misinformation
Misinformation is deadly. What are we going to do about it?
Misinformation is deadly. It kills humans and democracy. All of us have some responsibility for this serious threat to society. All of us are affected by it, regardless of whether we use social media. And all of us need to do something about it. The examples are hard to ignore: An insurrection at the U.S. […]
Report calls on medical boards to go after COVID “disinformation doctors;” Ohio’s has not
In June, Sherri Tenpenny, a state-licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine and notorious COVID-19 disinformer, baselessly claimed in a televised, government meeting that COVID-19 vaccines “magnetize” recipients and “interface” with cell towers. The comment wasn’t an aberration from Tenpenny, who has in the past described vaccines as a tool of “depopulation.” The Ohio State Medical Board, […]
What will 2022 bring in the way of misinformation on social media? 3 experts weigh in
By Anjana Susarla, Michigan State University; Dam Hee Kim, University of Arizona, and Ethan Zuckerman, UMass Amherst At the end of 2020, it seemed hard to imagine a worse year for misinformation on social media, given the intensity of the presidential election and the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. But 2021 proved up to the […]
Future osteopathic doctors fight against the ‘disinformation dozen’ to save their profession
When Dr. Sherri Tenpenny told a hearing of the Ohio House Health Committee that the COVID-19 vaccine magnetized people, not only was she relaying scientifically unfounded and false claims about the vaccine, she was also contributing to an ongoing skepticism of her profession. Tenpenny — who was invited to speak that day by an Ohio […]
More good covid, vaccine news for Ohio
The days are warming and more good coronavirus news is coming to Ohio. After drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna on Tuesday announced big increases in vaccine production, Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday said that the number of doses coming into Ohio would rise from about 230,000 this week to about 310,000 next week. “We may see […]
She’s a public health professor by day; a COVID-19 truther by night
Nearly 500,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, but that’s not scaring Catherine Stein. As the pandemic’s death toll rises and the scientific consensus has crystalized regarding how COVID-19 spreads and how to prevent it, Stein, who teaches infectious disease epidemiology at Case Western Reserve University, remains defiant. COVID-19, she wrote in January 2021, is “not […]
YouTube censors Ohio House hearing video for COVID-19 misinformation
The opening testimony Wednesday in support of a legislative effort to allow lawmakers to vote down public health orders went far enough off the rails for YouTube to remove footage of the speaker. Tom Renz, an attorney for Ohio Stands Up, filed a lawsuit in federal court in September seeking to overturn any and all […]
3 reasons for information exhaustion – and what to do about it
An endless flow of information is coming at us constantly: It might be an article a friend shared on Facebook with a sensational headline or wrong information about the spread of the coronavirus. It could even be a call from a relative wanting to talk about a political issue. All this information may leave many […]
80% of Ohio House ‘elected by the deep state,’ GOP lawmaker says
Four in five members of the Ohio House of Representatives were elected by “the deep state,” according to GOP state Rep. Nino Vitale. The lawmaker made the remark in a Facebook comment in response to his own post, which misleadingly and incorrectly suggests the Ohio Department of Health will force state residents to take a […]
Trump the performer, and his inadequacy to the moment
The thought began with some armchair political speculation a few weeks back: President Trump was putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the administration’s coronavirus efforts. I had just recently mentioned in a column an awful HIV outbreak in Indiana that occurred under Pence’s watch, his response to which did not help matters. Politico […]
4 ways to protect yourself from disinformation
You might have fallen for someone’s attempt to disinform you about current events. But it’s not your fault. Even the most well-intentioned news consumers can find today’s avalanche of political information difficult to navigate. With so much news available, many people consume media in an automatic, unconscious state – similar to knowing you drove home […]