Newsrooms around the country are conversing about how to cover candidates — including former President Donald Trump — who tell lies and spread disinformation. How can journalists provide accurate news coverage without further amplifying false claims and disinformation?
Research shows that repeating lies, even to debunk them, can have the opposite effect. People remember lies, but don’t tend to remember the truth presented later.
In a recent conversation with the New Yorker’s David Remnick, writer Adam Gopnik says it is journalists’ responsibility to speak up and call out lies, saying, “Say it over and over again, say it out loud.”
Here & Now host Robin Young talks to Gopnik about his New Yorker essay “The Forgotten History of Hitler’s Establishment Enablers” and about why he believes it’s imperative to call out misinformation.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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