Check out these films that showcase stories of misinformation and help educate us all in spotting misinformation around us.
Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
FRONTLINE correspondent John Hockenberry of PRI's The Takeaway goes inside the organizations that fought the scientific establishment, environmental groups, and lawmakers to shift the direction of debate on climate issues and redefined the politics of global warming.
Only available streaming on Kanopy
Based on the true story of the doctor who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE in football players, and the uphill battle he faced in bringing the information to the public.
Inspired by a shocking true story, a tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths due to one of the world's largest corporations. In the process, he risks everything, his future, his family, and his own life to expose the truth.
When Deborah Lipstadt speaks out against Holocaust denier David Irving over his falsification of history, she discovers that the stakes are higher than ever in the battle for historical truth. Now faced with a libel lawsuit in British court, Lipstadt and her attorney have the heavy burden of proving that the Holocaust actually happened, in a riveting legal fight with stunning consequences.
Also available streaming on Kanopy
Digital Disconnect trains its sights on the relationship between the internet and democracy in the age of fake news, filter bubbles, and Facebook security breaches. Moving from the development of the internet as a publicly-funded project in the late 1960s to its full-scale commercialization today, renowned media scholar Robert McChesney traces how the democratizing potential of the internet has been radically compromised by the logic of capitalism and the unaccountable power of a handful of telecom and tech monopolies.
The promise of Facebook was to create a more open and connected world. But from the company's failure to protect millions of users' data, to the proliferation of "fake news" and disinformation, mounting crises have raised the question: Is Facebook more harmful than helpful?
Also available streaming on Kanopy
Content is at our fingertips from traditional news sources, but anyone can now be a publisher of information on the internet, and computer algorithms are influencing what you see every day. How do we sort the legitimate news from false, misleading, or opinion content? Travel through the history of communication technology as you learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Only available streaming on Kanopy
The incredible true story of the renowned magician turned skeptic and exposer of frauds and hoaxes, James "The Amazing" Randi.
Funny, provocative and surprisingly accessible, Manufacturing Consent explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, world-renowned linguist, intellectual and political activist. In a dynamic collage of new and original footage, biography, archival gems, imaginative graphics and outrageous illustrations, the film highlights Chomsky's probing analysis of mass media.
Only available streaming on Kanopy
Determined to uphold the nation's civil liberties, Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post, and hard-nosed editor Ben Bradlee join forces to expose a decades-long cover-up. However, the two must risk their careers and their freedom to bring truth to light.
What is the Internet doing to information and journalism? The influence of fake news and false information on American and British election results seems undeniable, especially with politicians like Donald Trump offering an alternative to traditional media, and mainstream politicians actively branding journalists, experts, and the media as 'liars'. The ever-growing impact of social media in the political landscape means that those with an agenda can easily bypass the filters of professional journalism, and quickly relay their message to the masses with enough clout to swing elections by several percentage points. We are living in the 'post truth times'. Facts are no longer so important.
Propaganda and Persuasion gives you a one-of-a-kind opportunity to explore the powerful, fascinating, and at times dangerous world of influence. Taught by Professor Dannagal G. Young of the University of Delaware, these 12 eye-opening lectures arm you with the tools of effective communication and the insight to understand and perhaps resist persuasion in all its forms.
Demystifies the predominant methods of persuasion that have been employed by those seeking power, analyzing the present day and contextualizing it by looking back at periods when propaganda defined nations and kept populations in check.
New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation, a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
We are drowning in an information overload. Every 60 seconds we share millions of items on Facebook, we watch millions of videos on YouTube, we write billions of tweets. False newspapers with true hoaxes, real newspapers with fake news. People believe everything and nothing at the same time. Around the world, some journalists are building alternative models. They do not know each other, but they want the same thing: to slow down. Meanwhile, in Milan, four freelance journalists meet professor Peter Laufer, from the University of Oregon; he is the author of the Slow News manifesto, inspired by Slow Food philosophy, adapted for journalism. Their mission is to connect the dots.
The 2020 U.S. presidential election culminated in a razor's edge standoff where results were contested for days, and the nation was deeply divided. That division ultimately escalated into violence during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In the thick of growing political polarization, assertions of voter fraud and questions of the election's integrity were amplified by some news media outlets and social media accounts invested in overturning election results. "Split Screen" investigates how we got to this turning point and the power of news and media coverage to inform our reality and our political ideology.
Spotlight tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city and cause a crisis in one of the world's oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper's tenacious Spotlight teams of reporters delve into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishment.
United States of Distraction: Fighting The Fake News Invasion chronicles critical media literacy and faculty experts, students, and media makers whom provide contextual analysis for understanding the current rise of the so-called "fake news" phenomenon. In addition to deconstructing fake news, the film reminds us that this is not a new development, but rather, a form of propaganda. The interviews provided in the film offer solutions for mitigating the pernicious influence of false content on America's democratic institutions.
How trafficking in conspiracy theories went from the fringes of U.S. politics into the White House.