OPINION: In light of the scandal at 60 Minutes, it bears repeating that the primary crisis facing American democracy is about information.
The Bari Weiss 60 Minutes scandal is just one sign of drastic media rot
In light of the scandal at 60 Minutes, it bears repeating that the primary crisis facing American democracy is about information. There are just too many ways for the rich and powerful to control the truth.Over the weekend, news broke that the new head of CBS News, Bari Weiss, had spiked a highly re...
bit.ly
December 26, 2025 at 3:37 AM
One part of the remedy to the #InformationCrisis
Whoops, I lost the link to the actual in trying to get the character count down for the first post. Here it is!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
How independent journalism is a form of resistance: ‘I’m not answering to anyone’
Trump’s attacks on mainstream media have opened a window for journalists who want to operate independently
www.theguardian.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:38 PM
One part of the remedy to the #InformationCrisis
Low-information voters are less numerous than high-bad-information voters.
Fox is not journalism. It’s anti-journalism. The more you watch, the less you know. Here’s an example of Fox disinformation cited by the New York Times:
April 4, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Excellent. In a time of #InformationCrisis, billboards are an underrated solution.
Around 300 billboards were placed across Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida by a nonprofit labor advocacy organization seeking to bring attention to staffing cuts brought on by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Targeting DOGE, labor group puts up billboards warning of heat deaths at national parks
More Perfect Union, a nonprofit labor advocacy organization, has put up around 300 billboards across Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.
nbcnews.to
June 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Excellent. In a time of #InformationCrisis, billboards are an underrated solution.
Unsurprising: a recent study of 32M tweets from politicians from 27 countries shows that “far-right populists [are] much more likely than the left to spread fake news” and “amplifying misinformation is now part of radical right strategy”. [theguardian.com]
Far-right populists much more likely than the left to spread fake news – study
Amplifying misinformation is now part of radical right strategy, says Dutch study of tweets by MPs in 26 countries
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
(4) Trump and the Republicans don't have an advantage over Democrats because they *better understand heartland Americans.*
They have an advantage over Democrats because they created their own universe of propaganda outlets, and then went out and bought all the mainstream outlets.
Duh.
They have an advantage over Democrats because they created their own universe of propaganda outlets, and then went out and bought all the mainstream outlets.
Duh.
October 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Welcome to Headquarters, the new Gen-Z led progressive content hub.
February 5, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Garland's DOJ was probing the fraud and getting charges and convictions, which it announced in press releases. Patel's FBI filmed a couple of FBI agents walking into Somali-owned businesses and, in their information environment, it's packaged as them finally doing what Dems REFUSED to do.
December 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
AI chatbots are distorting news stories, BBC finds
AI chatbots are distorting news stories, BBC finds
News summaries from ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity contained ‘significant issues,’ a BBC study found.
buff.ly
February 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Remember when tech companies vowed to do more to stop the flow of disinformation on their platforms?
Instead, courtesy of genAI and lax moderation, it's never been harder to discern what's real from what isn't -- especially during breaking news events like today. From @davidgilbert.bsky.social
Instead, courtesy of genAI and lax moderation, it's never been harder to discern what's real from what isn't -- especially during breaking news events like today. From @davidgilbert.bsky.social
Disinformation Floods Social Media After Nicolás Maduro's Capture
From seemingly AI-generated videos to the recirculation of old footage, TikTok, Instagram, and X did little to stop the onslaught of misleading posts in the wake of the US invasion of Venezuela.
www.wired.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:56 PM
We don’t live in a neutral marketplace of ideas. We live in an attention economy shaped by algorithms, tribal identity, outrage incentives, and profit models that reward engagement over accuracy.
June 28, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Worth mentioning that we once had policies to resist foreign influence operations, and that these have been undone by Trump.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...
Russia, China and Iran Use Kirk’s Murder to Stoke Conspiracy Theories and Division
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
This fucking guy.
Never forget Cambridge Analytica.
He allowed our data, personal lives, photos of our babies to be harvested by a data mining agency that corrugated targeted propaganda to influence our elections. See who benefitted in 🧵
How many people do you know were influenced by lies?
Never forget Cambridge Analytica.
He allowed our data, personal lives, photos of our babies to be harvested by a data mining agency that corrugated targeted propaganda to influence our elections. See who benefitted in 🧵
How many people do you know were influenced by lies?
Zuckerberg saying Meta intends to spend at least 600 billion in the US
Zuckerberg at the end caught on a hot mic
Zuckerberg at the end caught on a hot mic
September 5, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Media execs have fallen prey to a propaganda and harassment campaign that has completely divorced them from what people actually want right now.
Both their insular information environments (group chats, podcasts) and ambient noise (Twitter reactionaries) have put them in a very stupid bubble.
