Episode 9: Disinformation and climate change, with Zanagee Artis
Unchecked: The architecture of disinformationShow Notes
Send us Fan Mail SYNOPSIS Zanagee Artis, a climate advocate and educator with Natural Resources Defense Council, joins Rachel and Dan to talk about disinformation in arctic and coastal drilling. Zanagee describes the challenges of addressing disinformation when the time horizons of climate research spans decades. Inspired by this discussion, Rachel coins the lens of Time Feel. Dan, impressed by efforts to close the physical distance between policymakers and drilling in the arctic, suggests th...
More from Unchecked: The architecture of disinformation
Send us Fan Mail SYNOPSIS Renée DiResta, associate research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and author of Invisible Rulers, joins Rachel and Dan to talk about how influencers, algorithms and crowds work together to decide what feels real and true online. She explains how monetization programs reward provocation, how opaque curation fuels stories of shadow banning, and how her MySky project gives users more control over their own feeds and more insight into...
Send us Fan Mail Synopsis Dr. Laura Thomas, a London-based registered nutritionist and author, joins Rachel and Dan to trace how nutrition science gets warped as it moves from academic research through press releases and journalism into social media and, ultimately, into products for sale. Laura argues that framing health as a personal, individual project obscures the social and structural forces — capitalism, class, and gender — that actually shape people's ability to eat well. Intervi...
Send us Fan Mail CONTENT WARNING Descriptions of incarceration, the treatment of detainees SYNOPSIS Human rights lawyer and immigration attorney Qasim Rashid joins Rachel and Dan to dismantle the myth of a clear, consistent "legal way" to immigrate. The conversation moves between misinformation about the immigration system itself and misinformation about immigrants as people, ultimately examining the bipartisan failure to counter demonizing narratives. Rachel and Dan close with the lenses of ...
Send us Fan Mail SYNOPSIS Dan and Rachel kick off Season 2 of Unchecked by looking back at what season one taught them and what's ahead. We reflect on the toll of researching disinformation. They also preview season two's research directions, including Rachel's interest in the everyday myths people unconsciously rely on and Dan's theory that there's a "big lie" at the center of every domain, plus topics they're eager to dig into next. Edited by Jared Landis <https://www.landispodcasteditin...
Send us Fan Mail Synopsis Dr. Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, joins Rachel and Dan to pull back the curtain on how economic data is collected, revised, and communicated — and how that process is vulnerable to political manipulation. We talk about the federal statistical agencies that produce employment and wage data, the role of transparency and revision in maintaining trust, and the pressure those institutions are under today. Rachel and Dan close with two len...