GSAN: ‘Black Twitter’ diaspora | Alien misinfo | Jason Aldean rumors

Top reads

A roundup of the latest topics in news literacy and misinformation.

“Q&A: Marty Baron on pursuing facts in a time of lies” (Mark Caro, Poynter).
“Meta will remove legit news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada — but may leave the bad stuff up” (Laura Hazard Owen, Nieman Lab).
“Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company.” (Paul Farhi, The Washington Post).
Video: “How the loss of local newspapers fueled political divisions in the U.S.” (Judy Woodruff, Frank Carlson and Connor Seitchik, PBS NewsHour).
“Why we’re combating misinformation that affects Latino communities” (Tamoa Calzadilla, Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute),
“This Disinformation Is Just for You” (Thor Benson, Wired).
“What Can You Do When A.I. Lies About You?” (Tiffany Hsu, The New York Times).
“Fleeing Elon Musk’s X, the quest to re-create ‘Black Twitter’” (Elizabeth Dwoskin, The Washington Post).
“Russia’s war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere” (Jim Heintz, The Associated Press).

How to fact-check in the AI age. Spot deepfakes, avoid clickbait. Free webinar by the News Literacy Project. Tuesday, August 8 at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

Featured video

Have you seen misinformation online about Country Music Television and singer Jason Aldean? Try a fact-check with this NLP TikTok video:

A still of a TikTok video features the News Literacy Project’s Alexa Volland in front of a screenshot of a USA Today article about singer Jason Aldean and a label that reads “Try a fact-check.”

Sports journalism is journalism, too.
Sports journalists are held to the same standards as reporters covering other news topics at credible news organizations. Consider that next time you look at a sports story!

Share this NewsLit tip:

The U.S. government didn’t confirm the existence of aliens. The death of former President Barack Obama’s personal chef was exploited by conspiracy theorists. CMT backlash over singer Jason Aldean’s controversial music video being pulled was exaggerated in satirical posts. Check out more of the latest debunked rumors on NLP’s RumorGuard!

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Your weekly issue of Get Smart About News is created by Susan Minichiello (@susanmini), Dan Evon (@danieljevon), Peter Adams (@PeterD_Adams), Hannah Covington (@HannahCov) and Pamela Brunskill (@PamelaBrunskill). It is edited by Mary Kane (@marykkane) and Lourdes Venard (@lourdesvenard).

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