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The most clicked links in Get Smart About News in 2022 included these stories:
- A 30-year-old man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was profiled by NBC News for his gradual journey into and out of QAnon conspiracy beliefs. His story prompted discussion questions about real-world consequences of conspiracy theories, including how they affect personal relationships (Jan. 25 issue).
- The topic that drew the most readers in The Sift this year: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, especially the role disinformation played in Vladimir Putin’s attempts to justify the attack (March 1 issue).
- A Washington Post report sparked controversy for exposing the anonymous person behind Libs of TikTok, an anti-LGBTQ+ Twitter account — drawing readers to this explainer at TruthorFiction.com (April 26 issue).
- After a racist mass shooter killed 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, NPR explained its decision not to use the word “manifesto” to describe a document allegedly written by the shooter: “Not using the word ‘Manifesto’ in no way deprives our audience of information, it helps deprive the shooter of the platform he was looking for” (May 17 issue).
- The rise of partisan "pink slime" news outlets that pose as real news piqued interest and discussion of journalism standards and ethics (Sept. 27 issue).
- Our top viral rumor rundown entry in 2022 was this July 11 debunk of a video of President Joe Biden speaking, which was manipulated to make it seem like he was struggling to speak (July 12 issue).
Most popular resources in 2022
These recommended NLP resources were among the most clicked in Get Smart About News in 2022.
- NLP infographics were clicked on frequently, including this one explaining confirmation bias and motivated reasoning and another that lists five steps for vetting a news source.
- This News Goggles video where NLP’s Hannah Covington interviews Seana Davis, a journalist for the Reuters Fact Check team.
- Around the holidays this popular infographic has helpful tips for talking with friends and family about sharing falsehoods online.
Need more for your holiday reading list?
Don't miss these end-of-the-year reports:
- PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lies about the Russia-Ukraine war. When Putin launched the attack on Ukraine, he called it a “special military operation” and in a televised address he said that Russia needed to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine” — a falsehood that led to the death of thousands of people.
- A record number of media workers and journalists (533) were imprisoned worldwide this year, according to a report from Reporters Without Borders. The countries that jailed the most number of journalists were Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey and Belarus, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. (Both organizations employ different methodology in reporting numbers.)
- The share of adult TikTok users in the U.S. who say they regularly get news there increased by 50% over the last two years — but news consumption on most other major social media platforms declined, according to the Pew Research Center’s list of striking findings this year.
- This website created by a software engineer documents hundreds of different trending Twitter topics throughout 2022.
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