Author: tourist_yp6g7u

The last four years of my career as a disinformation researcher and journalist—working diligently to help newsrooms, community organizations and the public avoid targeted disinformation campaigns and media manipulation—have been consistently undermined by media and political powers.

Monday marked a significant turning point in this challenge.

Shortly after 9 p.m. ET on Monday, an email and a post on X threw the Black media world into a tumult. The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced that Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump “will participate in a conversation” at their annual convention in Chicago.

Rachel Scott, the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, alongside Harris Faulkner, anchor of The Faulkner Focus and co-host of “Outnumbered” on FOX News, and Kadia Goba, politics reporter at Semafor, will moderate the discussion.

The reaction was immediate and heated. Some journalists criticized NABJ leadership for giving Trump a platform to spread misinformation. Others praised the decision, echoing NABJ’s statement that presented this as an opportunity for journalists to address concerns from the Black community about the economy, housing, health care, and education.

On Tuesday, April Ryan, White House Correspondent for The Grio, revealed NABJ’s questionable decision to reject Vice President Kamala Harris’s virtual attendance. Karen Attiah, one of the co-chairs for the Chicago event, resigned, citing lack of consultation for this interview, among her reasons. The confusion and anger were compounded by abrasive responses from NABJ leadership to members’ criticisms. 

As a researcher, I believe this indicates a misunderstanding of the politicized narrative power at play. The failure to recognize how this benefits a candidate with a history of demeaning Black journalists and Black interests is incomprehensible.

This is especially so as the situation unfolds against the backdrop of Vice President Harris closing the gap with Trump in the polls and her considerable fundraising amongst culturally diverse supporters. As Erin Overbey, archive editor for the New Yorker, noted on X, it’s clear who stands to benefit the most from this event, and it’s not the Black journalists or the communities they serve. 

In our highly politicized information environment, was the potential damage to the credibility of attending journalists considered?

Two weeks ago, Republican National Convention attendees demanded mass deportations, repeating false claims about undocumented people. Doesn’t NABJ realize that Black immigrants in our community are also implicated in these widespread disinformation narratives? Can local journalists report back to their audiences what Trump said without amplifying disinfo?

Project 2025 calls for the end of the Department of Education and career government jobs, among other alarming items. This policy reform playbook has dangerous implications for the Black community. Doesn’t NABJ understand that many government jobs are held by Black individuals, and dismantling the Department of Education would eliminate the Office of Civil Rights, which enforces civil rights protections in public schools? Can NABJ members expect substantive responses from a candidate who can now downplay his role in this authoritarian agenda?

If Trump claims, “I’ve done more for Black people than any other president since Abraham Lincoln,” we should demand specifics: “How? In what way? What data do you have to support this? What testimony have you heard?”

What can this conversation achieve that hasn’t already been attempted by previous reporters in one-on-one interviews or press gaggles?

NABJ has failed to uphold its own goals for this convention, which is themed “Winds of Change: Journalism over Disinformation.” Narrative power and control should not be dismissed or relinquished. Allowing a presidential candidate to amplify “alternative facts” to a community without authentic access or paths to accountability is an affront to journalism.

By platforming Trump, the NABJ has allowed the politicization of the Black public in what should be a safe space. The former president has shown no genuine interest in understanding the Black lived experience, leaving the door open for NABJ members to be regarded as tools for political gain in a future campaign event.

As I posted on LinkedIn, “It’s one thing to hold a press conference for a former president or candidate; it’s another to give a pathological liar with authoritarian ambitions a platform without real journalistic substance. This isn’t about democracy or journalism: it’s about political points and headlines, and it’s disappointing.”

Disinformation is not just a tech issue. It’s political, social, economic, and scientific. It disproportionately affects the vulnerable and marginalized, driving wedges of distrust and false perceptions between communities that should unite toward an equitable future. A healthy press is essential to uplift reality and for democracy to succeed. 

But trust is waning as power consolidates among the self-interested, the power-hungry, and the amoral. It’s on the Fourth Estate to speak truth to power, but we also have a responsibility to minimize harm. This “interview” does neither. 
Diara J. Townes is an engagement journalist, a disinformation researcher, and an adjunct at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.

The post OP-ED: NABJ is politicizing its Black journalists by platforming Trump at the ‘Journalism Over Disinformation’ convention in Chicago appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia election officials are encouraging people to use a state website to cancel voter registrations when someone moves out of state or dies, a nod to Republican concerns that there are invalid registrations on the rolls.

But Monday’s rollout of the site by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was marred by a glitch that allowed people to access a voter’s date of birth, driver’s license number and last four numbers of a Social Security number. That’s the same information needed to verify a person’s identity and allow a registration to be canceled.

The problem, which Raffensperger spokesperson Mike Hassinger said lasted less than an hour and has now been fixed, underscored Democratic concerns that the site could allow outsiders to unjustifiably cancel voter registrations.

