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opinion misinformation about mayor wu went viral skip to main content sections epaper sports red sox patriots celtics bruins high schools colleges women s sports tv radio metro weather politics transportation education cambridge somerville around mass investigations obituaries death notices games puzzles align crossword mini crossword kenken sudoku word flower horoscopes business technology economy housing real estate biotech the fine print bold types politics money power inequality climate spotlight opinion ideas columns and op eds editorials letters cartoons say more podcast college town new hampshire business politics education crime health commentary rhode island things to do rhode island podcast ri food dining politics business arts crime world covid globe magazine the big day dinner with cupid perspective connections lifestyle a beautiful resistance food dining comics games travel pop culture relationships love letters real estate arts books movies music tv visual arts performing arts cars real estate events share a news tip or story idea search podcasts email created with sketch newsletters more print this article view comments metro weather politics sports business puzzles rhode island globe magazine opinion health care arts lifestyle education cambridge somerville money power inequality spotlight technology climate cars real estate events more from globe opinion submit a letter to the editor meet the editorial board newsletters falsehoods about mayor michelle wu are spreading now what print this article view comments deagreez adobe stock last week i saw a viral social media post that contained a wild claim about boston mayor michelle wu it alleged plainly illegal behavior and seemed almost certain to be a blatant lie manufactured for clicks or political gain my first instinct as a journalist was to write about it and debunk it with boston headed toward what could be a highly charged mayoral race it felt urgent to set the record straight and give local audiences the truth but here s the problem in order to expose the lie i have to repeat it and by repeating it i risk giving it more oxygen more reach and maybe even legitimacy in the eyes of those who may not be able to read past the headline that s the journalistic conundrum of the misinformation age ignore false allegations and they can fester and spread in the shadows shine a light on it and you might help amplify it this isn t a new dilemma journalists were unsure how to cover the smear campaign about john mccain s so called love child or the insidious lie about president barack obama s religion but social media has turbocharged the spread of misinformation and journalists have less and less time to respond and fight the barrage of fake news posts and as we enter into a local election season the stakes keep getting higher so how do you debunk a lie without spreading it in a 2018 white paper about what she called the the oxygen of amplification whitney phillips suggested better editorial practices for journalists when reporting on extremists antagonists and manipulators online her recommendations included rigorously assessing newsworthiness avoiding unnecessary amplification of false or harmful information and always providing clear context phillips noted that our current media ecosystem driven by analytics engagement metrics and rapid news cycles encourages the spread of sensational or emotionally charged stories claire wardle associate professor in the department of communication at cornell university who studies user generated content verification and misinformation told me in an interview that it s actually a problem if journalists never touch this stuff meaning falsehoods there s a role for warning people she explained there s now a lot of work on pre bunking which is about helping people ahead of a known rumor so you would say it is likely in this next mayoral election that you are going to see rumors particularly related to one of the candidates ethnicity referring to the post about wu whenever you see candidates who are women or women of color you often see their identities used against them it s often in local races wardle said the argument is that by giving people warning you re saying you re going to see rumors circulating in small community groups so be aware you re trying to build resilience so you re not ignoring it wu s main opponent josh kraft is jewish and in the current environment you should probably be prepared for mis and disinformation about him too i reached out to the self described journalist on whose page i saw the viral post it has more than 14 000 shares and nearly 20 000 reactions on facebook with the wild allegation about wu and asked her about her sourcing she didn t respond by deadline but it appears to be based on a daily caller article that said wu received hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2021 from a named individual alleged to have ties to the chinese communist party such a donation would be illegal only much later in the piece does the article detail that the donations actually came from members of the chinese american community in an email a spokesperson for wu told me that the named individual is a us citizen who is civically active is part of the state s asian american and pacific islanders commission and has donated to many candidates over the years including 3 200 to wu since 2021 the spokesperson added that all of the donations the mayor has received over her 12 years in elected office are publicly disclosed online through the massachusetts office of campaign and political finance wardle told me that misinformation tends to grow in local communities because people have an emotional tie to their neighborhoods as for strategies to cope with potential misinformation she recommends audiences just stop and recognize that people who are trying to fool us are taking advantage of our emotions other recommendations include doing a google search to see if other newsrooms have mentioned the potential fake news post in question reading laterally meaning to read many different sources on the same topic and visiting the about page of the news site to learn more about who s behind it and when it was established in the end the best defense against disinformation may be transparency not just from politicians but from journalists too that means acknowledging the risk of repeating a lie while also trusting readers enough to tell them the truth about why we re calling it out but responsible debunking grounded in facts context and care is still journalism s best answer this is an excerpt from mira a globe opinion newsletter from columnist marcela garcía sign up to get mira in your inbox each week marcela garcía is a globe columnist she can be reached at marcela garcia globe com follow her on x marcela_elisa and on instagram marcela_elisa follow us subscribe now digital access home delivery gift subscriptions my account log in manage my account customer service 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