News/Media Literacy and Fact-Checking: Additional Readings and Resources

Prevention, not cure, may be a more effective way to combat misinformation.

"Online misinformation continues to have adverse consequences for society. Inoculation theory has been put forward as a way to reduce susceptibility to misinformation by informing people about how they might be misinformed, but its scalability has been elusive both at a theoretical level and a practical level."

This website brings together research and resources on inoculation theory applied to misinformation

"A new study asked thousands to evaluate the accuracy of news articles — both real and fake — by doing some research online. But for many, heading to Google led them farther from the truth, not closer."

“After a few tweaks to the reward structure of social media platforms, users begin to share information that is accurate and fact-based.” (Though the tweaks involved paying people to do so.)

"Responding to the urgent need to address the information crisis that threatens to undo major achievements in public health and erode the foundations of democracies, the Brown University School of Public Health is announcing the creation of its Information Futures Lab. The Lab will investigate the harms of misinformation, data deficits, outdated communications practices and other barriers to meeting the information needs of communities. It will bring together researchers and practitioners across fields to co-design, implement and evaluate solutions, one pilot at a time."

The Center for an Informed Public is an interdisciplinary research initiative at the University of Washington dedicated to resisting strategic misinformation, promoting an informed society and strengthening democratic discourse.

"The HKS Misinformation Review is a new format of peer-reviewed, scholarly publication. Content is produced and “fast-reviewed” by misinformation scientists and scholars, released under open access licensing, and geared towards emphasizing real-world implications. All content is targeted towards a specialized audience of researchers, journalists, fact-checkers, educators, policy makers, and other practitioners working in the information, media, and platform landscape."

"As “research it yourself” becomes a rallying cry for promoters of outlandish conspiracy theories with real-world consequences, educators need to think hard about what’s missing from their information literacy efforts." - From Barbara Fister, Project Information Literacy Provocation Series (Feb. 3, 2021)

"We can have democracy, or we can have a surveillance society, but we cannot have both." - From Shoshana Zuboff, New York Times (Jan. 29, 2021)

"Twitter will allow U.S. users to report tweets with misleading information about how to participate in the forthcoming U.S. election starting today" - From Steven Overly, Politico.com

"This report presents findings about how college students conceptualize the ever-changing online information landscape, and navigate volatile and popular platforms that increasingly employ algorithms to shape and filter content." - From the Study's Abstract

"Journalist’s Resource sifts through the academic journals so you don’t have to. Here’s their latest roundup, including research into fake news, audience analytics, populism, VR, and fact-checking." - From Denise-Marie Ordway, NiemanLab

"To understand the misinformation ecosystem, here's a break down of the types of fake content, content creators motivations and how it's being disseminated." - From Claire Wardle, First Draft

"A basic understanding of where news comes from is back on the syllabus as students navigate an increasingly bewildering media environment" - From Michael Rosenwald, Columbia Journalism Review

"Commissioned by the Council of Europe, our new report lays out a new definitional framework for thinking about information disorder, provides an overview of current responses, and summarizes key academic studies on how people consume information. It ends with thirty-four recommendations, targeted at technology companies, national governments, media organizations, civil society, education ministries and funding bodies." - From Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan, First Draft/Council of Europe

"The growing stream of reporting on and data about fake news, misinformation, partisan content, and news literacy is hard to keep up with. This weekly roundup offers the highlights of what you might have missed." - From Nieman Lab

"A list of non-academic readings related to different aspects of the "fake news" debate, covering the impact of advertising, its role in the US election, the growing awareness of disinformation campaigns aimed at upcoming European elections, and some of the psychological theories that help explain why our brains can be so easily fooled." - From Claire Wardle, First Draft

"The company offered advertisers a breakdown of the US electorate's interests, religions, races, and dislikes during a fraught election season compromised by bad actors." - From Alex Kantrowitz, Buzzfeed

"We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In an eye-opening talk, she details how the same algorithms companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon use to get you to click on ads are also used to organize your access to political and social information. And the machines aren't even the real threat. What we need to understand is how the powerful might use AI to control us -- and what we can do in response." - From Zeynep Tufekci, TED Talk

"Civic Reasoning in a Social Media Environment" - From Sarah McGrew, Teresa Ortega, Joel Breakstone, and Sam Wineburg, American Federation of Teachers

"It’s time for Facebook and Google to pay attention to the psychology of the illusory truth effect." - From Brian Resnick, Vox

NPR series on social media and the spread of misinformation.

"Journalists fighting spread of fake news raise concerns over possible conflicts of interest and say site has refused to disclose needed data." - From Sam Levin, The Guardian

"Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online is a new report from Data &
Society which offers comprehensive insight into why the media was vulnerable to manipulation from radicalized groups that emerged from a variety of internet subcultures in 2016."

"The future of fake news is messaging apps, not social media. And it’s going to be even worse." - From Nic Dias, Foreign Policy