If you are getting most of your news from evening cable shows or podcasts, you're not alone. But you're also probably not as well-informed as you think you are. In this episode, Dr. Sturg breaks down curation of news and how it affects your knowledge about what's going on. 

Letting other people decide what stories are important can be useful or even necessary sometimes. But especially for things you care about a lot, it's important to look for first-hand reports. Learn how to create your own curated news feed in this week's UnSpun. 

Do high-profile debates truly shift opinions or votes? On this episode, Dr. Sturg gets into the studies to see if debates produce real changes. From Kennedy-Nixon to Romney-Obama, she looks at famous debates and explores what the research says about impacts on voters.

She also looks the logical flaw of hasty generalization, using debate slip-ups as case studies. See how speakers and listeners both frequently overgeneralize from single examples.

Plus, she talks about polling with political scientist, Dr. Ken Fernandez. Can polls be trusted after 2016? We separate polling facts from fiction on topics like margin of error. Ken shares his insider take on how campaigns use polls and why solid polling matters for a functioning democracy.

Find out whether debates live up to the hype. Learn how to catch hasty generalizations. Get an expert take on improving polling for future elections. Get UnSpun.

Why did it seem like everyone in the media thought Biden's debate performance concerned democrats? And how does telling a good story get in the way of the truth? In this episode, Dr. Sturg goes over the cozy relationship between politicians and the journalists who cover and explains the narrative bias. 

It's a tendency to fit facts into a story, and this bias explains why early accounts of breaking news are often wrong. 

Link to the article from Poynter. 

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Twitter - Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) / X
Websites - Sturg says | Unspun’s Substack

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We are #AltGov

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538162095/We-Are-#ALTGOV-Social-Media-Resistance-from-the-Inside

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

https://www.amazon.com/Detecting-Deception-Tools-Fight-Fake/dp/1538141027

UnSpun Rewind in honor of the political convention in the US this week. Are things as bad as the politicians say? Are they the only ones who can save us? Dr. Sturg breaks down the Appeal to Fear trick and guest Dr. Seth Norrholm talks about what being made afraid does to your thinking and judgment. 

"Nothing happened" doesn't make for much of a headline, and newsmakers know it. When they want to get your attention or get you to do something, sometimes they deliberately use fear. Dr. Sturg talks about how how the powerful use fear deceptively to keep their followers engaged. 

Then, she and Dr. Seth Norrhom, a psychiatry professor and fear researcher, discuss how your brain interacts with the news that you get, both from media and from social media. 

Follow Dr. Norrholm:

On Slate.com

Seth Norrholm  on Twitter

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Twitter - Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) / X
Websites - Sturg says | Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips

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We are #AltGov

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538162095/We-Are-#ALTGOV-Social-Media-Resistance-from-the-Inside

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

https://www.amazon.com/Detecting-Deception-Tools-Fight-Fake/dp/1538141027

What's a "good" parent or a "true" member of a political party? In this week'e episode, Dr. Sturg runs down the Appeal to Purity as a way of creating us vs. them. Then, she and guest Dr. Matt Taylor talk about how a substantial religious movement is trying to remake American culture in their own image, why they might support political violence around the election and how the media is doing a poor job of understanding and covering it. 

NC Lt. Governor's full speech at Lake Church in NC. 

Follow Dr. Matt Taylor

Matt's excellent podcast series

Matt's forthcoming book

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Twitter -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) / X
Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

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Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov 

If debates make you cringe, you aren't alone1 Dr. Sturg breaks down how the way televised debates are structured benefits media and benefits candidates, but generally isn't that great for the audience. Journalists can't do a good job as both a journalist and a moderator at the same time, and the financial model for news doesn't incentivize them to try. And for candidates, using misleading tactics like the Gish Gallop and throwing barbs makes it more likely that they will stay in the news for longer. Learn her suggestion for getting the most out of debates in this week's episode. 

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 

We learn as children to follow the rules, but sometimes people use the rules deceptively to avoid addressing uncomfortable topics.  Dr. Sturg goes through examples of misplaced focus and talks with Ajay Parasram and Alex  Khasnabish, hosts of a YouTube series called "Frequently Asked White Questions."

Check out Frequently Asked White Questions

Follow Ajay Parasram

Follow Alex Khasnabish

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 

You have a lot of choices about how to spend your time, so how and why do you choose to spend it with certain media? In this episode, Dr. Sturg breaks down the things that make media appealing and shows how deceptive newsmakers can use these human tendencies against you. 

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 

From COVID to presidential sex scandals, newsmakers use distraction to tell the story they want and take your attention from the story you *need*. Dr. Sturg breaks down this common issues with several examples of politician deception for you to try your skills. 

Then, she and award-winning journalist Ben Welsh talk about data journalism. Data stories are some of the most popular that journalists do, letting them get first-hand truth and create fun interactive pieces like election maps and more. 

Follow Ben Welsh

Follow Ben on social media

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 

How does the news decide who to interview, and what do they do with people who just don't want to answer the questions? Dr. Sturg breaks it down in this week's mini-sode of UnSpun. 

Here's an example of a newsmaker being evasive in an interview. 

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Follow Dr. Sturg

Twitter - Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) / X
Website - [email protected]

The Book - We are #AltGov
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538162095/We-Are-#ALTGOV-Social-Media-Resistance-from-the-Inside