Tom Mullen sorts fake news from real journalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n By: Cherie Blazer, VPC secretary and Sue Brinkerhoff Bland, Galley Pruf editor<\/em><\/p>\n University of Richmond Director of Public Affairs Journalism Tom Mullen says we have an epidemic of \u201cfalse facts\u201d today and that fake news is a real problem but one that isn\u2019t new. What is new is the technology that propagandists have at their disposal and the relentless assault on journalists in the U.S. History shows us that governments, including the U.S., have used propaganda as a tool to fight back against enemies in times of war and in the face of criticism.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why good journalism matters at every level, Mullen says:<\/p>\n By demonstrating how easy it is to create a presence online to distribute false news, Mullen helped the audience learn to identify methods fake news providers use to stir up basic emotions and amplify them through social media channels. He also showed how false news outperforms real, verifiable information in social media.<\/p>\n Here are some of Mullen\u2019s tips for determining falsehoods:<\/p>\n Mullen recommends these sources for seeking accuracy:<\/p>\n Remember:<\/p>\n Journalists bear witness to history. \u00a0What would happen to our history without it?<\/p>\n The free press is an essential part of democracy.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VPC members share their take on conference speakers Tom Mullen sorts fake news from real journalism. By: Cherie Blazer, VPC secretary and Sue Brinkerhoff Bland, Galley Pruf editor University of Richmond Director of Public Affairs Journalism Tom Mullen says we have an epidemic of \u201cfalse facts\u201d today and that fake news is a real problem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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