Thread by @olgs7

In week 7 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we focused on role of media, state media/overt propaganda in the info ecosystem & toolbox of influence ops. What role can journalism play in inadvertently amplifying IO campaigns or conversely finding them?

https://twitter.com/olgs7/status/1271500145868365832?s=20

@Georgetown One of my favorite pieces of all time on this subject is “Oxygen of Amplification" from @wphillips49 @datasociety which looks at how the coverage choices of editors and reporters play a role in the amount of oxygen supplied to falsehoods and manipulations datasociety.net/wp-content/upl…

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety A useful visual for our discussion in class was the “trumpet of amplification” from @cward1e @firstdraftnews which shows the journey of disinformation through the information ecosystem

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews Another great piece students read is “Lies, Damn Lies and Viral Content” @CraigSilverman from 2015, which covers how news sites handle online rumors, unverified claims and sometimes promote misinformation in an attempt to drive traffic, social engagement academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8…

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews @CraigSilverman In class, we covered how back in the 2016 US election cycle, some media outlets were duped by and cited tweets from foreign-run accounts, unwittingly amplifying their messaging, according to a study from @Meltwater. @Recode @TonyRomm @ranimolla vox.com/2017/11/3/1659…

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews @CraigSilverman @Meltwater @Recode @TonyRomm @ranimolla In our study of media amplification, students read about importance of verification @shayurbani @firstdraftnews firstdraftnews.org/latest/verifyi… and impact of “official” accounts in online rumoring @elodiefichet @emmaspiro @katestarbird, Cynthia Andrews, Yuwei Ding dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/28…

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews @CraigSilverman @Meltwater @Recode @TonyRomm @ranimolla @shayurbani @elodiefichet @emmaspiro @katestarbird Some of the challenges we covered related to the media ecosystem included the need for speed, filling the 24-hour news cycle, sensationalism and clickbait, neutrality & both sides-ism, reliance on "expert" panels over investigative reporting, and the rise of satirical journalism

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews @CraigSilverman @Meltwater @Recode @TonyRomm @ranimolla @shayurbani @elodiefichet @emmaspiro @katestarbird We also discussed in class the role of media in amplifying fears of influence ops as well and sometimes mistaking low level scams for sophisticated ops. For this, students read this interview @firstdraftnews @victoriakwan_ with @alexstamos from 2019 firstdraftnews.org/latest/alex-st…

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews @CraigSilverman @Meltwater @Recode @TonyRomm @ranimolla @shayurbani @elodiefichet @emmaspiro @katestarbird @victoriakwan_ @alexstamos In discussing how journalists report on disinfo claims, we had a side-by-side example of the claim last summer about “Russian bots” targeting then candidate, now VP-elect @KamalaHarris. What @donie’s coverage did well there was trust, but verify, dig further

@Georgetown @wphillips49 @datasociety @cward1e @firstdraftnews @CraigSilverman @Meltwater @Recode @TonyRomm @ranimolla @shayurbani @elodiefichet @emmaspiro @katestarbird @victoriakwan_ @alexstamos @KamalaHarris @donie Toward the end of class, we discussed the role of state-controlled media outlets and the sometimes less-than obvious means of determining control vs independence. We discussed what makes covert vs overt influence different and how one might want to address each problem distinctly