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Lane Glisson 461

Breaking the Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the 19.3. Age of Fake portal

Lane Glisson

publication, abstract: This article describes a discussion-based approach for teaching college students to identify the characteristics of ethical and scholarly writing, by comparingfor with information in a strategically planned slideshow. Much has been written on the need to instruct our students about . This librarian shares a lesson plan that engages students’ skills by using a blend of humor, analysis, and a compelling visual presentation. The teaching method is contextualized by research on the distrust of the press and scientific evidence since the rise of hyper-partisan cable news, Russian trollaccepted farms, and . and

Introduction edited, Throughout our culture, the old notions of “truth” and “knowledge” are in danger of being replaced by the new ones of “opinion,” “perception” and “credibility.” copy Michio Kakutani1

What if truth is not an absolute or a relative, but a skill—a muscle, like memory, that collectively we have neglected so much that we have grown measurably weaker at using it? How might we rebuild it, going from chronic to bionic? reviewed, Kevin Young2

npeer 2015, I knew I had a problem. After several years of teaching library instruction is classes, I noticed that my conception of factual- ity and that of my students had diverged. Most Most students preferred Istudents preferred and YouTube to do their mss. Google and YouTube to do research. When asked in my classes how they dis- cerned the credibility of a website, most shrugged their research. This their shoulders. Students had been taught that any-

portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol. 19, No. 3 (2019), pp. 461–484. Copyright © 2019 by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218. 462 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

thing from a .gov, .edu, or .org site was reliable, although these suffixes did not ensure accuracy. They were not familiar with long-form journalism, of record such as and , or the scholarly books and articles that they would need to complete assignments. One student told our class that the New York Times offered free online subscriptions to our students “so they can manipulate us.” When asked which news sources were most reliable, some mentioned the Russian network RT ( Today), unaware that the Kremlin sponsors it.3 A national study of middle school, high school, and college students by the Stanford 19.3. History Education Group stated in 2016, “Our digital natives may be able to flit between and while simultaneously uploading a selfie to and texting a friend. But when it comes to evaluating information that flows through social mediaportal channels, they are easily duped.”4 The Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, where I teach, has an average population of 26,000 students, from 166 countries. They speak more than 100 languages. Half are first-generation college students. Seventy percent are black or Latinx. An average of 88 percent are eligible for the New publication,York State Tuition Assistance Program.5 Despite the common clichés about the politicalfor opinions of urban people, our students are neither uniformly liberal nor uniformly progressive. Many come from traditional or religious families and are socially conservative. Most attend college while working multiple jobs and raising families. Some deal with poverty and housing insecurity. Because our public schools suffer from acceptedclass-based and racial segregation, our students are significantly less prepared for college than their wealthier peers. We cannot assume that the students we serve canand distinguish basic genres of writing; they may not know the difference between a fictional short story and a nonfiction essay, for instance, or between an objective article and a partisan opinion piece on a website. Therefore, the role of the teaching librarian in our community colleges neces- sarily includes basic instruction in howedited, to assess and use all kinds of texts, both in print and online. In our current political copyclimate, the denigration of credible news reporting and sci- entific research calls into question the relevance of factual evidence. This problem was typified by White House counselor ’s phrase “alternative facts.”6 As E. J. Dionne, Norman Ornstein, and Thomas Although we reviewed,now associate Mann wrote, “The trail to ‘alternative facts’ President with was blazed by a mistrust of those whose jobs and professional ethics required them to re- the termpeer fake news, the phrase port and rely on real facts.”7 After President is was used previously in Russia Donald Trump tweeted that the news 8 and as a political tool was “the enemy of the American people,” mss. David Remnick reminded us of Soviet dicta- to spread confusion and to dis- tor Joseph Stalin’s use of the term.9 The alt- This credit the work of . right’s slur “” or Lügenpresse is a page out of the Nazi playbook.10 The phrase fake news fosters cynicism in our students; perhaps it is preferable to use the term disinformation. Although we now asso- ciate President Donald Trump with the term fake news, the phrase was used previously Lane Glisson 463

in Russia and Ukraine as a political tool to spread confusion and to discredit the work of journalists.11 The American press has pushed back, particularly when conservatives attack First Amendment rights. In August 2018, after President Trump referred to the media as “the opposition party,” more than 350 news outlets nationwide, led by , simul- taneously posted editorials refuting the statement.12 Some staunch conservatives have been equally troubled by this depiction of the press. After the 2016 election, right-wing talk show host Charlie Sykes wrote that the conservative movement nurtured a 19.3. distrust of traditional reporting for over two decades, to the detriment of the country: “One staple of every radio talk show was, of course, the bias of the media. This was, indeed, a target-rich environment. But as we learned this year, we had sucportal- ceeded in persuading our audiences to ignore and discount any information from the .”13 This is not just an American problem. In January 2018, the European commissioner for digital economy and society convened a panel of professionals called the High Level Expert Group to advise the European Commission publication, on what ought to be done to mitigate the problems Recent forattempts by political of disinformation online. Their final report recom- entities to manipulate large mended a set of complementary measures that in- cluded “action in support of media and information numbers of people in an literacy for all citizens, including exchange of bestaccepted online environment make practices and training for teachers” and “the use it more crucial than ever to of media and approachesand to counter disinformation and help users navigate our discern fact from fakery. digital information environment.”14 While much has been written on the need to teach our students about disinformation, this article describes ways to develop their edited,critical faculties. Recent attempts by political entities to manipulate large numbers of people in an online environment make it more crucial than ever to discern fact fromcopy fakery.

Teaching for Complexity

Stephanie Bluemle wrote in 2018 about the challenges that teaching librarians face when reviewed, Americans disagree about what constitutes an authoritative . Her discussion of the frame “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual” in the Association of College and Researchpeer Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education identifiedis a problem that the Framework’s authors did not anticipate: “Insofar as the frame advocates questioning authority, it does so from a social justice perspective; it does mss.not consider, nor does it know what to do with, a form of questioning that exists outside, or in opposition to, the tenets of twenty-first-century social justice.”15 The Framework This does not address a world in which distrust of traditional academic, , and media sources could actually foster a less democratic social order. Bluemle’s call for a creative “repertoire of methods for teaching source evaluation that take into account the full complexity of legitimate cognitive authority” is timely.5 If we want to convince students that they must look beyond their own personal biases and habitual search strategies, we must develop a more contextual approach. 464 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

In designing a lesson on disinformation, I did not aim to follow the positions and language of the Framework or any other information literacy document. Instead, I focused on choosing examples that encourage students to consider the corroboration of evidence and the motivations of a source’s writers, regardless of their political affiliations. Emily Drabinski uses Kairos, a Greek word meaning the opportune or decisive moment, as a theoretical alternative to global standards and frameworks. Her approach more closely reflects the way that I engage with students: “Kairos demands apprehension of the mo- ment, and calls for action that is appropriate to that moment . . . Kairos shifts the object 19.3. of analysis away from abstract standards and toward a local, material capacity to discern content and pedagogy in a given classroom situation.”6 Students deserve a more substantial treatment of genre and meaning than standardsportal and checklists can provide. Mark Meola, in his critique of checklists as source evalua- tion guides, stated, “Comparative thinking plays a key role in evaluative judgments.”7 Conversations that embrace the larger picture, with its nuanced facets, counteract the habit of categorical thinking. Referring to the name of a commonly used checklist ac- ronym for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose, Mikepublication, Caulfield wrote, “I think I want less CRAAP and more process.”8 What would thisfor process look like? To figure that out, I turned to my students for guidance. Although our students may lack formal training to assess information, they are no strangers to complexity—situations that have many parts and that are not easy to 9 comprehend. They live in a world of inequality andaccepted difficult choices. Students bring what they have seen in life into the classroom. Although our students may lack Personaland experience contextualizes academic formal training to assess infor- pursuits. The topics they choose to write about mation, they are no strangers for college papers demonstrate the range of problems that they navigate in their daily lives: to complexity—situations thatedited, reintegration for veterans, immigration, do- have many parts and that are mestic abuse, mass incarceration, and issues of copy gender and sexuality, among others. Knowing not easy to comprehend. that our students are living amid complexity, my lesson plan began with three principles: (1) I wanted to create a space of inquiry where students could use the decision-making skills that they alreadyreviewed, have from life to examine issues of credibility. (2) As screenwriters do, I wanted to show, not tell, using slides of articles that students could examine critically. (3) I wanted the lesson to have an international perspective, to show that disinformation is a worldwidepeer problem and to counteract a nationalist mind-set. isIn a time of increasingly partisan national conversations characterized by simplistic blaming, rather than listening, we benefit from mss.For our students to succeed discussions that engage with the nuances of in an increasingly complex social topics. For our students to succeed in an This increasingly complex information environment, information environment, they need to develop the skills to assess what they need to develop the skills they read. The economist Joseph Stiglitz recog- to assess what they read. nized that, just as corporate management “has an incentive to increase asymmetries of information in order to enhance its market power, increase Lane Glisson 465