“If someone knows my birthdate, you could get in and pull up my information and change my registration,” state Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, a Stone Mountain Democrat, said Tuesday. Democratic staff showed The Associated Press a copy of a document with Butler’s information that they said was produced by the system.

It’s another skirmish over how aggressively states should purge invalid registrations from their rolls. Democrats and Republicans have been fighting over the issue in Georgia for years, but the issue has acquired new urgency, driven by a wide-ranging national effort coordinated by Donald Trump allies to take names from rolls. Activists fueled by Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen argue that existing state cleanup efforts are woefully inadequate and that inaccuracies invite fraud. Few cases of improper out-of-state voting have been proved in Georgia or nationwide.

Until now, few people have canceled their registration. Doing so typically required mailing or emailing a form to the county where the voter formerly lived.

People who have died or have been convicted of a felony can be removed from rolls relatively quickly. But when people move away and don’t ask for their registration to be canceled, it can take years to remove them. The state must send mail to those who appear to have moved. If the people don’t respond, they are moved to inactive status. But they can still vote and their registration isn’t removed unless they don’t vote in the next two federal general elections.

Georgia has more than 8 million registered voters, including 900,000 classified as inactive.

“This is a convenient tool for any voter who wants to secure their voter registration by cancelling their old one when they move out of state,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “It will also help keep Georgia’s voter registration database up-to-date without having to rely on postcards being sent and returned by an increasingly inefficient postal system.”

He said he would encourage real estate agents to push those selling property to cancel their registrations as part of the moving process.

Republican fears of fraud have prompted a wave of voter challenges, asking Georgia counties to remove people who may have moved or registered elsewhere more quickly than specified by state and federal law. GOP lawmakers in Georgia passed a law this year that could make it easier to win such challenges.

An AP survey of Georgia’s 40 largest counties found more than 18,000 voters were challenged in 2023 and early 2024, although counties rejected most challenges. Hundreds of thousands more were filed statewide between 2020 and 2022.

Voters or relatives of people who have died can enter personal information on the website. County officials would then get a notification from the state’s computer system and remove the voters. Counties will send verification letters to voters who cancel their registrations.

If someone doesn’t have personal information, the system as of Tuesday offered to print out a blank copy of a sworn statement asking that a registration be canceled.

But for a brief time after the site was unveiled on Monday, the system preprinted the voter’s name, address, birth date, driver’s license number and last four numbers of their social security number on the affidavit. With that information, someone could then start over and cancel a registration without sending in the sworn statement.

Butler said she was “terrified” to find that information could be accessed using only a person’s name, date of birth, and county of registration.

Hassinger said in a Tuesday statement that a temporary error “is believed to be the result of a scheduled software update.”

“The error was detected and fixed within an hour,” Hassinger said.

Butler applauded the quick fix by Raffensperger’s office, but she and other Democrats said the problem only underlines that the site could be used by outsiders to cancel voter registrations.

“This portal is ripe for abuse by right-wing activists who are already submitting mass voter challenges meant to disenfranchise Georgians,” Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye said in a statement that called on Raffensperger to disable the website.

The post Georgia website that lets people cancel voter registrations briefly displayed personal data appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Can a job save a life? 

For nearly 100 men graduating from the Ready, Willing, and Able (RWA) program this year, the answer is a resounding yes. 

“I’ll be two and a half years sober in a couple of weeks. RWA was a huge help for me,” said graduate Chrisopher Lopez.

A one-year residential program that provides men who are unhoused or incarcerated with housing and a range of other services, RWA offers career development, educational classes, and sobriety support. The program stresses the importance and potential of work to break harmful cycles, offering participants the chance to gain new skills and certifications.

Lopez said he obtained his welding license through RWA. 

“They put me through a whole program where we took a test, got certified. This has now become my career path,” he said.

To graduate from the program, participants must secure permanent housing and full-time employment. At the 2024 graduation ceremony, the atmosphere was filled with smiles and cheers as the graduates celebrated their communal triumph. 

Known as the “men in blue” because of their uniforms, the graduates were visibly excited and proud of their accomplishments.

The ceremony featured encouraging words from several speakers, including NYC Council Member and Central Park Five exoneree, Dr. Yusef Salaam.

“What’s beautiful about this program is that we’re talking about people taking control over their lives, giving themselves a second chance, knowing that they are not counted out, and that’s the best part about it,” Salaam said. “Being able to rise from the ashes like a phoenix.”

Alex Albury, another graduate, echoed this sentiment, expressing gratitude for the RWA staff while emphasizing the personal resolve needed to succeed. 

“I feel great, especially when people recognize the hard work a person put in to change his life. It’s a great place,” he said. “But you got to make your mind up—it all depends on you.”

The RWA program has a proven track record of helping men rebuild their lives, heal families, and strengthen communities. It stands as a beacon of hope, demonstrating that with a second chance, these men are indeed ready, willing, and able.

The post A lifeline through work: Ready, Willing, and Able graduation appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here