In this Zoom webinar, Professor Melissa Zimdars looks at the social, technological, financial, and political factors that pollute our communication systems and make them rife with disinformation and misinformation. She will share information about how social media platforms work, contemporary challenges facing news organizations and their practices, the ways individuals understand and engage with all kinds of online content, and how this all contributes to problems like "fake news."

Melissa Zimdars is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Merrimack College and a Research Affiliate at the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She is also the co-editor of the book Fake News: Understanding Media and Misinformation in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2020). Read the Introduction and chapter on Viral "Fake News" Lists and the Limitations of Labeling and Fact-Checking.

This program was hosted by Memorial Hall Library in partnership with Tewksbury Public Library.