its discretion, so too [do people] in public life.”10 I agree with Stiglitz that to make good decisions and create an equitable society, one must distinguish complete and credible information from that which is misleading or incomplete. Therefore, I chose an interac- tive approach that compared news stories in a contextual slideshow to teach the defining characteristics of ethical journalism and scholarly writing. The following sections explain the development of the lesson, my rationale for choosing the examples, why I presented them in their order, and suggestions for building a similar lesson. 19.3. #foxnewsfacts and

The project began before the 2016 presidential campaign. In 2015, as I searched for a wayportal to drive home the importance of fact-based evidence, a story in the New York Times caught my eye: “ Beats a Retreat after Gaffes about Islam.”11 It exemplified the role of biased or overtly partisan news sources in spreading stereotypes and became my first example for students on the topic of disinformation. Fox News guest Steven Emerson, a self-described expert on terrorism,12 told conservative commentatorpublication, that, in Europe, there are “no-go zones for non-Muslims” thatfor even the police will not enter.13 On other Fox News shows, Emerson stated that in certain London neighbor- hoods, “Muslim religious police” beat “anyone who doesn’t dress according to religious Muslim attire” and that the British city of Birmingham was “a totally Muslim city where non-Muslims simply don’t go in.”14 Yet the most recent census at the time (2011) from the ’s Office for National Statisticsaccepted showed that Birmingham’s Muslim 15 population was only 22 percent. Why didand the Fox News story matter? According to Gabriel Sherman: “In 2002, Fox News passed CNN as the number-one-rated cable news network; within seven years . . . its profits were believed to exceed those of its cable news rivals and the broadcast evening newscasts combined.”16 ’s “World’s Most Valuable 2018” statesedited, that Fox News is now valued at $11.7 billion, adding: “Fox News is in 90 million homes and is the dominant cable news network with the most viewers for 16 straightcopy years. The U.S. presidential election pushed ratings up 36 percent in 2016 and tops among all networks, besting previous No. 1 ESPN.”17 By the end of 2018, Fox News Channel recorded the highest prime-time ratings in its 22-year history.18 Clearly, despite a disregard for factual evidence, its partisan narratives were compelling to a significant section of American viewers. As Charlie Sykes wrote, “The reviewed, had morphed into a full-blown alternate reality silo of conspiracy theories, fake news and propaganda.”19 peerIn the United Kingdom, however, Emerson’s depiction of the city of Birmingham setis off a Twitter-storm of broad ridicule, prompting Conservative Prime Minister Da- vid Cameron to state on television that Emerson was “clearly a complete idiot.”20 Fox mss.was compelled to issue two apologies for Emerson’s remarks, delivered by anchor Julie Banderas and host .21 Emerson himself apologized for the “terrible This error.”22 The mockery on Twitter, using the hashtag #foxnewsfacts, included pictures of gingham-covered jam jars “wearing hijab” (see Figure 1) and a resident who offered to ride with anyone who was afraid to set foot in the city, writing “#illridewithyou.” Author Kamila Shamsie tweeted, “The city is now called Birming because Ham is not halal.”23 The reaction on created awareness of the issue worldwide—and 466 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

engaged my students by appealing to their sense of humor. When I projected a slide of the original New York Times article, followed by the reactions on Twitter, students began the class laughing. They were delighted that the media giant Fox News was humbled by tweeting. It also prompted them to critique the ways that Muslims are stereotyped in the media by Islamophobic statements. The humorous slides served another purpose after Trump’s election. Some students had mentioned that they worried about expressing candid opinions in class because the political climate was so combative. To encourage them to speak up despite their reluctance, I began the session with a humorous response 19.3. to disinformation that created an atmosphere of community through shared laughter. portal Dissecting

Another dubious news story that I used successfully in class was the Parkinson’s that circulated in the of 2016, prior to the presidential election. It was crucial, when using political examples like this in class, to clearly state that the les- son was not about partisan or for whom to vote, but rather aboutpublication, disinformation on the Web and how to fact-check a claim. I first heard this storyfor from a neighbor who believed that Secretary Clinton had seizures. She showed me online videos, circulated by conspiracy theorists and Ted Noel, that claimed Clinton had either debilitating brain damage or Parkinson’s disease (see Figure 2).24 By combining GIF (graphics interchange format) files into a loop, Clinton’s characteristic head nods and shoulder movements had been turned into a videoaccepted mimicking seizures—although anyone who has ever seen a real seizure wouldand be skeptical. Tech-savvy students in the class enjoyed explaining to their peers how a GIF worked, which increased students’ engagement. Because the same footage was repeated on so many websites, my neighbor was irrefutably convinced that Secretary Clinton was ill. In Post-Truth, Lee McIntyre wrote, “The ‘repetition effect’ (whichedited, says that we are more likely to believe a message if it has been repeated to us many times) was well known to car salesmen and Hitler’s propaganda minister alike.”copy25 Therefore, I asked students, “If a claim is repeated, does that make it true?” Showing websites where hoaxes are investigated enables students to see how they can conduct their own fact-checking searches. The Parkinson’s hoax was disputed on the fact-checking site and the FactCheck.org site of the Annenberg Public Policy reviewed, Center, an organization for the study of law and government at the University of Penn- sylvania.26 Most importantly, reporter Lisa Lerer, who was videotaped questioningpeer Clinton on the campaign trail in one of the seizure hoax videos, issued a statementis that Clinton did not have a seizure at the event.27 The Parkinson’s Foundation also made a formal statement, citing their national medical director Michael S. Okun, mss.chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of , and other experts. They found that Clinton’s movements did not present as typical symptoms of Parkin- This son’s: “While Secretary Clinton does not show signs of Parkinson’s in the opinions of senior neurologists, even if she did, a diagnosis of Parkinson’s should not be seen as a disqualifying condition for high office—and, in fact, in recent times it has not been.”28 Adding that senators, representatives, an attorney general of the , and an astronaut “performed admirably in challenging jobs while living with Parkinson’s,”29 Lane Glisson 467

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Figure 1. A Twitter feed showing gingham-covered jam jars “wearing hijab” mocks Fox News stories about Muslims in the United Kingdom. accepted and