Both their insular information environments (group chats, podcasts) and ambient noise (Twitter reactionaries) have put them in a very stupid bubble.
currently at record-high search interest for canceling disney plus. pulling kimmel is a bigger deal to the company's bottom line than any of the "woke" scandals of the past 5 years. i think news & entertainment corp execs need put more work into understanding their audience, & get off twitter
September 20, 2025 at 6:17 PM
The crux of the matter is the #informationcrisis.
Lots of levels of people need to get together and workshop all aspects of this multifaceted problem.
We need a cohesive response.
(Also, I don’t know why the Young Turks is blue, sheesh).
Lots of levels of people need to get together and workshop all aspects of this multifaceted problem.
We need a cohesive response.
(Also, I don’t know why the Young Turks is blue, sheesh).
These three charts are devastating.
We knew LA Times, WSJ, Wash Post, NY Post, Fox News, Meta, & Twitter are owned by pro Trump billionaires. Sadly, right wingers dominate social media too, transforming the USA into a right wing regime mimicking Russia & China.
www.qasimrashid.com/p/the-left-i...
We knew LA Times, WSJ, Wash Post, NY Post, Fox News, Meta, & Twitter are owned by pro Trump billionaires. Sadly, right wingers dominate social media too, transforming the USA into a right wing regime mimicking Russia & China.
www.qasimrashid.com/p/the-left-i...
The Left Is Losing The Messaging Battle
A new study shows right wing extremist content dominating corporate and social media and destroying our republic — here's how we must respond
www.qasimrashid.com
March 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The crux of the matter is the #informationcrisis.
Lots of levels of people need to get together and workshop all aspects of this multifaceted problem.
We need a cohesive response.
(Also, I don’t know why the Young Turks is blue, sheesh).
Lots of levels of people need to get together and workshop all aspects of this multifaceted problem.
We need a cohesive response.
(Also, I don’t know why the Young Turks is blue, sheesh).
I'd like everyone who keeps screaming at Democrats that they have a "MESSAGING PROBLEM!" to keep this in mind.
Changing their "messaging" isn't gonna do a fucking thing if no one ever sees/hears the message or if virtually every media outlet drowns it out with 100x as much pure horseshit.
Changing their "messaging" isn't gonna do a fucking thing if no one ever sees/hears the message or if virtually every media outlet drowns it out with 100x as much pure horseshit.
Was working on stuff and basically missed the whole Jimmy Kimmel news cycle. It reminds us. With the exception of the Times (which doesn't own a bunch of other vulnerable properties), msnbc and a few others, all the news/media outlets are owned by the white house now.
September 18, 2025 at 1:00 AM
March 12, 2026 at 12:12 PM
We are finally getting good at being online just as the internet changes underneath us. The next fight isn't over what trends. It's over what gets retrieved, summarized, and surfaced in generative answers. Democrats need to start building for the AI answer layer.
matthodges.com/posts/2026-0...
matthodges.com/posts/2026-0...
The Feed Framed the Last Election and AI Answers Will Frame the Next
Democrats need to start building for the AI answer layer.
matthodges.com
March 20, 2026 at 2:06 AM
This!
I’m adding two notes:
1. One of my main conclusions about the #InformationCrisis is that information flows these days are nodal. One person, Right or Left, stays plugged into the news, or “news” and passes it along to several people around them.
If you’re on here, you’re probably a node.
I’m adding two notes:
1. One of my main conclusions about the #InformationCrisis is that information flows these days are nodal. One person, Right or Left, stays plugged into the news, or “news” and passes it along to several people around them.
If you’re on here, you’re probably a node.
Talking about what’s happening with the low-information people in your life and not letting them laugh it off is an important thing.
April 7, 2026 at 1:37 PM
This!
I’m adding two notes:
1. One of my main conclusions about the #InformationCrisis is that information flows these days are nodal. One person, Right or Left, stays plugged into the news, or “news” and passes it along to several people around them.
If you’re on here, you’re probably a node.
I’m adding two notes:
1. One of my main conclusions about the #InformationCrisis is that information flows these days are nodal. One person, Right or Left, stays plugged into the news, or “news” and passes it along to several people around them.
If you’re on here, you’re probably a node.
“But today, most Americans do not seek out news. In August 2022, a Pew Research Center survey found that only 38 percent of Americans claimed to check news regularly—a sustained decline from 51 percent in March 2016.”
This an article to read, weigh, and come back to.
#InformationCrisis
This an article to read, weigh, and come back to.
#InformationCrisis
People like me, who have spent a lifetime building credibility, face a real problem when most Americans no longer trust institutions. We need to face the new terms of trust for our expertise to matter. Renée DiResta@noUpside & I wrote this to explain why & how: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...
For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies
To avoid irrelevance when they are needed most, experts and nonpartisan analysts must rethink not just their channels of communication but also their theory of influence.
carnegieendowment.org
September 29, 2025 at 7:48 PM
“But today, most Americans do not seek out news. In August 2022, a Pew Research Center survey found that only 38 percent of Americans claimed to check news regularly—a sustained decline from 51 percent in March 2016.”
