Spanish-language misinformation: WPA poll and Miami-Dade school board on LGBTQ month
Election 2022: Facts and Fiction
The latest on misinformation and disinformation on Spanish-language radio and social media this campaign season.
Hey there! Have you registered to vote yet? The deadline to register for November’s general election is Oct. 11. Find more info about voting on the Miami-Dade voter registration website.
It’s Lesley Cosme Torres again, here with the latest on Spanish-language disinformation in South Florida elections. In the past few days I’ve looked into a poll done by WPA Intelligence on whether or not disinformation is causing Hispanics to vote Republican, “indoctrination” theories spread online and rejection of LGBTQ month in Miami-Dade public schools, the launch of “Election 2022: Be informed, not misled” by the News Literacy Project, and the Ukrainian government appointing an ambassador to combat Russian disinformation affecting Latin America and the U.S.
Andres Viglucci and I wrote about how Republicans are pushing back on disinformation claims targeting them and how the politicization of misinformation and disinformation is preventing open conversations between the two parties, making the issue more difficult to address.
“I think one of the things that arose out of the 2020 campaign in the Hispanic community is that Democratic candidates were being labeled as socialist and as far-left,” FIU political science professor Dario Moreno said. “But how is that different from the president [Joe Biden] calling the Republicans fascists? It’s the result of polarization. Our political discourse is so bad that the line has been blurred between legitimate information or criticism about your opponent and things that are just outrageous.”
If you read or hear anything you find misleading on Spanish-language radio or on social media via WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, or Twitter, email me.
Enjoy your weekend!
Lesley
WPA Intelligence examines conspiracies and “falsehoods on the left”
WPA Intelligence, a company which conducts survey research for conservative candidates and organizations, released recent findings that focus on misinformation from left-leaning sources.
WPA said it conducted the poll Aug. 22-25 of 1,000 registered voters nationally and this is what they found on these issues:
▪ Now that Roe v. Wade is overturned, the Supreme Court has declared that abortion is illegal in the U.S. (52% of Democrats polled believe this to be true while 48% thought it was false.)
▪ The 2016 election was stolen by Vladimir Putin and the Russians. (45% of Democrats polled believe this to be true while 55% thought it was false.)
▪ Florida has banned the word “gay” in all public schools. This stems from Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law being referred to as “Don’t Say Gay” (67% of Democrats believe this to be true, while 33% thought it was false.)
▪ Florida now requires university professors and students to register their political views with the state. This originally came from a viral Stephen King tweet and a Salon article. (33% of Democrats thought this to be true while 65% said it was false.)
▪ Disinformation is why Hispanic voters are increasingly voting Republican. (59% of Democrats thought this to be the most true, following reasons such as illegal immigration hurts Hispanic voters, Trump ideologies appealed to them, and Republicans offer a better economic outlook.)
“Common sense says that misinformation isn’t limited to any one side of the political aisle, yet so much of the media’s attention focuses on falsehoods on the political Right,” WPA principal and managing director Conor Maguire told The Daily Wire. “So, we wanted to explore how common conspiracy theories and falsehoods are among left-wing voters.”
Miami-Dade School Board rejects LGBTQ month, citing “indoctrination” theories online
On Sept. 8, the conservative majority of the Miami-Dade School Board rejected a measure that would have recognized October as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History Month and taught high school seniors about two landmark Supreme Court cases. One legalized same-sex marriage and another that found an employer can’t fire someone for being gay or transgender. The Herald’s education reporter, Sommer Brugal, reported that those in opposition said the school board was indoctrinating children to believe in more progressive ideas and hiding the sexual abuse of children, along with falsely stating that the measure would be a gateway for teachers to speak with their students about LGBTQ+ issues without parental consent.
“There is an election year and the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is a tool used by some to spread misinformation,” said Board Member Lucia Baez Geller, the only member who voted for the measure. “This is just plain disinformation.”
Before the measure went for a vote, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric was spreading on social media, with some pleas to make sure the measure wasn’t enacted. “If you are in Miami or know someone who is, please share this link. Tomorrow’s school board meeting is incredibly important if you cannot be there in person please send an email and let the groomers of Miami-Dade public schools know we are not giving them one more inch when it comes to the indoctrination of our local children,” Wakeupwithlinda, a Telegram channel, said on Sept. 6.
On Sept. 15, The News Literary Project, an educational nonprofit, launched “Election 2022: Be informed, not misled” a campaign to counter misinformation in the midterm elections by helping their users verify what’s real and what’s not.
The website will have a dedicated section of content related to voting, such as where to find reliable election information which will include short video clips of journalists and misinformation experts sharing tips about how to know when something is true or not.
The campaign, which is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters, will air public service announcements to “encourage voters to break out of their information bubbles and seek out news that may challenge their beliefs by providing different, fact-based perspectives; to verify information before sharing it on their social media feeds,” the press release said. The announcements will be in Spanish and English on TV stations across the country.
“We’ve seen the harm caused by mis- and disinformation that is directly targeted to Black and Latino voters, older adults and people living in rural news deserts,” John Silva, National Literacy Project’s senior director of professional and community learning said in a press release. “Much of this campaign will focus on reaching those communities and empowering voters to spot misleading information designed to sway their vote.”
Ukraine appoints diplomat to counter Russian disinformation reaching audiences in Latin America
The government of Ukraine recently appointed Ruslan Spirin to counter Russian disinformation campaigns reaching Latin America, Spirin told the Herald. When appointed, he said those affected by these disinformation campaigns should seek “alternative” information other than what’s posted on Russian media outlets, as their Spanish-language platforms have millions of views in Latin America and also reach into the United States.
“They are distributing disinformation and propaganda. They are experts, they know how to manipulate their people and they are releasing that same information in six languages, spending millions of dollars to transmit an image that is not right,” said the special envoy in a video call from Kyiv on Wednesday.
This newsletter is part of a project on misinformation in Spanish-language media by the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and researchers at Florida International University. It is funded by Journalism Funding Partners, which received support from the Knight Disinformation Fund at The Miami Foundation. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of the content.
This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 1:21 PM.