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This Figure 2. A screenshot from an online video circulated in 2016 claiming that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s nodding head was a symptom of Parkinson’s disease. 468 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

the statement debunks both the false diagnosis and prejudicial attitudes toward those who live with the disease. The Clinton story was also useful to introduce information bubbles and the ways that Facebook and Google curate your . Watching one YouTube video on Clinton’s health brings up a collection of related videos on the sidebar that say the same thing, which leads the viewer to assume that the diagnosis is verified. Presenting slides of these websites to students enables them to visualize the concepts, critically analyze how hoaxes spread across the , and learn how to check expert sites to understand whether a story is true or false. The #QAnon hoax, in which “Q,” 19.3. an anonymous individual claiming to be a high-level government official, dropped cryptic hints—called “breadcrumbs”—on the Internet forums 4-chan and 8-chan about fictitious plots against the Trump administration, 30 or the Pizzagate incident, in whichportal Clinton’s campaign chairman was falsely accused of sex trafficking,31 could also show students how conspiracy theorists construct tenuous connections from scant evidence. Some professors may prefer to avoid political hoaxes and choose examples from . News articles on climate change de- News articles on climate change nial are useful to introducepublication, the peer-review are useful to introduce process that precedes forthe publication of sci- entific research on climate theory—and how the peer-review process that pre- distrust of scientific information has become cedes the publication of scientif- normalized on the Internet.32 I have paired ic research on climate theory— slides of articlesaccepted about the “chemtrails” hoax, which claims that the condensation trails left and how distrust of scientific by andaircraft consist of chemical or biological information has become nor- agents, with scientific studies, news reports, and statements by the National Aeronautics malized on the Internet. and Space Administration (NASA) that dis- edited,prove the statement. This demonstrates how to gather evidence from experts to refute hoaxes.33 After the slides, students actively search for credible evidencecopy in the library instruction portion of the class. Active discus- sion and research practice are the key elements of my approach. Good sources to share with students are Sarah Harrison Smith’s A Fact Checker’s Bible, Lucas Graves’s Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American reviewed, Journalism, and the fact-checking pages on One of the best educational sites the website of the for Media for teaching students to assess Studies, a nonprofit in St. peer Petersburg, Florida.34 One of the best edu- the credibilityis of news sources is cational sites for teaching students to assess the British Broadcasting Corpo- the credibility of news sources is the British mss. Broadcasting Corporation’s BBC Academy ration’s BBC Academy web page, web page, “BBC Editorial Standards: A Simple This “BBC Editorial Standards: A Guide.” It provides active learning modules Simple Guide. on accuracy, impartiality, offensive language, , fairness, consent, crime reporting, conflicts of interest, and other important aspects of ethical journalism.35 The BBC’s modules are much more effective in teaching Lane Glisson 469

students the underpinnings of credible journalism than is a disinformation game like Factitious. Factitious focuses merely on whether the news article is real and does little to help students differentiate in-depth original reporting from less substantial or ag- gregated news articles.36

Textual Analysis of News about

After 2016, instead of using individual examples of disinformation at the beginning 19.3. of class, I turned my fake news images into a 15– to 20–minute slideshow and class discussion that I led before we worked on the students’ assigned research topics. The slideshow appealed to visual learners and used the graphics of digital journalismportal to make the lesson compelling. Students get many handouts in class and often pay little attention to them. A visual presentation is more memorable than an attempt to drive discussion using black-and-white paper-based exercises. Projecting article paragraphs on the screen allowed students to do close readings of the texts. I began with the #foxnewsfacts story to create an atmosphere of collaboration, followedpublication, by the Hillary Clinton slides to introduce hoaxes. Then students were shown fora structured, discussion- based lesson that asked them to analyze how a single news topic, the Black Lives Matter movement, is framed by media sources. It worked well because our urban students are familiar with the movement and issues of police behavior in their own communities. Beginning with an online article from the website, written by conserva- tive writer David French, I asked students to discussaccepted what they think when they first read the “The Numbers Are In: Blackand Lives Matter Is Wrong about Police” (see Figure 3).37 Students questioned its tone of certainty. They wanted to know how it got its numbers. How big was the sample? What does French mean when he writes that Black Lives Matter is wrong? When asked if the Black Lives Matter movement can be framed by the words right and wrongedited,, students agree that it is more complicated than that; some have family members who serve as police, yet also know people who have been harassed due to racialcopy profiling. A second slide showed the text of French’s article, which states that the numbers come from “an unprecedented, case-by-case study of police shootings” in 2015, gathered by the Washington Post’s reporters. We examined statements in the National Review article and compared them to the relevant text from the Washington Post, pictured in the next 38 reviewed, slide. Certain key statistics in the Post study were omitted from the National Review sum- mary or were misinterpreted. When asked, students classify the National Review article as “opinion”peer or even “prejudiced” because of its claims, for example: “Racial disparities inis the use of force are largely explained by racial disparities in criminality. Different American demographics commit crimes at different rates.”39 The article’s implication that mss.black people are more inclined to be criminals elicits eye rolls from some students. The National Review article also accuses the Washington Post of “hyping” the racial injustice This demonstrated by certain statistics.40 I then showed the section of the Post’s report that French quoted. In fact, the Post’s report is balanced and sympathetic to police as well as to victims, including a broad range of statistics on multiple Web pages that draw a complicated picture of police shootings. The authors make clear distinctions between cases in which the use of force was justified against armed assailants and those in which 470 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

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publication, for Figure 3. An online article from the National Review website, by conservative writer David French, questioning charges by the Black Lives Matter movement that police are unfair to African Americans. accepted unarmed persons were killed.41 By comparingand the Post’s detailed investigation to the simplistic summary published in the National Review, students begin to understand the importance of fact-checking the claims made in a short opinion piece and the work that goes into a yearlong investigative report.edited, My next example, the Washington Post news article “Turning Away from Street , Black Lives Matter Movement Tries a New Tactic in the Age of Trump,” shows a more neutral form of reporting.copy The words right or wrong are not used. Instead, the article describes recent changes in the group’s approach to organizing. “The movement’s efforts have entered a new phase—one more focused on policy than —prompted by the election of President Trump.” Black Lives Matter activist Alicia Garza is quoted, explaining thatreviewed, instead of holding demonstrations, “People are channeling their energy into organizing locally, recognizing that in Trump’s America, our communities are under 42 direct attack.”peer When asked to assess this article, students notice how it describes the evolutionis of the movement, includes quotations from its founders, and explains their work on social justice issues. Students discern that the authors of this article respect readers’ abilities to form their own conclusions. The importance of distinguishing factual mss.reporting from opinion is backed up by a recent study from the Pew Research Center. In a 2018 survey of 5,235 adults, Pew researchers examined the abilities of readers to This distinguish factual statements from opinion. One of their findings indicated that the reader’s trust in who was reporting mattered in how the information was interpreted and influenced the number of correct answers. “Almost four-in-ten Americans who have a lot of trust in the information from national news organizations (39%) correctly identified all five factual statements, compared with 18% of those who have not much or Lane Glisson 471

