NPR will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform. In explaining its decision, NPR cited Twitter's decision to first label the network "state-affiliated media," the same term it uses for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other autocratic countries.
KJZZ/National Public Radio
A new University of Manitoba program aims to arm its students with journalistic techniques and critical-thinking skills in an effort to improve media literacy. Legendary journalist Cecil Rosner will teach the media literacy, critical thinking and investigative journalism program.
Winnipeg Free Press
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, acclaimed scientist and Connecticut native Dr. Peter J. Hotez has helped translate what we know about the virus and vaccines, taking countless live "news hits" from his office at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. He discusses the anti-vaccine movement, and issues a "warning." Plus, Connecticut College chemistry professor Marc Zimmer responds.
Connecticut Public Radio / WNPR
As misinformation and disinformation have inundated the internet on topics ranging from the current conflict in Ukraine to COVID-19, advocates are pushing to have media literacy taught in schools.
The Hill
Arizona remains at the center of conversations regarding integrity and misinformation, as TIP Board member Mi-Ai Parrish recently hosted a lively focus group discussion moderated by pollster Frank Luntz and headlined by CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett.
CBS News
More than 40 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home. And as the climate warms, many of their communities are harmed by intensifying heat waves, storms, and wildfires. So Spanish-speaking people need access to accurate information about the causes and consequences of global warming. But false and misleading content is pervasive online.
Yale Climate Connection
The importance of teaching students how to use the internet safely is often overlooked. Educators across the U.S. are advocating for greater digital media literacy in schools, expanding digital education programs to cope with misinformation and polarization.
Christian Science Monitor/The Associated Press
Misinformation can feel inescapable. Last summer a survey from the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies found that 62 percent of people regularly notice false or misleading information online.
Scientific American
Even as the riot of January 6, 2021, was unfolding, and Americans could see a mob of Trump supporters storming the Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Trumpists were telling people not to believe their own eyes.
The Atlantic
U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared broadly concerned Tuesday about the potential unintended consequences of allowing websites to be sued for their automatic recommendations of user content. (Pictured) Beatriz Gonzalez and Jose Hernandez, the mother and stepfather of Nohemi Gonzalez, who died in a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, spoke outside the court.
CNN
The director general of UNESCO last week addressed a gathering of lawmakers, journalists and civil societies from around the world to discuss ways to regulate social media platforms such as Twitter and others to help make the internet a safer, fact-based space. Nobel laureate Maria Ressa (shown) also addressed the assembly.
The Associated Press
Democracy in America relies on an independent press to inform citizens with accurate information. Yet today, two forces pose significant challenges to this function: the growing struggle of news organizations to maintain financial independence and the growing distrust of news among the public.
Gallup/Knight Foundation
The scale and speed by which disinformation travels impacts the lives of ordinary people in profound and damaging ways. Americans are being misled, manipulated, and driven apart, and the most marginalized communities—immigrants, communities of color, people with limited incomes in rural areas, and LGBTQ+ people—suffer the severest consequences as a result.
MacArthur Foundation
Michael Martinez, managing editor of the Suncoast Sentinel, is a foodie who loves jazz, volunteers at local homeless shelters and spends his days hiking in Florida’s state parks. One problem: Neither Martinez, nor the Suncoast Sentinel, exist.
MediaWise at Poynter Institute
Last November, Twitter announced it will no longer enforce “the COVID-19 misleading information policy.” The platform also allowed previously banned users to rejoin the site. Since then, anti-vaccination messaging has gained renewed energy, distressing scientists and researchers who have been combatting misinformation and disinformation on social media.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
In the era of social media, antisemitism and Holocaust denial are no longer hidden in the margins, spewed by fringe hate groups. From Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – and NBA player Kyrie Irving to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, well-recognized personalities have echoed antisemitic ideas, often online.
The Conversation
A Jan. 22 Instagram post features several black and white photos that appear to show people being sprayed with white fumes. “Polio wasnt (sic) some single strain virus eradicated by a miracle vax,” the post reads. “It was pesticides like Lead Arsenate and its more lethal replacement DDT that lead to lower spine lesions through the gut.” The post received more than 10,000 likes in five days.
USA Today
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, videos about how to perform at-home abortions using herbs like pennyroyal and mugwort went viral on TikTok. Doctors grew concerned, warning that herbal abortions are actually quite dangerous, despite what TikTok videos claimed. But the videos continued to spread…
The Grid
The bombast with which the so-called Twitter Files have been released is incongruous with the mundanity of their content. Even so, as the circus folds up the big top and the barkers return to their Substacks, it is worth a thorough retrospective to put these breathlessly delivered, revelation-flavored products in context.
TechCrunch
Deepfake technology — software that allows people to swap faces, voices and other characteristics to create digital forgeries — has been used in recent years to make a synthetic substitute of Elon Musk that shilled a cryptocurrency scam, to digitally “undress” more than 100,000 women on Telegram and to steal millions of dollars from companies by mimicking their executives’ voices on the phone.
New York Times
