This Is Not a Secret Conspiracy—Just Ask Local Journalists
A viral video, a prerecorded firing, a retouched photo—and a new columnist.
On Wednesday, when an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement killed a woman during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, it was the latest escalation in a series of events that have converged in Minnesota over the past few months. The shooting occurred during a surge in operations that senior officials with the Department of Homeland Security told Julia Ainsley, an NBC reporter, came in response to a viral video by a MAGA influencer named Nick Shirley, alleging fraud in Somali-run daycares that receive federal subsidies.
Related Knowledge Center: Information integrity
In an increasingly fractured media landscape, truth has been a casualty in the public discussion. Coverage has been warped by the business needs of struggling news organizations, and a significant segment of the public relies on bad-faith outlets that are little more than propagandists. While fact-checking has become routine, some organizations are exploring other ways to combat the trends. And misinformation spewed by AI-driven chatbots has become more of a feature than simply a bug.
Fact-checking and its detractors
Related Knowledge Center: Fact-checking and its detractors
Fact-checking has become a familiar tool for political reporters to hold office-holders and candidates accountable. But critics ask if fact-checkers sometimes miss the forest for the trees, and if the practice often struggles with false equivalency the way conventional political coverage does.