no trust.”43 Knowing about and using factual news sources informed readers’ ability to make good assessments. Teaching librarians can do much to further our students’ aware- ness of , whether from academic studies, long-form journalism, or news. Another way to write about Black Lives Matter is through opinion pieces by ex- perts. An op-ed piece in the New York Times titled “When Will Black Lives Matter in St. Louis?” was written by Nicole Nelson, an attorney who worked for ArchCity Defenders, a nonprofit civil rights law firm in St. Louis, 19.3. Missouri. It is a good example of opinion Teaching librarians can do writing that can be useful for students, since much to further our students’ Nelson is a legal expert who knows the com- munity.44 First-year college students seldom awareness of reliable sources,portal realize that papers like the New York Times whether from academic studies, or the Washington Post have separate news long-form journalism, or news. and opinion departments, with separate edi- tors and staff, a standard practice in modern journalism. Otherwise, news reporting becomes suspiciously biased,publication, influenced by inappropriate associations (with business or politics) that compromisefor credibility. Ethi- cal journalists are trained to avoid such conflicts of interest.45 Showing a news article, followed by a responsible opinion piece like Nelson’s, allows us to discuss this practice with students. I use the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles from the Poynter Institute’s website to explain journalisticaccepted norms that inform our own reading of information.46 Most of my students did not know that political reporters at credible news organizations refrain from partisan organizingand or donating to political causes and, in some cases, may even abstain from voting in primary elections to avoid becoming associated with a political party while covering an election.47 That said, Donald Trump’s inflammatory statements and disregard for facts caused uneasiness in journalism circles, inspiringedited, essays on whether it was acceptable for report- ers to engage in advocacy in response to Trump’s remarks.48 In the Columbia Journalism Review, during the summercopy before the 2016 presidential election, David Mindich referred to Edward R. Murrow’s critical television report in 1954 on Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose hearings on Communist sympathizers in the government, the Hollywood industry, and the United States Army were based on scant evidence. Mindich wrote, “If a politician’sreviewed, rhetoric is dangerous, Murrow implied, all of us, including journalists, are complicit if we don’t stand up and oppose it.”49 The separation of immigrant children from their parents at the border between and the United States was a recent examplepeer of an injustice that journalists felt compelled to report.50 is My last example of writing about the Black Lives Matter movement was the most disturbing. In September 2017, CNN broke the story that a phony social media campaign mss.called Blacktivist, linked to the Russian government, used Facebook and Twitter “in an apparent attempt to amplify racial tensions during the U.S. Presidential election.”51 This According to CNN, at the time the story was reported, “The Facebook account had 360,000 likes, more than the verified Black Lives Matter account on Facebook, which cur- rently has just over 301,000.”52 Blacktivist posted news of real demonstrations, targeting audiences in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, where Black Lives Matter protests had occurred. This way of writing about Black Lives Matter is the most cynical: 472 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

an attempt by a foreign government to interfere with the outcome of a presidential elec- tion by inflaming political divisions. Students were particularly shocked that a foreign government attempted to hijack the movement’s issues to manipulate the election and succeeded to the point where activists attended a real demonstration organized on Facebook by Blacktivist.53 This led to a discussion of how to check an organization’s credibility. It also prompted students to talk about the growing incivility in our public conversations, at a time when listening skills and are especially needed to solve real social problems. 19.3.

RT, , and Trolls portal The Blacktivist hoax was only one example of an attempt by the Russian government to influence in the United States and elsewhere through social media. The , a Russian “,” created social media accounts in the name of nonexistent people or organizations. The Russian government hires troll farms to spread disinformation and create an illusion of widespread publication,public support for its positions, in Russia and abroad. A declassified report from thefor Office of the Director of National Intelligence, jointly prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA), stated:

Russia’s state-run propaganda machine—comprised of its domestic media apparatus, outlets targeting global audiences such as RT and Sputnikaccepted [a government-owned and radio service], and a network of quasi-government trolls—contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platformand for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.54

Troll farms created false identities on Facebook and Twitter to spread political ideas that the Kremlin wished to promote.edited, Russian interference of this type occurred in Europe during the invasion of eastern Ukraine 55 and later influenced public opinion in copy and the vote in the United Kingdom.56 According to historian Timothy Snyder, Russia Troll farms created false identi- used tactics of strategic relativism to weaken the ties on Facebook and Twitter to and the United States in its spread political ideas that the disinformation campaign. “In strategic rela- reviewed, tivism, the point is to transform international Kremlin wished to promote. politics into a negative-sum game, where a peer skillful player will lose less than everyone else.”is Snyder wrote that Russian President wanted to sow distrust of democratic systems in other countries to shore up authoritarianism in Russia.57 Russian mss.disinformation stagecraft spread to other countries, including the United States, where its methods were adapted to manipulate and distract the public from more important 58 This issues. Social media sites were perfect tools of , since it was difficult to check who posted the information. Disinformation campaigns tear the fabric of society, jeop- ardizing the security of organizations as large as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance of 29 nations in Europe and North America, or as small as Comet Ping Pong, the pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., that was falsely implicated in the Pizzagate .59 Lane Glisson 473

To demonstrate how information on a Facebook page might be unreliable, I showed my students the journalist Scott Shane’s article on the fake Americans who were created in Rus- The information we read on sian troll farms. “Melvin Reddick,” according to Facebook, YouTube, and Twit- his Facebook profile, lived in Pennsylvania, but the photographs on his page “seemed to be bor- ter may not come from real rowed from an unsuspecting Brazilian,” since the organizations or individuals. light sockets pictured were from Brazil. The high 19.3. school and college he claimed to have attended had no record of a Melvin Reddick at their schools.60 Using Reddick’s fake profile to teach students about political interference allowed me to drive home three criticalportal points: (1) The information we read on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter may not come from real organizations or individuals. One must check further for credibility, verify the identity of the author, read the “About” page of the website to find out what organization created it, and Faced with the glut of then search for more information about the author publication, and organization to determine their authority. (2) informationfor on the Web, it We have the power to be responsible for our reading is well worth learning how habits. If Americans have been duped by troll farms and bots, computer programs that simulate human to use academic sources, activity on the Internet, perhaps it is time to consideraccepted which are vetted by editors what sources of information would be more reliable. and peer reviewers and (3) Faced with the glut of information on theand Web, it is well worth learning how to use academic sources, are available at the library. which are vetted by editors and peer reviewers and are available at the library. Consulting scholarly sources for assignments is more efficient than spending days trawling the edited,Web for less reliable information.

copyThe Real Russian Journalists

Although troll farms were linked to the Russian government, it is important to remind American students that there are also ethical Russian journalists who uncover the facts even when their government discourages it. It would be misleading to teach students reviewed, about Russian disinformation campaigns without also giving credit to the work of serious investigative journal- Students need to know ists inpeer Russia. Lyudmila Savchuck, a freelance investiga- that many honest jour- is tive journalist, infiltrated the Internet Research Agency in nalists risk their safety, St. Petersburg, Russia, to write about the inner workings mss.of the same troll farm that was recently indicted by Spe- or even their lives, to cial Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.61 Students report the facts. This need to know that many honest journalists risk their safety, or even their lives, to report the facts. To furnish other examples, I show students the photographs of six Russian journalists who were assassinated for their work reporting on the war in Chechnya and exposing corruption in Russia, and , the human rights lawyer who defended them, who 474 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

was also killed.62 When the slide of the murdered journalists is shown in class, interna- tional students who come from countries where journalists have been imprisoned or killed nod their heads; they speak from experience that reporting requires courage. This reinforces the message that disinformation and are problems for democracy in many countries. With the current disparagement, for political objectives, of substantial reporting, it is important to discuss these ideas and make them come alive for students by introducing the work of serious journalists. Although I start the slideshow with jokes about fake news, the context is serious. The odds are greater that students will use better 19.3. research materials if they are encouraged to engage with complexity. portal Big Tech’s Response

After the Russian interference reports came out, social media companies scrambled to come up with solutions to the disinformation that their platforms helped spread. Twitter banned RT and Sputnik from buying ads.63 As the European Commission’s Report of High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformationpublication, points out, however, it will take careful collaboration to understand how to combatfor disinformation without putting a burden on .64 We must ask: are profit-driven tech companies equipped to protect the Internet from and disinformation? The example of Paul Joseph Watson’s Infowars video about Clinton’s health that I used in my class is still available on YouTube as this article was written, in January 2019.65 After the 2018 shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Highaccepted School in Parkland, Florida, the response of YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki wasand a new feature called “information cues”: If a viewer clicked on a conspiracy theory video, YouTube would provide a link to a page that presumably debunked the theory.66 Given that anonymous authors can edit a Wikipedia page, it remains unclear that high-level tech executives have the information literacy skills necessaryedited, to solve these problems. According to YouTube, 400 hours of video were uploaded to their platform every minute in 2015, the latest year for which statistics are copyavailable. 67 How will they reliably monitor this content for accuracy? Information specialists could play an active role by collaborating with tech companies on initiatives that provide credible information. Since the search optimization of Google and other browsers are based on economic models that privilege the selling of niche ads to consumers, the short-term outlook for stop- reviewed, ping the spread of disinformation is not optimistic. The massive hacking of 50 million Facebook accounts in September 2018 indicates that we should expect more foul play ahead ofpeer the 2020 elections.68 isBig tech companies have the tendency to solve dysfunction with tech-driven solu- tions that compound the problem: After being criticized for the fake news that circulated mss.on its platform, Facebook received more criticism for an experiment that it imposed without warning on six small countries: Bolivia, , Guatemala, Serbia, Slova- This kia, and . Posts from credible media organizations were shifted away from the news feed to an “explore” feed timeline, limiting Facebook’s core website to personal posts and paid advertisements. This effectively removed publishing platforms for the six countries’ news organizations. An editor in Guatemala complained that it was “killing 66% of our traffic. Just destroyed it. Years of really hard work were just swept away.”69 Lane Glisson 475

