Mike Caulfield | Nieman Journalism Lab

Articles by Mike Caulfield

Mike Caulfield heads the Digital Polarization Initiative at the American Democracy Project.

October 25, 2022

What makes an election rumor go viral? Look at these 10 factors

A guide for journalists and news organizations assessing voting- and election-related rumors in the weeks leading up to the 2022 midterms.

2021’s misinformation will look a lot like 2020’s (and 2019’s, and…)

“In the mind of the public, disinformation is a series of endlessly creative and unpredictable attacks by unknown actors. In reality, much of what flies around is pretty predictable.”

January 29, 2020

Ctrl-F: Helping make networks more resilient against misinformation can be as simple as two fingers

Sometimes it’s the sort of basic Internet skill you might take for granted — like knowing how to search a web page — that can stop someone from sharing fake news.

Native verification tools for the blue checkmark crowd

“At least one platform will engage with its most influential users, giving them access to special tools and training to identify and contextualize sources and claims in their feeds.”

Ditch the media literacy cynicism and get to work

“In reality, many forms of both radicalization and infiltration would be more difficult with a media literate audience — particularly if those with the most influence had better skills and habits around assessing reputation and intent.”

Refactoring media literacy for the networked age

“An awful lot of highly educated folks, skilled in all sorts of traditional media literacy, are hopelessly lost on the web. (Many of these people are faculty).”