Fighting Misinformation

Digital Media Literacy

By: Tara Susman-Peña, Mehri Druckman, Nina Oduro, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Tara Susman-Peña

Americans spend hundreds, even thousands, of hours a week engaging with a wide range of media sources - TV, computers, tablets, radios, MP3 players, cell phones, newspapers, magazines, books, and more. Through these, we constantly access a wide range of platforms and media, from news to novels to Twitter feeds to email, and much more. Because we are continuously taking in information from a variety of sources, we are under constant threat from those who would intentionally (or accidentally) misinform - from foreign operatives, advertisers, politicians, and general scammers to our own friends and family. We all experience a near-constant barrage of incoming information. Combine that with the human brain’s reaction to stress or fear, and conditions are ripe for the spread of misinformation.

To better prepare you to defuse this threat, IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) has teamed up with The Great Courses to provide a guide for navigating this tricky landscape with Fighting Misinformation: Digital Media Literacy, an eight-lecture course designed to arm you with the skills you need to be a savvy media consumer. Tara Susman-Peña, a senior technical advisor, and her colleagues at IREX, Mehri Druckman and Nina Oduro, will lead you step by step through the history, evolution, science, and impact of misinformation, helping you to develop the skills you need to combat fakes, stereotypes, and frauds within every kind of media source.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 The Great Courses (P)2020 The Teaching Company, LLC

Nice I like

the good shit of information misinformation informing others how to misinform others.
CIA handbook.

Very Informative

I liked the presentation of detailed steps given to check the veracity of what I’m reading, looking at, hearing, etc. It’s easy to be discouraged by misinformation - this course gave me very defined tools to use. Knowledge is power.

You lost me with Wikipedia

You can actually view a behind the scenes history as well as the arguments associated with updates for each Wiki page, it is pretty clear the cancel culture, angry, anti-American leftists frame the narrative. Sad really.

Common Sense Audio Book

The book takes a practical look at tools to avoid being sucked into the bias message wars pervading our society. I commend the author for presenting Some common sense tools for avoiding misinformation in an UNBIASED approach. That is very rare these days.

Good resource

This is a good course and somewhat disturbing since so much misinformation and disinformation exists. The presenters don't address out right lies meant for entertainment as parodies or sarcasm such as the Onion website. I find the Onion funny but some folks have on occasion taken them seriously. I suppose we have to be smart enough to recognize when information is not meant to be taken seriously. I do have a complaint, though, and it is very subjective. I found the voices of the presenters quite harsh and unpleasant to listen to.