Facebook’s head of news feed Adam Mosseri said that the purpose of the test was to see whether users preferred the site if “personal” and “public” posts were separated.70 However, the decision to limit this experiment to several small nations, regardless of its effect on their news organizations, betrays a feeling of superiority toward those countries and an attitude that news reporting is just another form of content that can be shifted at will. Facebook had chosen the option to avoid the responsibilities (and the regulation) that require from conventional news organizations.71 By 2018, Facebook began coming to terms with its responsibility as a platform where many people get their 19.3. news. Attempting to stop the spread of disinformation, Facebook removed more than 800 American accounts related to political spam from influence campaigns.72 That action, in turn, posed complicated questions regarding censorship of social media going forward.portal Recent reporting by technology journalist Jack Nicas covered the discrepancies in Facebook’s published statistics on how many fake Facebook accounts exist. In 2018, Facebook introduced a transparency page that disclosed how many false accounts it had taken down, which indicated that “the scope was far larger than security filings had suggested.” Although Facebook had previously stated that 3 to 4 publication,percent of its were fake, the accounts taken down each quarter amountedfor to 25 to 35 percent of its active users.73 Nicas has previously reported on the ease of creating multiple false identities on Facebook.74 Clearly the problem has grown beyond Facebook’s ability to monitor it. Also, Facebook has no compelling reason to let advertisers know that por- tions of their target audience are not real people.accepted Pulling Backand the Curtain Transparency is important. News organizations have opened up their research processes to educate the public about the ethics of accurate journalism on sites such as the New York Times “Insider” section online.edited,75 These are good resources for teaching students to understand how journalists work. Another example is the -winning in- vestigative series in the Washingtoncopy Post that looked into Senate candidate Roy Moore’s alleged involvement with teenage girls and an unsuccessful attempt by a right-wing organization to discredit that reporting.76 While working on the Roy Moore story, the Post’s reporters were approached by a woman named Jaime T. Phillips, who worked for , an organization that targets the mainstream . Phillips falsely reviewed, claimed that Moore had impregnated her as a teenager. The Post’s team fact-checked Phillips’ background and her attempts to discredit other reporters, then videotaped re- porterpeer Stephanie McCrummen’s interview with Phillips that exposed her false claims.77 Asis Indira Lakshmanan wrote on the Poynter Institute website:

mss. The series was most extraordinary for its transparency, breaking the fourth wall between the and readers by revealing those techniques to readers— showing how reporters got the story. Pulling back the curtain on the journalistic process This served not only to reassure the public about the Post’s motives, methods and findings, but also to inoculate the paper against false claims that the women were paid off by Moore’s opponents or the Post.78

Like the Post’s reporters, I want to pull back the curtain on journalistic and aca- demic writing to better inform students about their choices of information. Starting my 476 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

classes by using comparative examples of articles in a free discussion setting increases my students’ awareness of the importance of fact-checking and in professional journalism. It also serves as an excellent introduction to the process in academic scholarship.

Concluding Suggestions

This article shares some of the examples that I used in class to engage students in the 19.3. process of gathering information and making sense of an admittedly confusing time. Each of us will have our favorite examples, based on individual preference. The plea- sure in designing a slideshow’s sequence to tell a vivid narrative that students canportal discuss together, regardless of their political views. Beginning the class with humorous slides draws students into the discussion. I found news examples by obsessively reading newspapers of record and long-form magazine journalism and by conducting keyword searches on news media websites. I tried to mix it up, using stories from different news organizations, to vary the perspective. Articles about the same eventpublication, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, , , CNN, or the Wallfor Street Journal often emphasized different angles. I looked for the article that made the point most effec- tively—or most completely. When preparing the Black Lives Matter sequence, I searched “Black Lives Matter” on Google, just as my students might do, to see what result came up first on the browser. That’s how I found David French’s article “The Numbers Are In,” a perfect example of biased political spin posingaccepted as factual news—the sort of article we hope students will not use as evidence. Examplesand of hoaxes were found by doing searches on Google and YouTube. In 2017 and early 2018, interference in the 2016 election was a top story. I built a file of articles to use as possible examples in my slideshow. Meanwhile, I experimented using various articles in class to seeedited, which stories engaged students. Some reports were less compelling to students than others because they did not intersect with issues that really mattered to them. Forcopy instance, news stories about how Facebook and Twitter struggled to manage the problem of disinformation were too technical to interest most of my students. Social justice topics, such as Black Lives Matter, Islamophobia, or the 2016 election, held students’ attention because these issues affected them directly. The Russian troll farm Social justicereviewed, topics, such story also engaged students because it had dramatic as Black Lives Matter, cloak-and-dagger appeal. Recent articles about dis- Islamophobia,peer or the 2016 information vis-à-vis the border wall, deportations, is immigration, or the government shutdown would be election, held students’ perfect examples to use in 2019. The artful part of the mss.attention because these is- job was designing a sequence that had a rhetorical sues affected them directly. logic. I tried to build a historical trajectory, starting This with the earliest stories first and proceeding in a timeline, working in a documentary style to create a narrative. For example, the Blacktivist slide at the end of the Black Lives Matter portion segued to slides about the Russian disinformation efforts before the 2016 election. The fake Americans on Facebook slide preceded the Russian interference in Brexit slide, to suggest that interference was an international problem. Lane Glisson 477

I avoided the temptation to merely deliver an informative lecture on disinformation illustrated by clever slides and instead encouraged student interaction. Students retain information more effectively if they are active participants. The slides were meant to visually introduce an idea and provoke dialogue. I asked open-ended questions to get everyone talking. If the class was reticent, I assured students that “there is no wrong answer here,” which usually prompted a few brave students to begin. I responded to each student’s comment, and as more students added interpretations, we connected them to create a larger contextual picture. If a student expressed confusion about what 19.3. made a source “biased,” “impartial,” or “credible,” we discussed those complexities. To make time for discussion, avoid using too many slides. I rarely used all the slides described here in a single presentation. The lesson was typically no longer thanportal 20 minutes, if a library instruction class followed it. It was helpful to schedule a 90-minute session Librarians can partner with instead of just one hour, so the library instruction other academic depart- workshop that followed had ample time. A longer discussion was possible if I was delivering more ments and publication,administrators than one research class to the same students. The to offerfor media literacy class- lesson could also be used as part of a credit-bearing information literacy course or first-year experience es to first-year students, who course. Librarians can partner with other academic need them most, preferably departments and administrators to offer mediaaccepted in the first semester. literacy classes to first-year students, who need them most, preferably in the first semester. Studentsand frequently tell me that they wish they had had library instruction much earlier, before they were assigned their first research paper. Media and information literacy classes, as part of a first-year course, are essential to student success and reinforce course profes- sors’ learning goals.79 Beyond buildingedited, critical thinking skills and source evaluation, lesson plans like the one presented here create a space for students to discuss complex issues that matter to them.copy The class creates a forum for students who may not agree on contentious issues to share their opinions in a nonjudgmental environment, perhaps allowing them to exit the prison of categorical thinking.

