Three new surveys illustrate just how persistent political misperceptions can be. My research with Jason Reifler suggests that corrective information frequently fails to reduce beliefs in false or unsupported claims – a response that may be rooted in the threatening nature of unwelcome facts. While there are ways to present information more effectively, the extensive

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I have a new column up at CJR on the media’s continued failure to accurately describe the competing tax proposals from the two parties. Here’s how it begins: Yesterday, the Senate held symbolic votes on a pair of high-profile tax bills with important implications for the November election. Senators narrowly rejected a Republican-backed extension of

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For those who are interested, video is now available of a short presentation I gave at a conference on “Truthiness in Digital Media” at Harvard’s Berkman Center in March:

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I have a new column up at CJR on how fact-checkers can’t resolve the controversy over Mitt Romney’s involvement at Bain Capital during the 1999-2002 period. Here’s how it begins: Fact-checkers have played a key role in the controversy over Mitt Romney’s role in outsourcing at Bain Capital, but the way the debate has played

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For those who are interested, I did an interview with On the Media’s Bob Garfield about my CJR piece on the dispute over Romney and outsourcing at Bain Capital: An addendum: People seem to be having difficulty holding two seemingly contradictory facts in their minds at the same time: 1. The claims made in President

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I have a new column up at CJR on the need for better media coverage of the Obama campaign’s claims about Mitt Romney outsourcing jobs. Here’s how it begins: Last Tuesday, the Obama campaign released a new ad here and in eight other swing states that distorts the facts in a Washington Post story to

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