In Brief: Fighting Falsehoods May Breed Mistrust of Legitimate News; 'Going Nuclear' With Jury Awards

Efforts to fight misinformation make people more skeptical of fake news but might also cause them to doubt factual news sources, new research finds. 

Researchers at the University of Zurich, the University of California and the University of Warsaw conducted survey experiments to compare the effectiveness of strategies currently being used to combat misinformation, such as fact-checking and media-literacy initiatives, with three alternative strategies. 

Rather than focus on whether news is true or false, one alternative strategy emphasized political biases in news reporting. The study found that the traditional tools and alternative strategies used to debunk falsehoods sow a broader sense of doubt among the public, even toward legitimate information.

“Public discourse on fake news not only increases skepticism toward false information but also erodes trust in reliable news sources, which play a key role in functioning democracies,” said the study’s lead author Emma Hoes, a researcher in the University of Zurich’s Digital Democracy Lab. 

As Brands Invest in Sports, PR Firms Join the Game

Drawn by the big money in sports, brands are investing in live sporting events, teams and athletes, Axios reports. In response, many PR firms are launching sports practices.

Jasper Advisors is the latest firm to start a designated sports practice. Said Julie Jensen, the company’s founder, “Some of the most exciting things happening right now in business, culture and society are occurring in the world of sports.” 

Communications firm Prosek Partners recently created a sports advisory. TrailRunner International has partnered with sports entertainment company Legend to start a sports practice that offers crisis communications, helps sports teams relocate and renovate stadiums, and secures sponsorships and naming rights.

The Baltimore Orioles baseball team will have a corporate brand — T. Rowe Price — on its jerseys for the first time. Said Theresa McLaughlin, the investment firm’s head of marketing, “Sports sponsorships have been demonstrated to have immediate and long-term positive impacts on key brand metrics, including unaided awareness, brand favorability and consideration.” 

How ‘Negating Phrases’ Block Communication

Scientists at New York University have found that phrases such as “This coffee is not hot” negate their own meanings. In advertising, legal filings, and other forms of communication, “negating phrases” are sometimes used intentionally to prevent people from clearly understanding the message. 

In research supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Arianna Zuanazzi, a postdoctoral fellow in New York University’s Department of Psychology and the study’s lead author, worked with colleagues on a series of experiments to measure how participants interpreted phrases. The researchers also monitored the participants’ brain activity while they interpreted the messages. 

The researchers found that study participants took longer to interpret phrases with negation than phrases that did not contain negating words. Through negation, opposites such as “cold” and “hot” become similar.

AI tools have difficulty interpreting passages that contain negation. The NYU researchers say their results show how humans process such phrases and could also help others understand and improve AI functionality.

Americans Get News from Social Media in Varying Ways, Research Shows

Half of U.S. adults get news from TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram at least sometimes, but how they encounter news on those social media sites varies widely, a new Pew Research Center survey finds. 

Majorities of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok users say keeping up with news is not a reason they use those sites. But people nonetheless see news on all four platforms, especially from other users who express their opinions or make jokes about current events. Overall, more people see those kinds of news posts on social media than they see news articles or breaking news.

People who regularly get news on Facebook and Instagram are more likely than those on TikTok and X to receive that news from friends, family and acquaintances whose accounts they follow. On TikTok in particular, more news consumers get news from influencers or people they don’t know personally, compared to the other social media platforms. On X, news organizations or journalists are more common sources of news. 

Many People Want to Start a Business, But Face Barriers, Poll Finds

Most U.S. adults (62%) would prefer to be their own boss, while just 35% want to work for someone else, a new Gallup poll finds. The aspiring entrepreneurs cited more money and a flexible work schedule as main motivations.

Among survey respondents who’d like to be their own boss, more than half (52%) said they’d be willing to accept some degree of financial risk to do so. But lack of funding (cited by 60% of respondents) and concerns about personal financial risks (50%) are the biggest obstacles they face to starting a business.

Other barriers to becoming their own boss include inflation, the need to learn more about starting or managing a business, lack of confidence that the business would succeed, government regulation and access to business loans, respondents said.

Asked about the best resources to help them start a business, 60% of respondents mentioned prior industry experience, while 57% cited personal encouragement from people they know.

More Juries ‘Going Nuclear’ against Corporate Defendants

In an effort to protect the little guy, more juries are imposing enormous financial penalties on U.S. companies, a practice known as “going nuclear.” As The Wall Street Journal reports, the trend is making some insurance policies more expensive and difficult for companies to obtain.

The number of cases against corporate defendants with jury awards above $10 million grew more than 27% in 2023, continuing a general upward trend, according to the research firm Marathon Strategies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce found the number of such verdicts above $100 million reached a record in 2023, up nearly 400% from 2013.

Damage awards into the hundreds of millions or even above $1 billion come in response to human losses or tragedies. In May, A Philadelphia jury ordered Exxon Mobil to pay $725 million to a service station mechanic who developed leukemia after being exposed to benzene in gasoline.

Said lawyer Gary Dordick, “Lawsuits and the right to hold corporations accountable are what make them do the right thing.”