Disinformationreviewed, at the Bus Stop: Where Do We Go from Here? When I was first reading about Russian interference, I left work one night through an exit of ourpeer community college’s main building. I was surprised to see an ad for RT at the bus shelteris right at the college’s door that read, “RT America. . Is this American enough for you?” The challenging tone of the ad copy struck me—I could imagine the mss.smirk on the face of the writers who came up with it. Upon reflection, I realized that RT masquerades as an unbiased news outlet, not a political entity; the Metropolitan This Transportation Authority (MTA)’s department probably viewed it as such when they vetted the ad for use on bus shelters. According to journalists Peter Pomer- antsev and Michael Weiss, RT’s senior management promotes the idea that there is no such thing as “objective truth.”80 RT’s corporate , dreamed up by the American advertising agency McCann, is “Question More,” an ironic banner for a company that is 478 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

not what it claims to be.81 Coincidentally, McCann’s slogan is “Truth Well Told.”82 When had truth become spin? Interference from Russia is only part of a larger problem of disinformation. In Oc- tober 2018, Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times reported, “Domestic sites are directly emulating the Russian playbook of 2016 by aggressively creating Facebook pages and accounts—many of them fake—that make it appear as if the ideas they are promoting enjoy widespread , researchers said.”83 As the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya observed, “The sleep of reason produces monsters.”84 More than ever, we all must analyze 19.3. what is handed to us, in the media and by our government, in the guise of information. Critiquing the idea that truth is relative, Timothy Snyder wrote, “Authoritarianism be- gins when we can no longer tell the true from the appealing. At the same time, the cynicportal who decides that there is no truth at all is the citizen More than ever, we all must who welcomes the tyrant.”85 The erosion of trust in analyze what is handed to the press and the fraying edges of our social compact are the first steps toward disenfranchisement. The us, in the media and by our conception that everything we readpublication, or hear is just government, in the guise of another version of political spin,for designed to advance the power of warring factions, is a philosophy that information. our democracy cannot afford. By manipulating the public’s via fabricated crises, purveyors of disinformation distract us from government policiesaccepted that ought to be examined more closely and from problems, such as climate change and inequality, that merit careful attention and urgent work. The society thatand our descendants will inhabit is at stake. We often tell students to follow their hearts to achieve their dreams. But the heart can be misled. Perhaps, it is time to encourage them to follow—and inform—their .

Lane Glisson is an assistant professoredited, and e-learning and instruction librarian at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York; she may be reached by e-mail at: [email protected]. copy

Notes

1. Michio Kakutani, “Critic’s Notebook; Opinion vs. Reality In an Age of ,” New York Times, Januaryreviewed, 28, 1994, https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/28/ books/critic-s-notebook- opinion-vs-reality-in-an-age-of-pundits.html.tp. 2. Kevin Young, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake Newspeer (Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf, 2017), 447. 3. isPeter Pomerantsev and Michael Weiss, “The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture and Money: A Special Report,” The Interpreter, Institute of mss. Modern Russia, 2014, 14–15, https://imrussia.org/media/pdf/Research/ Michael_Weiss_ and_Peter_Pomerantsev__The_Menace_of_Unreality.pdf. 4. Sam Wineburg, Sarah McGrew, Joel Breakstone, and Teresa Ortega, ”Evaluating This Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning,” Stanford History Education Group, November 22, 2016, 4, http://purl.stanford.edu/fv751yt5934. 5. BMCC Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, BMCC Quick Facts Fall 2017, updated February 28, 2018, https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/ported/iea/ upload/ Fall%202017%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf. Lane Glisson 479

6. Kellyanne Conway, interview by Chuck Todd, Meet the Press, NBC, January 22, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/conway-press-secretary-gave- alternative-facts-860142147643. 7. E. J. Dionne Jr., Norman J. Ornstein, and Thomas E. Mann, One Nation under Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported (New York: St. Martin’s, 2017), 54. 8. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @ NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Twitter, February 17, 2017, 4:48 p.m., https://twitter.com/@realDonaldTrump/ 19.3. status/832708293516632065. 9. David Remnick, “Trump and the Enemies of the People,” Daily Comment, , August 15, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trump-and-the-portal enemies-of-the-people. 10. Rick Noack, “The Ugly History of ‘Lügenpresse,’ a Nazi Slur Shouted at a Trump Rally,” Washington Post, October 24, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ news/ worldviews/wp/2016/10/24/the-ugly-history-of-luegenpresse-a-nazi-slur-shouted-at-a- trump-rally/?utm_term=.9b8ba56ff04d. 11. Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (New York: Tim Duggan, 2018), 11. publication, 12. Rebecca Morin, “Trump Labels Media ‘the Opposition Party’ as Newspapersfor Push Back en Masse,” Politico, August 16, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/ 2018/08/16/trump- calls-media-fake-news-as-newspapers-push-back-against-claim-779555; Boston Globe Editorial Board, “Journalists Are Not the Enemy,” Boston Globe, August 16, 2018, http:// apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2018/08/freepress/. 13. Charles J. Sykes, “Charlie Sykes on Where the Rightaccepted Went Wrong,” New York Times, December 15, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/opinion/sunday/charlie- sykes-on-where-the-right-went-wrong.html. 14. High Level Expert Group on Fake News andand Online Disinformation, Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission, “A Multi- Dimensional Approach to Disinformation: Report of the Independent High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation,”edited, March 12, 2018, 34–36, https://ec.europa. eu/digital-single-market/en/news/final-report-high-level-expert-group-fake-news-and- online-disinformation. 15. Stephanie R. Bluemle, “Post-Facts:copy Information Literacy and Authority after the 2016 Election,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 18, 2 (2018): 271. 16. Ibid., 278. 17. Emily Drabinsky, “Toward a Kairos of Library Instruction,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 40, 5 (2014): 481. 18. Marc Meola,reviewed, “Chucking the Checklist: A Contextual Approach to Teaching Undergraduates Web-Site Evaluation,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 4, 3 (2004): 340. 19. Mike Caulfield, “Yes, Digital Literacy. But Which One?” Hapgood (), December 19, 2016, https://hapgood.us/2016/12/19/yes-digital-literacy-but-which-one.peer 20.is Colin McIntosh, “Complexity,” Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, 4th ed. (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2013), https://dictionary.cambridge. org/us/dictionary/english/complexity. mss.21. Joseph E. Stiglitz, “Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics,” Nobel Prize lecture, December 8, 2001, https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/stiglitz- This lecture.pdf. 22. Steven Castle and Robert Mackey, “Fox News Beats a Retreat after Gaffes about Islam,” New York Times, January 12, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/ world/ europe/twitter-users-react-with-glee-to-fox-news-claim-on-birmingham.html. 23. Steven Emerson, “Biography”, Pundicity, http://www.steveemerson.com/about/. 480 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

