The impact of misinformation on our society is one of the most important topics of today. 'Fake news' tarnishes transparency, participation, and trust, and significantly reduces the Internet's and news sources' public benefit. The result of 'fake news' is that the Internet and news outlets' ability to power a democratic society suffers greatly.

Infographics

• The Fake News Problem In One Chart outlines the sources of fake news and how it impacts the public's trust in mass media and other institutions.

 

Articles

• Facebook's latest move to fight fake news may finally be the right one - How Facebook is trying to combat fake news without crossing over into the issue of censorship.

 

Other

• Fake News Tip Sheet - Created by Kim Bisheff, Cal Poly Professor
• The Effects of Social Media on Public Consumption of News, Journalism, and Relationship Building in Public Relations - A Cal Poly student's research senior project that addresses the role of fact-checking and misinformation as a result of the effects of social media.

 

Digital Democracy works to identify claims from video of the California Legislature and is developed by the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Digital Democracy is also discussed in this article on Fact-Checking 

 

Academic Programs and Courses - Cal Poly course catalog

• COMS 218 Media, Self and Society
• COMS 385 Media Criticism
• COMS 386 Communication, Media, and Politics
• COMS 419 Media Effects
• CSC 466 Knowledge Discovery from Data
• HIST 354 History of Network Technology
• ISLA 123 Introduction to Science, Technology & Society
• ISLA 303 Values and Technology
• ISLA 320 Topics and Issues in Values, Media and Culture
• JOUR 218 Media, Self and Society
• JOUR 304 Public Affairs Reporting
• JOUR 402 Journalism Ethics
• POLS 180 Political Inquiry
• POLS 347 Politics and Popular Culture
• POLS 435 Political Communication

 

Cal Poly Student Clubs

• Cal Poly Democrats
• Cal Poly Republicans
• Political Science Club

 

Internship opportunities can be found on MustangJobs.

Professional Associations and Programs

• News Media Alliance - The News Media Alliance has compiled a list of programs in this link that offer tips and education for improving one's ability to evaluate news content and decide if it is credible or fake.
• Information about job shadowing and informational interviews
• Career Services website

 

Companies involved with fake news and hiring:

• Snopes
• Facebook - Facebook's hiring initiative
• Google - Google's hiring initiative
• Mozilla - Mozilla's initiative
• Twitter
• ProPublica

 

Job Titles

• Public Policy Manager
• Fact Checker
• Technology Platforms Reporter
• Public Relations Manager
• Content Manager
• Legislative Aide
• Product Manager
• Reporter
• News Researcher