Journalistic Solutions to Misinformation and Restoring Public Trust in the News
Join us for a conversation on February 10th with Nora Benavidez on how journalists and readers can help slow the spread of misinformation and restore public trust in news. The Q&A is part of our #FAWPublicForum event series, a monthly conversation with First Amendment experts on contemporary free speech issues.
Dominion Sues Former Trump Attorney Sidney Powell for Defamation
On January 8th, Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the suit alleges that during a press conference, rally, and media appearances, Powell “falsely claimed that Dominion had rigged the election, that Dominion was created in Venezuela rig elections for Hugo Chavez, and that Dominion bribed Georgia officials for a no-bid contract.”
Voting Technology Company Demands Conservative Networks Retract Election Fraud Claims
From the moment the 2020 presidential election was called in favor of Joe Biden, three prominent conservative cable companies, Fox News, One America News Network (OANN), and Newsmax have repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the results. Now Smartmatic, a voting technology company, is threatening to sue the networks for false claims they published or republished about its product.
Trump Sues Wisconsin TV Station For Airing Democratic Super PAC Ad
Filed on April 13th in Price County Wisconsin Circuit Court, the lawsuit claims that the TV ad spliced together two video clips from separate campaign events to make it appear as if the president has said the phrase “The coronavirus, this is their new hoax.”
Newark Warns False Reporting of Coronavirus “Will Be Criminally Prosecuted”
In an attempt to tamp down on misinformation about the coronavirus, Newark’s Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose released a statement on March 11th warning that any false reporting about the virus in Newark could result in criminal prosecution.
The Washington Post, in an effort to track President Donald Trump’s false or misleading claims, has created a Fact Checker’s database that analyzes and categorizes his false statements. To date, Trump has made more than 16,200 false or misleading claims.
Facebook Will Remove Misleading Posts About the U.S. Census, Including Political Ads
The new policy will ban “misleading information about when and how to participate in the census and the consequences of participating." Despite previous resistance to regulate them, the new policy will apply to advertisements bought by politicians.
Tentative Applause Follows Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Decision to Ban Political Advertisements
Twitter announced on Wednesday, October 30th that his company would no longer accept political advertising on its platform. While notably more positive than Facebook's reception, Twitter's wasn’t universally warm.