24. Steven Emerson, interview by Sean Hannity, “Terrorists Kill 12 in Attack on Paris Satirical Newspaper; A on True Islam,” Hannity, Fox News, January 7, 2015, 11. 25. Carmen Fishwick, “Fox News Man Is ‘Idiot’ for Birmingham Muslim Comments—David Cameron,” The Guardian, January 12, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/ media/2015/ jan/12/fox-news-expert-ridiculed-over-birmingham-is-totally-muslim-city-claims. 26. Birmingham City Council, “2011 Census Birmingham Population and Migration Report,” https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/downloads/file/4564/; 2011_census_birmingham_ population_and_migration_reportpdf. 27. Gabriel Sherman, in the Room: How the Brilliant and Bombastic 19.3. Built Fox News and Divided a Country (New York: Random House, 2014), xv. 28. “World’s Most Valuable Brands 2018: #54 Fox,” Forbes, May 23, 2018, https://www.forbes. com/companies/fox/#6db32a8d3a1e. portal 29. Mark Joyella, “Fox News Channel Has Highest Ratings In 22 Years—But MSNBC Is Growing Fast,” Forbes, December 12, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/ 2018/12/12/fox-news-channel-has-highest-ratings-in-22-years-but--is-growing- fast/#2e2188926124. 30. Sykes, “Charlie Sykes on Where the Right Went Wrong.” 31. David Cameron, “No Legal Action over Fox News for ‘Totally Muslim’ Birmingham Comments,” ITV News, January 12, 2015, http://www.itv.com/news/central/publication, update/2015-01-12/prime-minister-steven-emerson-is-clearly-an-idiot/.for 32. Eric Wemple, “Fox News Corrects, Apologizes for ‘No-Go Zone’ Remarks,” Washington Post, January 18, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/ wp/2015/01/18/fox-news-corrects-apologizes-for-no-go-zone-remarks/?utm_term=. e7f1809fd611. 33. “Apology for ‘Muslim Birmingham’ Fox News Claim,”accepted BBC News , January 12, 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-30773297. 34. Sheharyar Goraya (@goraya_), “Jam Jars across the Britain Have to Wear Hijab in Order to Be Halal,” #foxnewsfacts, January 12,and 2015, https://twitter.com/goraya_/ status/554576724768206848; Bibi (@Rabeb_Othmani), “If You Are a Non-Muslim and Would Like to Visit Birmingham #illridewithyou,” #FoxNewsFacts,” January 11, 2015, https://twitter.com/Rabeb_Othmani/status/554396771238305792;edited, Kamila Shamsie (@kamilashamsie), “The City Is Now Called Birming Because Ham Is Not Halal,” #foxnewsfacts, January 11, 2015, https://twitter.com/kamilashamsie/ status/554426183216300034.copy 35. Paul Joseph Watson, “ about Hillary’s Bizarre Behavior,” YouTube, August 4, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbDBRWb63s; Ted Noel, “Dr. Ted Noel Says Hillary Clinton Showing Strong Evidence of Advanced Parkinsons!” VidZette.com, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI4mybCt620. 36. Lee McIntyrreviewed,e, Post-Truth (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018), 44. 37. “Did a Physician Confirm Hillary Clinton Has Parkinson’s Disease?”Snopes , September 9, 2016, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-has-parkinsons-disease/; Robertpeer Farley, “Fake Clinton Medical Records,” FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy isCenter, August 16, 2016, https://www.factcheck.org/2016/08/fake-clinton-medical- records/. 38. Lisa Lerer, “Video Proves Clinton Was Suffering Seizures? Not So, I Was There,” AP mss. [Associated Press] News, August 12, 2016, https://apnews.com/2c8dbf3a7ed44e40be52fade 3cfe2900. This 39. Parkinson’s Foundation, “Refuting Claims Regarding Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton and Parkinson’s Disease,” September 9, 2016, http://parkinson.org/ about-us/ Press-Room/Press-Releases/hillary-clinton-parkinsons. 40. Ibid. 41. Jane Coaston, “#QAnon, the Scarily Popular Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory, Explained,” , https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/1/17253444/ -trump- Lane Glisson 481

conspiracy-theory-; Brandon Carter, “What is QAnon? The Conspiracy Theory Tiptoeing into Trump World,” NPR [National Public Radio], August 2, 2018, https://www. .org/2018/08/02/634749387/what-is-qanon-the-conspiracy-theory-tiptoeing-into- trump-world. 42. Mark Fisher, John Woodrow Cox, and Peter Hermann, “Pizzagate: From , to Hashtag, to Gunfire in D.C.,” Washington Post, December 6, 2016, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/local/pizzagate-from-rumor-to-hashtag-to-gunfire- in-dc/2016/12/06/4c7def50-bbd4-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_ story.html?utm_ term=.5051cce8c381. 19.3. 43. Dana Nuccitelli, “Facebook Video Spreads Climate Denial to 5 Million Users,” The Guardian, July 25, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/jul/25/facebook-video-spreads-climate-denial- portal misinformation-to-5-million-users. 44. Carey Dunne, “My Month with Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists,” The Guardian, May 22, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/22/california- conspiracy-theorist-farmers-chemtrails; Matthew Cappucci, “What Really Comes out of an Airplane? Contrails, Not Chemtrails,” Washington Post, October 3, 2017, https://www. washingtonpost.com/ news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/10/03/ what-really-comes- out-of-an-airplane-contrails-not-chemtrails/?utm_term=.a972199f9bc6.publication, 45. Sarah Harrison Smith, The Fact Checker’s Bible: A Guide to Getting forIt Right (New York: Anchor, 2004); Lucas Graves, Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2016); Poynter Institute for , “Fact-Checking,” https://www.poynter.org/channels/fact-checking. 46. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Academy, “BBC Editorial Standards: A Simple Guide,” March 20, 2017, https://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/accepted art20160720112815823. 47. Bob Hone, “How to Play the Factitious 2018 News Game,” Medium, https://medium. com/@bobhone.designer/how-to-play-the-factitious-2018-news-game-9969aaa8f2a7.and 48. David French, “The Numbers Are In: Black Lives Matters Is Wrong about Police,” National Review, December 29, 2015, https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/12/black-lives-matter- wrong-police-shootings/. edited, 49. Kimberly Kindy, Marc Fisher, Julie Tate, and Jennifer Jenkins, “A Year of Reckoning: Police Fatally Shoot Nearly 1,000,” Washington Post, December 26, 2015, https://www. washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/12/26/a-year-of-reckoning-police-fatally-copy shoot-nearly-1000/?utm_term=.c025a03d1f24. 50. French, “The Numbers Are In.” 51. Ibid. 52. Kindy, Fisher, Tate, and Jenkins, “A Year of Reckoning.” 53. Janelle Rossreviewed, and Wesley Lowery, “Turning Away from Street Protests, Black Lives Matter Movement Tries a New Tactic in the Age of Trump,” Washington Post, May 4, 2017, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-trumps-america-black-lives-matter-shifts-from- protests-to-policy/2017/05/04/a2acf37a-28fe-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html?utm_peer is term=.d9000a18e70c. 54. Amy Mitchell, Jeffrey Gottfried, Michael Barthel, and Nami Sumida, “Distinguishing between Factual and Opinion Statements in the News,” June 18, 2018, Pew Research mss. Center, Journalism & Media, 20–21, http://www.journalism.org/ 2018/06/18/ distinguishing-between-factual-and-opinion-statements-in-the-news/. This 55. Nicole D. Nelson, “When Will Black Lives Matter in St. Louis?” New York Times, September 20, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/opinion/when-will-black-lives-matter- in-st-louis.html. 56. Fred Brown, “Political Involvement,” SPJ [Society of Professional Journalists] Ethics Committee Position Papers, https://www.spj.org/ethics-papers-politics.asp. 482 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

