Slides from my Social Media for Journalists class exploring: What we mean by misinformation, how and why it spreads, and nine tips for managing it

1. Spotting, Managing, and
Responding to Online
Misinformation
Damian Radcliffe
Carolyn S. Chambers Professor of Journalism
University of Oregon
21st November 2022

2. Today’s session
1. Spotlight on misinformation
2. Tips and Tools
3. Q&A

3. I know it’s Week 9…
But hopefully that sounds good!

5. 1. Spotlight on misinformation

6. What do we mean by
misinformation?

8. How it works

10. Motive matters

11. Emerged as a major source of
concern from 2016 onwards

12. Global
Issue
Multiple
topics

13. How confident are you?
Post in the chat:
1-3 = Not very confident
4-6 = Somewhat confident
7-9 = Very confident
10 = I should be giving this talk Damian!

15. Examples

16. False context

17. Footage shown of President
Zelensky “out there fighting for
his country,” was filmed in 2021.
(Screenshot via NewsGuard)

18. Game footage also used to depict
war in Ukraine… and Syria…

19. Poor journalism

20. Time, Trump + MLK

22. Fake websites

23. Conspiracy theories

25. Covered by:
- Quartz
- Elite Daily
- Cosmopolitan
- BuzzFeed
- Digg
- MTV
- And more!
Humor – Parody - Satire

26. Denial covered by Quartz, Washington Post + others.

27. What examples have you seen?

28. Why now? 8 x key factors

29. 1. Fake news looks a lot like real news

30. 2. Tech doesn’t discern fact from fiction

31. 3. Algorithms show us more of what
we like, not what we need to know

32. 4. Fewer Journalists

33. 5. Trust in Journalism

34. Two-thirds (67%) of people globally* believe
that journalists and reporters purposely try
to mislead people by saying things they
know are false or grossly exaggerated.
An increase of 8% from 2021’s report.
* 28 countries, 36,000 respondents

35. 6. Society + media
= more partisan

37. 7. Discerning fact from fiction
becoming harder

38. 8. Found in
different forms
+ on different
platforms

39. Memes

40. Claims can be more powerful – and memorable
when there’s an image associated with it.

41. “False information spreads just
like accurate information.”
Farida Vis, Sheffield University research fellow
Remember!

42. Q: Who should be
responsible for
addressing this?
How do we fix this?

43. 3. Tips and Tools

44. 9x recommendations

45. 1.Consume widely…
+ develop a list of trust sources

46. 2. Understand your source

48. 3. Double check everything

49. 4. Be skeptical

52. 5. Learn how to reverse image search

54. 6. Slow Down

55. Misinformation can have major consequences

56. 7. Be mindful as stories break

58. And where…

59. 8. Check your emotions

62. 9. Find
reliable fact
checking sites
Snopes,
PolitiFact etc.

64. Email: damianr@uoregon.edu
Twitter: @damianradcliffe
Web: www.damianradcliffe.com
Thanks for listening