Preventing disinformation this election
With the upcoming election — information is abundant. Z News takes a look into how you can find reliable source material when reading up on politics this election season.
Accessing election information becomes easier every day, but this accessibility brings challenges like misinformation and confirmation bias.
Director of the Master of Public Administration program at USF, Stephen Neely, explains that in most cases voters engage in confirmation bias. This allows voters to seek sources that confirm their beliefs instead of evaluating different information. Neely tells us social media’s limited fact-checking has increased misinformation among young voters.
“We’ve also found that social media really is a hot bed for a spread of misinformation, problematic sole source of information [and] how well you are vetting that,” Neely said.
BellingCat is a resource that helps readers to make informed decisions about the sources they read online, the videos they watch on YouTube and other social media sites. The website also helps with AI misinformation and videos that are easily manipulated. Neutral websites such as Politifact allow people to fact check what a candidate says not just in a debate but also what the candidate says on social media.
“My first piece of advice is try to triangulate the things that you’re seeing. If you see something on social media, you know, claim that this happened or this candidate said that, try to verify that against some authentic sources,” Neely said.
Whoever you may be voting for this election, challenge yourself to remove confirmation bias by researching candidates and issues on the ballot thoroughly before posting or reposting information on the web.
Daylight Saving Time ends Nov. 3
Daylight saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 a.m.
Phones and computers will automatically change but manual clocks will need to be set back.
The change will be reverted in March of 2025.
Grab this last minute Busch Gardens deal before it’s too late
Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream is coming to an end this Sunday November 3rd.
Ticket prices have dropped up to 60% in celebration of the end of this event. This “Final Frenzy” deal drops ticket prices as low as $44.99.
Tickets can be found here.
Credits
Anchors: Luciana Cordero Velarde, Paula Sanchez
Editor: Melissa Baldelomar
Reporters: Luciana Cordero Velarde, Paula Sanchez, Marissa Stiff
Web Editor: Valeria Maldonado, Ava Jochims
Audio: Victoria Harris
Tech Director: Malia Knight
Producer: Fallon Crowell
Assistant Producer: Sam Poulin
Graphic Designer: Sofia Reyes
Social Media: Marla Rodriguez
Teleprompter: Marissa Stiff
Lights/Floor Director: Marla Rodriguez
Camera: Sofia Reyes
Graduate Assistant: Grace Ficara
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Stephanie Anderson