57. International Fact-Checking Network, Poynter Institute, “Commitment to Transparency— Sign Up for the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles,” 2018, https:// ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org/. 58. Alicia C. Shepard, ”Should Journalists Vote?” NPR Ombudsman, February 20, 2008, https:// www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2008/02/ should_journalists_vote.html; Mike Allen, “Why I Didn’t Vote Today,” Politico, February 12, 2008, https://www.politico.com/ story/2008/02/should-journalists-vote-yes-no-sometimes-008470; Anna Clark, “Political Journalists on Why They Do—or Don’t—Vote in the Primaries,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 11, 2016, https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/political_reporters_ 19.3. primary_voting.php. 59. Jim Rutenberg, “Trump Is Testing the Norms of Objectivity in Journalism,” New York Times, August 7, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/business/balance-fairness-and-a-portal proudly-provocative-presidential-candidate.html. 60. David Mindich, “Analysis: For Journalists Covering Trump, a Murrow Moment,” Columbia Journalism Review, July 15, 2016, https://www.cjr.org/analysis/ trump_inspires_murrow_ moment_for_journalism.php. 61. Ginger Thompson, “Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated from Their Parents at the Border,” ProPublica, June 18, 2018, https://www.propublica.org/article/children- separated-from-parents-border-patrol-cbp-trump-immigration-policy; Ms.publication, L.; et al. v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”); et al., Case No. 18cv0428for DMS (MDD) Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Classwide Preliminary Injunction,” June 26, 2018, United States District Court Southern District of California. 62. Donie O’Sullivan and Dylan Byers, “Exclusive: Fake Black Activist Accounts Linked to Russian Government,” CNN Media, September 28, 2017, http://money.cnn.com/ 2017/09/28/media/blacktivist-russia-facebook-twitter/index.html.accepted 63. Ibid. 64. Sam Levin, Olivia Solon, and Shaun Walker, “‘Our Pain for Their Gain’: The American Activists Manipulated by Russian Trolls,” Theand Guardian , October 21, 2017, https://www. theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/21/russia-social-media--blacktivist. 65. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections,” January 6,edited, 2017, “https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ ICA_2017_01.pdf; Jim Rutenberg, “RT [Russia Today], Sputnik, and the New Theory of War,” New York Times, September 13, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/ magazine/rt-sputnik-and--new-theory-of-war.html.copy 66. Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, 193–94. 67. Ibid., 104–7; Robert Booth, Matthew Weaver, Alex Hearn and Shaun Walker, “Russia Used Hundreds of Accounts to Tweet about Brexit, Data Shows,” The Guardian, November 14, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/14/how-400-russia-run-fake- accounts-posted-bogus-brexit-tweets.reviewed, 68. Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, 195–96, 249. 69. Mike Mariani, “Is Trump’s Chaos Tornado a Move from the Kremlin’s Playbook?” Vanity Fairpeer, April 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/is-trumps-chaos-a-move- isfrom-the-kremlins-playbook. 70. Julian E. Barnes and Helene Cooper, “Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. from NATO, Aides Say amid New Concerns over Russia,” New York Times, January 14, 2019, https://www. mss. nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/nato-president-trump.html?module=inline; Andy Kroll, “John Podesta Is Ready to Talk about Pizzagate,” , December 9, 2018, This https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/john-podesta-pizzagate-766489/. 71. Scott Shane, “The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election,” New York Times, September 7, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia- facebook-twitter-election.html. 72. David Filipov, “The Notorious Kremlin-Linked Troll Farm and the Russians Trying to Take It Down,” Washington Post, October 8, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ Lane Glisson 483

world/asia_pacific/the-notorious-kremlin-linked-troll-farm-and-the-russians-trying- to-take-it-down/2017/10/06/c8c4b160-a919-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html?utm_ term=.8893565207f8. 73. Information about journalists , , Natalia Estemirova, , , and Paul Klebnikov and activist lawyer Stanislav Markelov is available on the Committee to Protect Journalists database, https:// cpj.org/. 74. Elizabeth Dwoskin, “The Switch: Twitter Bans Russian Government-Owned News Sites RT and Sputnik from Buying Ads,” Washington Post, October 26, 2017, https:// 19.3. www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/10/26/twitter-bans-russian- government-news-sites--and-sputnik-from-buying-ads/?utm_term=.53a1941dd9c5. 75. High Level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation, “A Multi-Dimensionalportal Approach to Disinformation,” 2. 76. Paul Joseph Watson, “The Truth about Hillary’s Bizarre Behavior,” YouTube, January 30, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbDBRWb63s. 77. Louise Matsakis, “YouTube Will Link Directly to Wikipedia to Fight Conspiracy Theories,” Wired, March 13, 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-will-link-directly-to- wikipedia-to-fight-conspiracies/. 78. Statista, “Hours of Video Uploaded to YouTube Every Minute as of Julypublication, 2015,” https:// www.statista.com/statistics/259477/hours-of-video-uploaded-to-youtube-every-minute/.for The author reached out to Google for newer statistics but received no response. 79. Brian Barrett and Lily Hay Newman, “The Facebook Security Meltdown Exposes Way More Sites than Facebook,” Wired, September 28, 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/ facebook-security-breach-third-party-sites/. 80. Alex Hern, “Downright : Journalists Decryaccepted Facebook Experiment’s Impact on Democracy,” The Guardian, October 25, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/ technology/2017/oct/25/facebook-orwellian-journalists-democracy-guatemala-slovakia. 81. Ibid. and 82. For a primer on what aspects of Facebook could require regulation, see Aja Romano, “Don’t Ask Whether Facebook Can Be Regulated. Ask Which Facebook to Regulate,” Vox, April 12, 2018, https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/4/12/edited, 17224096/regulating- facebook-problems. 83. Elizabeth Dwoskin and Tony Romm, “The Switch: Facebook Purged Over 800 U.S. Accounts and Pages for copyPushing Political Spam,” Washington Post, October 11, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/11/facebook-purged-over- accounts-pages-pushing-political-messages-profit/?utm_term=.9210200ed0d0. 84. Jack Nicas, “Does Facebook Really Know How Many Fake Accounts It Has?” New York Times, January 30, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/technology/facebook- fake-accounts.html.reviewed, 85. Jack Nicas, “Oprah, Is That You? On Social Media, the Answer Is Often No,” New York Times, July 7, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/technology/ facebook- instagram-twitter-celebrity-impostors.html?module=inline.peer 86.is “Insider,” New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/section/insider. 87. Washington Post, “Read Our Pulitzer-Prize Winning Coverage of Roy Moore’s Alleged Sexual Misconduct with Teenage Girls,” Washington Post, April 16, 2018, https://www. mss. washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/amp-stories/investigative-reporting- pulitzer/. This 88. Shawn Boborg, Aaron C. Davis, and Alice Crites, “A Woman Approached the Post with Dramatic—and False—Tale about Roy Moore. She Appears to Be Part of Undercover Sting Operation,” Washington Post, November 27, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ investigations/a-woman-approached-the-post-with-dramatic--and-false--tale-about-roy- moore-sje-appears-to-be-part-of-undercover-sting-operation/2017/11/27/0c2e335a-cfb6- 11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html?utm_term=.ab4457923b53. 484 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the Age of Fake News

89. Indira A. R. Lakshmanan, “The Washington Post Won a Pulitzer for Fighting Fake News with Facts,” Poynter, April 17, 2018, https://www.poynter.org/news/washington-post- won-pulitzer-fighting-fake-news-facts. 90. Karen Brown and Kara J. Malenfant, “Academic Library Contributions to Student Success: Documented Practices from the Field,” Association of College and Research Libraries, 2015, 1–2 and 20–21, http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/ content/ issues/value/contributions_report.pdf; Holly Luetkenhaus, Erin Hvizdak, Corey Johnson, and Nicholas Schiller, “Measuring Library Impacts through First Year Course Assessment,” Communications in Information Literacy 11, 2 (2017): 339–53, doi:10.15760/ 19.3. comminfolit.2017.11.2.6. 91 Pomerantsev and Weiss, “The Menace of Unreality,” 92. Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, 161. portal 93. McCann, https://www.mccann.com. 94. Sheera Frenkel, “Made and Distributed in the U.S.A.: Online Disinformation,” New York Times, October 11, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/ technology/ fake-news- online-disinformation.html. 95. Francisco de Goya, “El sueño de la razón produce monstruos [The sleep of reason produces monsters],” etching, Caprichos series, 1797–1799, 21.5 × 15 cm, Museo del Prado, https:// www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/-work/the-sleep-of-reason-produces-publication, monsters/e4845219-9365-4b36-8c89-3146dc34f280. for 96. Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, 278.

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