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Unspun: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Amanda Sturgill
Unspun is critical thinking about the news. Hear real examples, past and present, of newsmakers attempting to mislead you and understand how they manipulate the truth. Learn how to avoid being swayed by fake news and misinformation.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 days ago27 min
Why does everything feel broken? How newsmakers use sabotage methods to undermine your confidence in your government
There was a secret playbook for destroying governments and newsmakers use some of the same tactics on YOU right now.What if the chaos in your government isn't an accident? In 1944, the OSS (now the CIA) wrote a classified manual teaching resistance fighters how to dismantle a Nazi occupation from within. Today, those same tactics are being used by governments, politicians and would-be authoritarians,and it's working.In this episode of UnSpun, DrSturg goes over the 5 sabotage strategies straight from the now declassified Simple Sabotage Field Manual. Learn what to look for with examples from recent news. LINKSThe declassified OSS sabotage manualJD Vance tweet with false information about immigrants eating petsFollow Dr. SturgBlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s SubstackQuestions and TipsTheUnspunPodcast@gmail.comDr. Sturg’s BooksDetecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake NewsWe are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social MediaAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- 1 weeks ago18 min
Less news, more noise: Why weaker newscasts are bad for democracy
America has more news shows than ever, but somehow, we have less information. In this episode of UnSpun Journal Club, DrSturg looks as new research analyzing more than fifty years of American broadcast television news. Researchers found that advertising has expanded while substantive public-interest reporting has steadily declined.She also looks at how political rhetoric shapes public perception, why language that divides people into "normal" and "abnormal" matters and the best thing you can do to fight it. LINKSThe Vanderbilt TV News ArchiveOriginal Paper from This EpisodeFollow Dr. SturgBlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s SubstackQuestions and TipsTheUnspunPodcast@gmail.comDr. Sturg’s BooksDetecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake NewsWe are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social MediaAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- 2 weeks ago27 min
The hidden cost of paywalls: How restricting news hurts democracy
Quality journalism costs money while misinformation is usualy free?But most quality news is behind a paywall and few people want to pay.In this episode of UnSpun, DrSturg traces the history of the news paywall from the early days of online newspapers to today's subscription economy and examines what decades of research tell us about who pays, who doesn't, and what that means for public knowledge.Follow @drsturg on BlueskyDrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news. Check it out and be smarter!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- 3 weeks ago16 min
Should We Trust AI Fact Checkers? | UnSpun Journal Club
Can artificial intelligence help stop misinformation—or could it quietly make the problem worse?In this episode of UnSpun Journal Club, check out new research on whether communication managers trust AI fact-checking tools and what happens when humans remain "in the loop." Follow Dr. SturgBlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s SubstackQuestions and TipsTheUnspunPodcast@gmail.comDr. Sturg’s BooksDetecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake NewsWe are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social MediaAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- Jun 30, 202626 min
From Waco to Tulsi Gabbard: How the news media struggle to cover cults
What happens when secretive religious movements intersect with politics?In this episode of Unseen, Dr. Sturg begins with the present: recent reporting on Tulsi Gabbard and the Science of Identity Foundation before tracing the fascinating history of journalists covering new religious movements from the 1930s to today and on multiple continents. She has aliens, telepathy and a wild story about how a news guy actually tipped off the Branch Davidians.LinksHere's the Washington Post piece on Gabbard (gift link)Check out the Heaven's Gate website - still maintained by some followers left behind just to keep it up.Hear the Hu sound from Eckankar for yourself.Follow @drsturg on BlueskyDrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news. Check it out and be smarter!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- Jun 23, 202643 min
The reflecting pool is blue: The Big Lie (UnSpun Rewind)
If you repeat a lie enough, people may start to believe it. This idea of the big lie has been around for a while, but the last 8 years it has been so bad that fact checkers had to create a whole new rating level for how bad the lying is. Dr. Sturg breaks down the history of the big lie and shows how surrogates and supporters help to spread it. In the interview, author and professor Dr. Jen Mercieca breaks down Texas politics, explains how dead Greeks have a lot to say about productive communication, and how fraught the present moment is in politics and democracy. Follow Dr. Jen MerciaTwitter (X): @jenmerciecaResolute SquareCheck out Demagogue For President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald TrumpFollow Dr. SturgTwitter -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg) / XWebsites -Sturg says|Unspun’s SubstackQuestions and TipsTheUnspunPodcast@gmail.comDr. Sturg’s BooksDetecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake NewsWe are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social MediaAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- Jun 16, 202613 min
Why do conservatives think the media hates them? UnSpun Journal Club
Why is your grandma convinced that the news thinks she's mean or ignorant? In this week's episode of the UnSpun journal club, DrSturg looks at a study on folk theories of media bias. For the respondents in this story, bias was about more than just acts. facts. It was about representation, language, identity and whether people felt like journalists welcomed their perspectives. And the study gives advice on how to talk about the news to people who think the news is out to get them.Here is the original paper. DrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News is on sale! It also teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
- Jun 9, 202631 min
Is media bias getting worse: Are politicians right?
Is the media actually biased? Or do we just think it is?In this episode of UnSpun, DrSturg examines decades of research on media bias, political polarization, cable news and the psychology of news consumption. From Fox News and CNN to newspapers, social media and more, she explores what researchers have found about bias in news coverage and how people on opposite sides of an issue can see the same story completely differently.Do the politicians yelling #FakeNews have a point?Find out in this week's UnSpun. **Check out DrSturg on Bluesky**DrSturg wrote a book that makes YOU smarter about the news with information and exercises taken from real news stories. Find it here: https://amzn.to/3CLyvGrAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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About Unspun
Unspun is critical thinking about the news. Hear real examples, past and present, of newsmakers attempting to mislead you and understand how they manipulate the truth. Learn how to avoid being swayed by fake news and misinformation.
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