Covering Election Misinformation and Disinformation

A local reporter’s guide to covering misinformation and disinformation on social media.

Exploring the fast-paced, facts-optional and sort of sticky-feeling world of the social web can be an overwhelming experience for any reporter.

The good news is that people tend to trust local sources of information. By monitoring social media for potentially harmful falsehoods, you have a way to create important service journalism.

Come learn about misinformation in your backyard, how to cover it, as well as what should and should not be covered.

Howard Hardee is the election integrity reporter for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and a local news fellow with First Draft, a nonprofit organization with the mission of protecting communities from harmful misinformation.

Kathleen Bartzen Culver is the James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Director of the Center for Journalism Ethics.

The Election Integrity Project is a nonpartisan initiative of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and the Center for Journalism Ethics at UW–Madison in collaboration with First Draft and with the support of Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

This event is co-hosted by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.