The front page of the "Buckeye Reporter," a political mailer that appears to look like a community newspaper.
The Buckeye Reporter is part of a network owned by a company called Metric Media that has caught the interest of disinformation researchers by launching hundreds of local-branded websites across the country that promote Republican candidates and causes during election cycles. - Source: Andrew Tobias, "Wondering why you got a copy of the ‘Buckeye Reporter’ in the mail? Here’s more about the pseudo news network behind it." August 1, 2023, Cleveland.com/News
an prompt one of three problematic results:
creates doubt about what people think they know
creates confusion: “I don’t know what’s true, so nothing’s” true.
creates reliance: “Someone’s arguing that climate change is not a worry, so that must be a valid idea."
Image Source: Raphael Satter, ‘"Experts: Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets"’, AP News, 14 June 2019, online.
The 3Ds of Disinformation -- Detect, Document, and Debunk
Detect: In the detection phase, we investigate suspicious sources to determine if it is legitimate and representing itself accurately.
Document: In this phase we compile the evidence and document the details that verify the sources is not legitimate or accurate.
Debunk: We assess the impact on the misinformation on specific issues, and demonstrate how it causes harm to individuals, communities, population groups, states, and countries.
An in-depth look at this topic is presented in this 11-page eBook (linked below):