Feb 13 Push against Russia’s ‘disinformation’ goes online By Larisa Epatko Two U.S. government-funded news organizations, known for their counter-propaganda efforts during Soviet times, are turning to social media to reach Russian audiences. Continue reading
Jan 26 @POTUS Twitter account appears to be linked to a personal Gmail account By Travis Daub As we put together this report, the account appeared to be upgraded to a higher level of security. Continue reading
Jan 25 Government bites back: Civil servants troll Trump, leak info By Lisa Lerer and Julie Bykowicz, Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spent much of his campaign bashing the federal government, a system he described as awash in "waste fraud and abuse." Now, the bureaucracy is biting back. Continue reading
Jan 16 Can Instagram’s new tool really help users who self-harm? By Emily Wishingrad Is social media reporting the future of mental health treatment?… Continue reading
Jan 06 Column: Can librarians help solve the fake news problem? By Donald A. Barclay for The Conversation As a long-time academic librarian, I have spent a good part of my career teaching college students to think critically about information. For me, the recent spate of stories about large segments of the population falling for fake news stories… Continue reading
Jan 02 Column: 10 ways the tech industry and the media helped create President Trump By Damian Radcliffe, University of Oregon Three weeks after Donald Trump won a historic victory to become the 45th president of the United States, the media postmortems continue. In particular, the role played by the media and technology industries is coming under heavy scrutiny in the… Continue reading
Dec 28 Fans share mental illness stories #InHonorOfCarrie By Dan Cooney Fisher, the actress, author and screenwriter, was perhaps as well known as an advocate for mental illness as she was for her iconic role as Princess Leia from "Star Wars." In the hours since her death, fans have shared a… Continue reading
Dec 15 Watch 7:09 Will new tools help Facebook users get the facts on fake news? By PBS News Hour During the last three months of the campaign, fake news headlines drew more engagement than real reporting, and social media platforms were criticized for not doing enough to dispute false information. Now Facebook is launching new tools to help identify… Continue watching
Dec 09 Watch 9:29 The ‘thrill of the chase’ in perpetuating fake news By PBS News Hour This election cycle saw its fair share of so-called “fake news.” On December 4, an armed man walked into a Washington, DC, pizza joint, claiming he needed to investigate a story he had heard: that Hillary Clinton and her former… Continue watching
Dec 08 Watch 2:48 The ‘thin legitimacy’ of social media as a news source By PBS News Hour Due to the proliferation of social media, getting people to read serious journalism is harder than ever, says New York University professor Jay Rosen. Anyone with a smartphone can produce content, and Facebook doesn’t have an editor in chief --… Continue watching