GSAN: Election deepfakes | Crowd size claims

Top reads

A roundup of the latest topics in news literacy.

Artificial intelligence

• “See why AI detection tools can fail to catch election deepfakes” (Kevin Schaul, Pranshu Verma and Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington Post).
• “AI will play a role in election misinformation. Experts are trying to fight back” (Paige Gross, New Jersey Monitor).
  • Related: Video: “The AI Election: Experts warn of misinformation leading up to voting day” (Adam Duxter, CBS News).
• “OpenAI deactivates ChatGPT accounts linked to Iranian disinformation operation” (Sam Sabin, Axios).
• “X’s new AI image generator will make anything from Taylor Swift in lingerie to Kamala Harris with a gun” (Adi Robertson, The Verge).
• “Online publishers face a dilemma: Allow AI scraping from Google or lose search visibility” (Will Shanklin, Engadget).

Social media

• “F.B.I. Resumes Flagging Foreign Disinformation to Social Media Giants” (Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times).
• “Meta shutters tool used to fight disinformation, despite outcry” (Dara Kerr, NPR).

Misinformation

• “Elections Officials Battle a Deluge of Disinformation” (Tiffany Hsu, The New York Times).

Journalism

• “Jorge Ramos, the voice of Latino America” (Stephania Taladrid, The New Yorker).
• “Defying Crisis in Local News, The Star Tribune Expands” (Katie Robertson, The New York Times).

Look for editorial standards.

How can you tell if a news organization is legit? Check for newsroom editorial standards or ethics, which should be publicly available, and read about the source by doing a quick search for its name. Some journalism standards are commonly shared across the industry — like the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics — while other policies are unique to different newsrooms. (Bonus: Test your news source vetting skills with this quiz.)

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Featured video

Misinformation about crowd size is common during election season. Check out this NLP TikTok video for tips on how to fact-check claims with a quick keyword or reverse image search. (You can also view this on Instagram and YouTube.)

Thanks for reading!

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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