Be Aware of Election Mis/Disinformation
Combating mis- and disinformation is essential as they threaten harm to online and in-person communities. We want to ensure the information we base our votes on is factual, but how can we tell? The first step is to understand the difference between mis- and disinformation. The dictionary defines them as such⏤
- Mis-information: the accidental spread of false information without intent to harm; getting the facts wrong.
- Dis-information is false information designed to mislead others and is deliberately spread to confuse fact and fiction, intentionally misstating the facts.
Boiled down, both mis-information and dis-information are incorrect and wrong…fake news. The critical difference between the two terms lies in the intent behind spreading it.
But wait. A third category of false information is mal-information, which is classified as both intentional and harmful.
Identifying and combating the spread of false information is a significant challenge. Thus, LWV’s Democracy Truth Project aims to strengthen democracy and restore trust in the electoral process by combating mis-, dis-, and mal-information.
Following are several strategies for countering mis/disinformation:
Share accurate information regarding candidates, ballot proposals, and voting rights using our Voter Guide on VOTE411.org (now also in Spanish at VOTE411.org/es).
Take a free course on Navigating Misinformation: How to identify and verify what you see online. This resource features course content from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas massive open online course (MOOC), which is free and available to anyone interested in learning how to verify online content and responsible reporting in an age of disinformation.
Any credible, unbiased, and accurate news source relies on facts. In a time when not all news is based on truth, it’s crucial to grasp the basics of fact-checking when consuming media. Special thanks to Chelsey Cartwright, LWVUS Truth in Democracy Project Manager, for sharing her latest blog. She invites you to read, share, and amplify The Essentials of Fact-Checking with your network.
Review the Detroit League’s Recordings/Past Events to watch one of several related forums, such as Detecting Disinformation and “Pink Slime” Sites with Hannah Waltz of Pen America (November 9, 2021).
Read the League’s information on How to Judge a Candidate for a quality resource on making decisions regarding candidates.
When in doubt, use the 5 steps for vetting news sources, created by the News Literacy Project in partnership with SmartNews, a news app for mobile devices:
IsItLegit_infographicConservative Principles for Building Trust in Election ⏤ From John Hopkins University
“Calling election results ‘illegitimate’ or ‘stolen’ has become a normal feature of prominent campaigns and undermines our system of self-government. Recent polling has shown that less than half of Americans express substantial trust that votes in the 2024 presidential election will be counted accurately, with particular distrust among GOP voters—where less than a quarter have high confidence. To ensure that America remains a ‘shining city upon a hill,’ conservatives must vigorously pursue a strategy to rebuild trust in our elections.
It begins by attesting to the legitimacy of the system itself and continues by recognizing opportunities to continuously improve the voting process. While mistrust in elections is increasing, Americans remain confident in their state and local governments and local elections. This gives local Republican officials a crucial platform to improve confidence in elections nationwide.
The following principles are designed to help conservative leaders shore up confidence in American elections within their local communities:
- Publicly affirm the security and integrity of elections and avoid actively fueling doubt about elections in other jurisdictions.
- Use transparency and public outreach to reassure voters of election integrity.
- Champion policy changes that can help build trust in our elections system.”
John Hopkins University recently published this set of principles. To read in full, CLICK HERE.
LWV Detroit takes a cue from its sister League in California, LWV of Torrence Area, offering a webpage devoted to political bias and how to identify it. Keep reading…
Below are charts to help you identify political bias in the news so you are better equipped to navigate an increasingly polarized media landscape. These charts also offer an easy way to identify different perspectives to get the full picture and think for yourself.
AllSides Media Bias Chart
The AllSides Media Bias Chart™ helps you to easily identify different perspectives so you can get the full picture and think for yourself. Knowing the political bias of media outlets allows you to consume a balanced news diet and avoid manipulation and fake news. Everyone is biased, but hidden bias misleads and divides us. The AllSides Media Bias Chart™ is based on our full and growing list of over 800 media bias ratings. These ratings inform our balanced newsfeed.
Unless otherwise noted, AllSides rates only online content, not TV, radio, or broadcast content. Our chart helps to free you from filter bubbles so you can consider multiple perspectives. Learn about the different types of media bias or view the AllSides Fact Check Bias Chart™.
The AllSides Media Bias Chart™ is more comprehensive in its methodology than any other media bias chart on the Web. While other media bias charts show you the subjective opinion of the one person who made it, our ratings are based on multipartisan scientific analysis. We use multiple methodologies to rate bias.
For more information on the AllSides Media Bias Chart, go to https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart.
“All Sides” Balanced News: Right, Center and Left Points-of-View
Although unbiased news does not exist, look at a news item from different sides by checking out the “All Sides” news source. Don’t be fooled by media bias and fake news. Make up your own mind about an issue by putting aside preconceived notions and emotionalism and looking at it from different angles. Before we vote, we should do some homework by studying the important issues facing us from all sides.
The site “All Sides” claims to provide balanced news and civil discourse. Excercise your mind, by reading its articles from the right, left, and center points-of view. “All-Sides” home page: https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news.
AllSides Fact Check Bias Chart & Ratings
The AllSides Fact Check Bias Chart™ is a companion to the AllSides Media Bias Chart™. Fact check websites like Snopes and Politifact reveal their bias in numerous ways. Often, fact-checkers will analyze information for the reader and conclude the meaning of the facts, which is subjective in nature. Other times, they’ll display bias based on what facts they choose to downplay or highlight. They also show bias based on story choice — for example, primarily fact-checking left-wing politicians or only fact-checking right-wing claims.
Why Are Some Media Outlets On The Chart Twice?
We sometimes provide separate bias ratings for a source’s news and opinion content. This is because some outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and the New York Times, have a notable difference in bias between their news and opinion sections.
For example, on this chart you will see The New York Times Opinion is rated as a Left media bias, while the New York Times news is rated Lean Left. Fox News Opinion content has a Right media bias, while Fox News is Lean Right. And so on.
When rating an Opinion page, AllSides considers the outlet’s editorial board and its individual opinion page writers. The editorial board’s bias is weighted and affects the final bias rating by about 60%.
For example, the New York Times has a range of individual Opinion page writers who have a range of biases. We rate the bias of commentators individually as much as possible. Yet The New York Times Editorial Board has a clear Left media bias. We take into account both the overall biases of the individual writers and the Editorial Board to arrive at a final bias rating of Left for the New York Times opinion section.
See how we provide individual bias ratings for New York Times opinion page writers here.
Does AllSides Rate Which Outlets Are Most Factual or Accurate?
AllSides does not rate outlets based on accuracy or factual claims — this is a bias chart, not a credibility chart. It speaks to perspective only. We disagree with the idea that the more extreme an outlet is, the less credibility it has. There’s nothing wrong with having bias or an opinion, but hidden bias misleads and divides us.
INTERACTIVE Media Bias Chart by Vanessa Otero
- Use this link to view this interactive chart: Otero’s Media Bias Chart 5.0 (beta)
The chart was created by Vanessa Otero, a patent attorney, who delivered a webinar to librarians on Information Literacy. The license for using this chart in this LibGuide was granted in October 2018. Click on the chart below for an interactive and more recent version of Otero’s Media Bias Chart. On version 5.0 (beta) users can search individual newspaper titles to see where they fall on the spectrum of liberal or conservative, based on Otero’s/Ad Fontes Media’s evaluation system.