Fighting Disinformation: A Key Skill

We all knew this already but the Mueller report confirmed it: America was blasted with disinformation during the 2016 election. Learning how to fight disinformation is critical for all of us as we head into the next presidential election.

One thing to consider is that the disinformation may not come from Russia. Other countries around the world saw how effective it was. Domestic actors also took note and will surely do their best to disrupt our democratic process. So today, I wanted to post some resources so we can all learn more about it and how to fight it.

UNESCO has a terrific, and comprehensive online handbook about disinformation–the different types, how it spreads, and how to fight it. This is a good resource to bookmark and keep referring back to:  Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation

For those of you in close proximity to New York, there is an upcoming special event focused on fighting disinformation hosted by the Poynter Institute and the Journalism School at Columbia University. The event is free. You can read a description and register for the event HERE.

Brookings Institution has a great article called How to combat fake news and disinformationwhich looks at disinformation and how all of the different entities (media, tech companies, individuals) can work to counteract it.

I’ve also written a couple of posts talking about it:

How to spot misinformation leading into the 2018 midterms

How Disinformation Affects Elections

And finally, if you haven’t already seen this video, I can highly recommend it:

https://twitter.com/DavidLammy/status/1118410973885489152

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