aspen’s plan foresees an interim report after about 60 days “that analyzes and frames the information disorder problem and prioritizes the most critical and urgent issues”, according to the institute, and then a list of actionable solutions and recommendations in the fall.
The list of commissioners, released on Wednesday morning, includes prominent figures such as former Texas congressman Will Hurd; Sue Gordon, the former chief deputy director of national intelligence; and Kathryn Murdoch, co-founder and president of Quadrivium and Rupert’s daughter-in-law.
But certainly the most notable name is Prince Harry, who has been in the public eye for the past few weeks thanks to his interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, sat down with Winfrey and explained their decision to step down from important positions in the British royal family and criticized the British press.
His own personal experiences with the media – particularly with lies and absurdities spread about his own life – are likely to inform his contributions to the commission.
“As I said, today’s digital world experience has flooded us with an avalanche of disinformation, affecting our ability as individuals as well as societies to think clearly and truly understand the world we live in,” said the Duke of Sussex in a statement. affirmation.
“I believe this is a humanitarian issue,” he said, “and as such, it requires a response from multiple stakeholders from defense voices, members of the media, academic researchers and government and civil society leaders. I look forward to join this new Aspen commission and look forward to working on a solution-oriented approach to the information disorder crisis. “
The institute’s press release on Wednesday identified Prince Harry as one of the three philanthropic leaders who will be part of the project. The other two are Murdoch – who is married to Rupert Murdoch’s son James – and Marla Blow, the next president of the Skoll Foundation.
A week after the interview with Winfrey, Harry and Meghan announced several donations from their Archewell Foundation, including for newbies in the news media.
His role on the Aspen commission is part-time. It will involve regular meetings, according to the institute. The commission is funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
Krebs said in his statement that the commission is striving to have a “diversity of views” and functions, “from elected officials and civic leaders to academic researchers and corporate executives”.