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Joshua Benton Profile picture
@jbenton
Sep 24, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
False beliefs in COVID-related misinformation — like "it was created as a weapon in a Chinese lab," or "taking antibiotics prevents it" — have been stubbornly consistent since the pandemic's start

(People aren't learning as this drags on)

kateto.net/covid19/COVID1… Image
Also, there is a gap between Democrats and Republicans in how likely they are to believe COVID misinformation — but it's not a very big one in most cases.

(The "made in a Chinese lab" statement is the biggest exception: 35% of GOPers believe it, versus 14% of Democrats.) Image
What *does* predict whether you believe COVID misinformation? Where you get your news.

Worst is chat apps (WhatsApp, FB Messenger). Almost as bad is social media more broadly.

Best? Good ol' traditional media: newspapers, TV news, news websites. Image
But note the gap between Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC isn't that big.

Those who get news from Fox News think 18% of COVID misinformation is true, versus 16% for CNN and 15% Fox News. Image

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More from @jbenton

Joshua Benton Profile picture
Oct 4, 2023
For giggles, I checked how this AI company @Seekr_io currently rates the "reliability" of stories on Kevin McCarthy's ouster as speaker.

VERY HIGH: Breitbart, Daily Mail, NY Post, OANN, ZeroHedge, WashTimes

VERY LOW: Bloomberg, NYT, BBC, Guardian, ABC, NBC, Time, Politico

🤔
Sites whose McCarthy stories Seek rates "VERY HIGH" in reliability: BREITBART DAILY MAIL JUSTTHENEWS.COM MONTANARIGHTNOW.COM NEW YORK POST OANN THE BLAZE WASHINGTON TIMES WESTERN JOURNAL ZEROHEDGE Sites whose McCarthy stories Seekr rates "VERY LOW" in reliability: ABC NEWS BBC NEWS BLOOMBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES NBC NEWS POLITICO THE ATLANTIC THE DAILY BEAST THE GUARDIAN THE NEW YORK TIMES TIME
@Seekr_io Some "VERY HIGH" reliability stories, including from WorldNetDaily and the deeply centrist OANN:

seekr.com/search?tab=new…



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@Seekr_io Meanwhile, some "VERY LOW" reliability stories:


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Read 4 tweets
Joshua Benton Profile picture
Sep 8, 2023
A while back, I went searching for the most recent instances of Louisiana newspapers using the n-word.

Which was how I found a state rep in 1970 saying, on the floor of the legislature, that:

"I'd see my family die...before I'd have a drop of nigg*r blood in their veins."
La. House Refuses to Halt Labeling By Race of Blood for Transfusions BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The House today refused to stop the labeling of blood for transfusion by the race of blood of the donor after one representative said he did not want "a drop of nigger blood" in his veins. The House voted 42-30 in favor of a resolution by Rep. Ernest Morial, New Orleans, the legislature's only Negro member. The measure needed 53 votes for passage. Morial said the state stands to lose $50 million in federal Medicare and Medicaid payments if labeling of blood by race is not halted in stat...
The debate was over whether Louisiana should reverse a 1958 law that had mandated labeling blood donations as "Caucasian," "Negro," or "Mongoloid" based on the race of the donor.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made that illegal — but Louisiana hospitals kept on segregating blood. "Negroid" and "Caucasian" blood labels from New Orleans, 1969.
The feds were now threatening to withhold Medicare funds if Louisiana didn't reverse the blood-segregation law.

(The state had 1 Black state legislator at the time, Dutch Morial.) Dutch Morial
Read 13 tweets
Joshua Benton Profile picture
Aug 24, 2023
Frustrating to come away from a news nonprofit CEO's explanation for layoffs with...no real explanation for the layoffs.

There's no reason there couldn't have been some actual transparency — with real numbers, even — here.
Especially since the CEO's staff memo on the layoffs looks, from a distance at least, like word salad.

austinchronicle.com/daily/news/202…
Shah explained, "This year has proven more challenging for us than others - changes in the industry, unsteady economy and the need to explore new platforms and modes of storytelling are all things the Tribune must address head on. We know we must change to stay ahead." Shah cites the industry-wide challenges of "Al, uneven news readership and engagement, changing audience behaviors and the growing phenomenon of news avoidance," and says the Tribune is growing their revenue and development teams.
"Changes in the industry"? Which changes, vs. 12 months ago?

"Unsteady economy"? Texas is literally No. 1 in GDP growth of the 50 states.

"The need to explore new platforms and modes of storytelling"? Which ones? You gonna blow the nest egg on an Apple Vision Pro experience?
Read 9 tweets
Joshua Benton Profile picture
May 5, 2023
58% of adults oppose hormone treatments for 15- to 17-year-olds.

Headline: "Most Americans support anti-trans policies favored by GOP"

58% support a clean debt-ceiling bill with zero spending cuts.

Headline: "Americans split on who they’d blame if U.S. defaults"

Same number! ImageImageImageImage
washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/…

washingtonpost.com/education/2023…
Compare the ledes:

Re: trans people, a 57-43 split is an example of a "clear majority" and "political jet fuel" for the GOP.

Re: debt ceiling, a 58-26 split is...something to mention in the sixth graf, after leading with a predictably partisan (er, "divided") horserace number. Clear majorities of America...A Washington Post-ABC News ...
Read 8 tweets
Joshua Benton Profile picture
Apr 25, 2023
The judge in the E. Jean Carroll/Trump case asked all the potential jurors about where they get news. Fascinating sample of real people's media habits.

Some examples:

— Randomly. Internet.
— AM radio
— Not a big news guy.
— News is tough with a 2 year old.
— Channel 7...

1/3
— CNN
— Facebook
— I watch CBS News. And CNN. Read Cape Cod Times.
— No news.
— I like Fox News.
— CBS News Radio
— "The channels"
— Instagram and TikTok
— I scroll my phone
— Cable news, ABC and BBC
— I listen to The Daily...

2/3
— Barely watch the news.
— Fox, CBS, not too much
— local TV and social media
— Internet, TV
— CNN, Fox, MSNBC
— social media
— I don't have a TV, but when I can, I try to sample a lot.
— PBS and NPR
— Channel 12
— Twitter

3/3
Read 4 tweets
Joshua Benton Profile picture
Mar 23, 2023
Here's the letter from @theatlantic to Du Bois, January 26, 1942.

The editor says Du Bois' article draft is too radical to publish after Pearl Harbor — and that Black Americans might just have a "biological handicap to contend with," not just "social and political" barriers.
"When you say that 'Hitler's race philosophy and methods are exactly the same as ours,' you make an assertion which will antagonize literally 49 out of 50 readers."
"Your purpose in writing such an article is to make people aware of an injustice existing between citizens of a democratic state. But you won't gain a single convert if you say that we are part and parcel of Hitler's gang."
Read 6 tweets

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