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News on Targeted Disinformation
For decades, hundreds of white-owned newspapers across the country incited the racist terror lynchings and massacres of thousands of Black Americans. In their headlines, these newspapers often promoted the brutality of white lynch mobs and chronicled the gruesome details of the lynchings. Many white reporters stood on the sidelines of Jim Crow lynchings as Black […]
By DeNeen L. BrownBeijing published a draft law stating that privately funded organisations “shall not engage in news-gathering, editing, and broadcasting”. Officials have not confirmed whether the new rules will apply to foreign news organisations operating in China, effectively making them illegal. But the move nevertheless indicates that Beijing may be preparing to exercise even greater control […]
By Sophia YanTop Republicans in the Senate are advancing a campaign of disinformation over the debt ceiling as they seek to distort the reasons for needing to raise the nation’s borrowing cap, after they dropped their blockade on averting a US debt default in a bipartisan manner. The Senate on Thursday passed a bill to allow the […]
By Hugo LowellJournalists covering demonstrations against COVID-19 countermeasures have been called “terrorists,” “pedophiles,” “murderers,” and “scumbags.” Protesters have harassed and assaulted members of the press, and told them that “the nooses are ready.” Threats like these have become increasingly familiar for reporters in Europe and the United States, where the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a CPJ partner, […]
By Attila MongThe SPLC chose to examine 18 shows that are varied in presentation and style. Despite these surface-level differences, all are modeled after “hot talk” or “shock jock” talk shows. These feature a rotating cast of hosts and guests, as opposed to the single-speaker format typified by other right-wing media, such as conservative radio broadcaster the […]
By Megan Squire and Hannah GaisA growing number of elected Republicans are openly promoting “white replacement theory,” a decades-old conspiracy theory that’s animated terrorist attacks, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Why it matters: This mainstreams what once was the sole provenance of white supremacists. What it is: “White replacement theory” posit the existence of a plot to change America’s […]
By Dan Primack and Russell ContrerasMOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities on Wednesday designated a popular independent media outlet and two rights groups “foreign agents,” a move that comes as part of a months-long crackdown on opposition supporters, independent media and human rights activists. The Justice Ministry slapped the “foreign agent” label on Mediazona, a news site known for its extensive […]
By Daria LitvinovaA new trend circulating on TikTok is further contributing to the anti-vaccination extremism and the rapid spread of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Crooks and Liars, the hashtag #PureBlood shows that supporters of the far-right are not only “unable to distinguish between J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter wizarding world and their own, but simultaneously appear […]
By Meaghan EllisOn September 11, Björn Höcke, an influential state-level leader for the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland, took the stage at a campaign event in the small city of Burgstädt in Saxony. He began his speech with the kind of universal appeal politicians often make in the final weeks before a big election, encouraging supporters to […]
By Emily SchultheisMark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, signed off last month on a new initiative code-named Project Amplify. The effort, which was hatched at an internal meeting in January, had a specific purpose: to use Facebook’s News Feed, the site’s most important digital real estate, to show people positive stories about the social network. The idea was […]
By Ryan Mac and Sheera FrenkelDEL RIO, Texas — They have arrived this week by the thousands, Haitians who had heard of an easy way into the United States. In what appeared to be an endless procession across the shallow waters of the Rio Grande, they carried mattresses, fruit, diapers and blankets, provisions to tide them over while they awaited […]
By James Dobbins, Natalie Kitroeff, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Edgar Sandoval and Miriam Jordan