We all know politicians lie. But how do they get away with it? One surprising reason is because their supporters don't hold it against them. In fact, the sometimes like it. In this week's episode of UnSpun, DrSturg looks at the research on political truth. Whether a lie is a problem depends on a lot of things: the emotions of the listener, the context it's said in and even if the listener just wishes the lie were true.

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips and Enter to be a Guest Co-host

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media.

What happens when censorship stops looking like censorship?

In this episode of UnSpun journal club, DrSturg looks at the book The New Censorship: How the War on the Media Is Taking Us Down, which looks at how populist authoritains harm journalism without controlling the press by using society's norms against it. These leaders are all over the world, but have in common a view of a society splot between “the people” and “the elites.” Journalists who don't support the leader are the enemy. The core freedom isn't freedom of speech. It is whether the public still has a meaningful right to know. This is part 2 of a journal club review of this book.

Episode cover image is from Wikimedia Commons by user Mobilus In Mobili

LINKS

The book

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-New-Censorship/Ayala-Panievsky/9781804441114

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips and Enter to be a Guest Co-host

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media.

Everyone wants your attention. News organizations want it. Politicians want it. Social media platforms want it. And increasingly, AI systems stand between you and the information you’re looking for.

But attention is finite.

In this episode of UnSpun, Amanda Sturgill examines the attention economy and what decades of research can tell us about who gets our attention—and what they can do with it for good and for evil.

LINKS

Herb Simon's original paper

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media

What happens when censorship stops looking like censorship?

In this episode of UnSpun journal club, DrSturg looks at the book The New Censorship: How the War on the Media Is Taking Us Down, which looks at how populist authoritains harm journalism without controlling the press by using society's norms against it. These leaders are all over the world, but have in common a view of a society splot between “the people” and “the elites.” Journalists who don't support the leader are the enemy. The core freedom isn't freedom of speech. It is whether the public still has a meaningful right to know.

Episode cover image is from Wikimedia Commons by user Mobilus In Mobili

LINKS

The book

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-New-Censorship/Ayala-Panievsky/9781804441114

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips and Enter to be a Guest Co-host

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media.

Christian nationalists think their country and their God are related, and they've built a media ecosystem to spread their beliefs. Agreeing with this changes how they understand facts, what they support and even some of what they do. In this week of UnSpun, DrSturg breaks down some of the research on Christian nationalists and the media.

LINKS

NPR piece on the Dilley Meme Team

Original video, shared online by politician

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media

You probably saw some news today.

But did you choose it?

Or did it simply find you?

In this episode of UnSpun, DrSturg looks at research examining how people experience news in everyday life—and why that experience differs depending on how much money you have and how educated you are. The industry needs to look at audiences differently, and the implications for democracy are profound.

LINKS

Paper covered in this episode

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media

Why does an influencer you've never met sometimes feel like a friend?

In this episode of UnSpun, DrSturg looks at the psychology behind parasocial relationships — the one-sided relationships audiences can develop with influencers, creators, streamers, and other public figures.

We’ll look at how influencers create a sense of intimacy and how those relationships can make advertising more persuasive, reduce our resistance to sales pitches, increase loyalty, and encourage people to spend more time and money with a creator. They can also create enormous pressure for influencers themselves.

And the stakes get even higher when influence moves beyond products and into politics.

As governments, brands, platforms, and political actors recognize how powerful influencers can be, we have to ask a bigger question:

What happens when the person shaping what you think is not a journalist, but someone who feels like your friend?

Follow Dr. Sturg

BlueSky -Prof. Amanda Sturgill (@DrSturg)

Websites -Sturg says|Unspun’s Substack

Questions and Tips

TheUnspunPodcast@gmail.com

Dr. Sturg’s Books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We are #AltGov: Inside the Resistance on Social Media

Original image from Fquasie on Wikimedia Commons.

It's harder to get quality information on science that affects your health and life. Dr. Sturg interviews science communicator and neuroscientist Dr. Ben Rein on how researchers with media skills can make a difference. PLUS,

People rely on some bad cues for how to make choices, and sometimes newsmakers don't help. In this episode, learn why "we've always done it this way" can be a bad thing.

Follow Dr. Ben Rein

https://www.benrein.com

https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.brein?lang=en

https://www.instagram.com/doctor.brein/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/dr_brein

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn3KN9-HZ0y_kgZWlkhOPtQ

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xjXaTY4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Follow Dr. Sturg

https://twitter.com/DrSturg

https://www.instagram.com/drsturgill/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandasturgill/

Check out my books

Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

We Are #AltGov; Inside the Social Media Resistance