Can artificial intelligence help stop misinformation—or could it quietly make the problem worse?

In this episode of UnSpun Journal Club, check out new research on whether communication managers trust AI fact-checking tools and what happens when humans remain "in the loop."

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Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media

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What happens when secretive religious movements intersect with politics?

In this episode of Unseen, Dr. Sturg begins with the present: recent reporting on Tulsi Gabbard and the Science of Identity Foundation before tracing the fascinating history of journalists covering new religious movements from the 1930s to today and on multiple continents. She has aliens, telepathy and a wild story about how a news guy actually tipped off the Branch Davidians.

Links

Here's the Washington Post piece on Gabbard (gift link)

Check out the Heaven's Gate website - still maintained by some followers left behind just to keep it up.

Hear the Hu sound from Eckankar for yourself.

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DrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news. Check it out and be smarter!

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If you repeat a lie enough, people may start to believe it. This idea of the big lie has been around for a while, but the last 8 years it has been so bad that fact checkers had to create a whole new rating level for how bad the lying is. Dr. Sturg breaks down the history of the big lie and shows how surrogates and supporters help to spread it. 

In the interview, author and professor Dr. Jen Mercieca breaks down Texas politics, explains how dead Greeks have a lot to say about productive communication, and how fraught the present moment is in politics and democracy. 

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Twitter (X): @jenmercieca

Resolute Square

Check out Demagogue For President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump

Follow Dr. Sturg

Twitter -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) / X

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips

[email protected]

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media

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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Why is your grandma convinced that the news thinks she's mean or ignorant? In this week's episode of the UnSpun journal club, DrSturg looks at a study on folk theories of media bias. For the respondents in this story, bias was about more than just acts. facts. It was about representation, language, identity and whether people felt like journalists welcomed their perspectives. And the study gives advice on how to talk about the news to people who think the news is out to get them.

Here is the original paper. 

DrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News is on sale! It also teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news. 

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Is the media actually biased? Or do we just think it is?

In this episode of UnSpun, DrSturg examines decades of research on media bias, political polarization, cable news and the psychology of news consumption. From Fox News and CNN to newspapers, social media and more, she explores what researchers have found about bias in news coverage and how people on opposite sides of an issue can see the same story completely differently.

Do the politicians yelling #FakeNews have a point?

Find out in this week's UnSpun.

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**DrSturg wrote a book that makes YOU smarter about the news with information and exercises taken from real news stories. Find it here: https://amzn.to/3CLyvGr

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This week's paper, from Sweden, answers an important question: when politicians dogwhistle racism, can it make them MORE popular?

In this episode, DrSturg breaks down clearly what a dog whistle is and the clever way this paper studied the matter. She ends with advice on what YOU can do to not fall victim and a message for journalists.

Here is the original paper.

DrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News is on sale! It also teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news.

Here are three places you can find directories of dogwhistles:

American Jewish Committee

Anti-Defamation League

Southern Poverty Law Center

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This week is Stephen Colbert’s final on CBS, and it's part of a larger story behind modern media: consolidation. When a few companies own more of the places you get information, it affects how much corruption there is, how much you know about yourself and your neighbors and the fabric of society itself.

So much of the information we get now feels overwhelming but strangely thin. You'll learn why, as well as how local journalism was never just content. It was civic infrastructure.

Today's Front Pages Gallery mentioned in the episode.

Check out Dr. Sturg's book that teaches you how to tell when newsmakers are trying to deceive you.

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In this UnSpun Journal Club episode, Dr Sturg looks at a recent paper on what malicious AI swarms could mean for democracy, public debate, and social media itself. They could borrow from the older playbook of harassment and sealioning, made worse as agentic AI systems can imitate people, flood conversations, and manufacture the appearance of consensus.

The question is not just whether AI can generate convincing content. It is whether it can reshape what people think is real.

Find the paper here.

Check out Dr. Sturg's book with tips on how you can spot fake news.

Follow Dr. Sturg on Bluesky

Find short videos on detecting deception from Dr. Sturg

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What happens when a handful of very wealthy control what gets reported and how/

In this UnSpun rewind, we look at the role of the press in an oligarchy—a system where power is concentrated in the hands of a few. From media ownership by figures like Jeff Bezos and David Ellison to global examples like Venezuela and Russia, this episode explores how information can be shaped or even suppressed.

You’ll learn how partisan media ecosystems create entirely different realities, why journalists face increasing pressure and risk, and what happens when regulation,and even truth itself are influenced by elite power.

We also look at what everyday can do to push back. Because when information is controlled, so are you. .

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In this episode of UnSpun, learn the hidden manipulation behind the news.

From TV journalism of the '80s, with “if it bleeds, it leads,” to today’s algorithm-driven outrage, news has evolved into a system designed to capture attention.

I walk through the research on clickbait and emotional manipulation to explain how it shapes not what you believe and how you act.

Topics include:

• The psychology of clickbait and the “curiosity gap.”
• Why outrage spreads faster than information
• How fear and anger drive engagement
• The illusion of knowledge in modern media
• What sensationalism does to democracy
• Practical ways to take back control of your information diet

Stay sharp, truth seekers!

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Check out DrSturg's book that teaches YOU how to get played less by the media for less than $25.

Episode art by Mike Licht.

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