by Paul Wagman Nearly a year has passed since the Gateway Journalism Review first reported that LockerDome, a prominent St. Louis tech startup, had become a company that partners with some of the most notorious right-wing websites in the country. Serving as an advertising middleman, LockerDome was actually helping to fuel dozens of sites promoting
A recent report tracking the public’s attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations illustrates the extent of misinformation out there as we head into another long pandemic winter. The Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor–a non-partisan source of health news—found that nearly eight in 10 of the people surveyed are unsure about at least one common
On Nov. 4, the day after the election, the Milwaukee City Wire inaccurately reported that more votes were cast in seven wards in the city than there were registered voters. Right-wing pundits and conspiracy theorists rushed to tweet the story, and retweet those tweets. Fox’s Sean Hannity weighed in. Some down-the-middle journalists also followed suit.
In the hours after Iran attacked two Iraqi military bases that housed U.S. troops in January, social media predictably was rampant with rumors. Old and doctored photos surfaced claiming to show the bases on fire, and users shared reports on Twitter and Facebook that the missile strikes had killed Americans. A news-savvy, educated friend of
As with other noisy public health topics, covering the ongoing Ebola crisis has posed several challenges. Journalists must have the facts right, of course, or risk irreparable damage to public understanding of the disease. But they also must decide how to deal with the myths others have unleashed. Is it better to raise the ghosts
