Library U: Kate Starbird on Fake News (SPEC-010)

If you've seen photos of a shark swimming in the streets of Houston after Hurricane Harvey, you've seen the particular variety of fake news that appears when emergencies attract national interest.

In this week's talk in Bainbridge Public Library's Library U series on fake news, UW Assistant Professor and former basketball star Kate Starbird describes some of the results and discoveries from her extensive research concerning fake news and social media in times of crisis.

Starbird's talk, delivered on September 30th at the Bainbridge Public Library, was entitled "Finding ‘Fake News’ in Times of Crisis: Online Rumors, Conspiracy Theories, and Disinformation.”

Listen here and learn how phenomena such as Facebook algorithms, the loss of trust in traditional journalism, clickbait, and confirmation bias can make us vulnerable to disinformation, misinformation, and conspiracy theories -- much of which may be being propagated by computer programs.

Credits: BCB audio tech: Chris Walker; audio editor and social media publisher, Diane Walker.