This an article to read, weigh, and come back to.
#InformationCrisis
This an article to read, weigh, and come back to.
#InformationCrisis
Pretty much every American, including you, has fallen for foreign disinfo over the last ten years.
It’s one of the main plot lines of this sad story we’re all in.
The crazy part is that there is never any reckoning, never any recognition.
#InformationCrisis
It’s one of the main plot lines of this sad story we’re all in.
The crazy part is that there is never any reckoning, never any recognition.
#InformationCrisis
Russia moved to amplify online conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s killing just hours after it happened, seeding social media with the frightening claim that America is slipping into civil war.
Foreign disinformation about Charlie Kirk's killing seeks to widen US divisions
Russia moved quickly to exploit conservative activist Charlie Kirk's shooting death at a Utah college, with groups linked to the Kremlin spreading false and misleading claims that experts say are desi...
apnews.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Pretty much every American, including you, has fallen for foreign disinfo over the last ten years.
It’s one of the main plot lines of this sad story we’re all in.
The crazy part is that there is never any reckoning, never any recognition.
#InformationCrisis
It’s one of the main plot lines of this sad story we’re all in.
The crazy part is that there is never any reckoning, never any recognition.
#InformationCrisis
At the heart of the matter is the #InformationCrisis
The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
June 8, 2025 at 4:31 AM
At the heart of the matter is the #InformationCrisis
#SCpol
Must read poll from a solid pollster this am.
One item:
“37% have positive feelings toward DOGE; 32% have negative feelings and 19% are neutral.”
My guess is that the 19% doesn’t consume any news.
Part of the #InformationCrisis.
Protest organizers—that is your audience.
Must read poll from a solid pollster this am.
One item:
“37% have positive feelings toward DOGE; 32% have negative feelings and 19% are neutral.”
My guess is that the 19% doesn’t consume any news.
Part of the #InformationCrisis.
Protest organizers—that is your audience.
April 28, 2025 at 11:19 AM
#SCpol
Must read poll from a solid pollster this am.
One item:
“37% have positive feelings toward DOGE; 32% have negative feelings and 19% are neutral.”
My guess is that the 19% doesn’t consume any news.
Part of the #InformationCrisis.
Protest organizers—that is your audience.
Must read poll from a solid pollster this am.
One item:
“37% have positive feelings toward DOGE; 32% have negative feelings and 19% are neutral.”
My guess is that the 19% doesn’t consume any news.
Part of the #InformationCrisis.
Protest organizers—that is your audience.
In addressing the #InformationCrisis, we will need non-party groups to use paid media to break through the information bubbles created by online algorithms.
It will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.
It will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.
W @interfaithalliance.org we just launched a six-figure ad buy contrasting the holiday spirit with what ICE is doing to our neighbors.
@raushenbush.bsky.social and I on why and the need for a new Great Awakening to turn away from the hate all around us. www.thebulwark.com/p/we-need-a-...
@raushenbush.bsky.social and I on why and the need for a new Great Awakening to turn away from the hate all around us. www.thebulwark.com/p/we-need-a-...
We Need a New Great Awakening
This dire moment in our nation’s moral life cries out for a renewal of hearts.
www.thebulwark.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
In addressing the #InformationCrisis, we will need non-party groups to use paid media to break through the information bubbles created by online algorithms.
It will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.
It will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.
An important new element of the #InformationCrisis.
In 2017, Russia had fake people trying to join our Resistance FB groups, but were clumsy enough to not notice the Cyrillic letters in the backgrounds of profile photos.
This is so much harder to address.
In general, don’t embrace chatbots.
In 2017, Russia had fake people trying to join our Resistance FB groups, but were clumsy enough to not notice the Cyrillic letters in the backgrounds of profile photos.
This is so much harder to address.
In general, don’t embrace chatbots.
A new vector for spreading misinformation is simply to get your version of the story indexed by an AI chatbot where no fact check, Community Note or citation will point out that it’s a made up story.
This will be extremely difficult to combat effectively.
This will be extremely difficult to combat effectively.
Russia seeds chatbots with lies. Any bad actor could game AI the same way
In their race to push out new versions with more capability, AI companies leave users vulnerable to “LLM grooming” efforts that promote bogus information.
www.detroitnews.com
April 20, 2025 at 12:39 PM
An important new element of the #InformationCrisis.
In 2017, Russia had fake people trying to join our Resistance FB groups, but were clumsy enough to not notice the Cyrillic letters in the backgrounds of profile photos.
This is so much harder to address.
In general, don’t embrace chatbots.
In 2017, Russia had fake people trying to join our Resistance FB groups, but were clumsy enough to not notice the Cyrillic letters in the backgrounds of profile photos.
This is so much harder to address.
In general, don’t embrace chatbots.