skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, November 8, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump will name more conservative judges. He may even pick a majority of the Supreme Court; Both sides react as Missouri reverses near-total abortion ban Literacy initiative to implement 250 new early-education activations in PA.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Biden asks Americans to turn down the temperature, House Speaker Mike Johnson promises an aggressive first 100 day agenda and Democratic governors vow to push back on Trump's plan for mass deportations.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Texas women travel some of the longest distances for abortion care, Californians the shortest, rural living comes with mixed blessings for veterans, an ancient technique could curtail climate-change wildfires, and escape divisive politics on World Kindness Day.

Messenger Apps Driving Exposure to Disinformation Among Latino Voters

play audio
Play

Tuesday, November 1, 2022   

Recent polling shows more than 60% of Latino voters report exposure to false or unverified about politics, the COVID vaccine and abortion, and advocates said the trend puts voter engagement and turnout at risk. North Carolina's population boom over the past decade has mainly come from Latinos, who wield increasing political power.

More than 100,000 thousand Latino residents are expected to cast ballots in next week's midterm election.

Julio Rivera, national deputy director for civic engagement with the NALEO Educational Fund, explained one in three Latino voters say they believe the disinformation
is accurate.

"Around two-thirds of Latinos had heard that there is a 5G chip within the COVID vaccine, for example, in this latest round of polling , we saw around 79% had said that they believe now that abortion is illegal nationwide, which is not the case," Rivera said.

Rivera encouraged individuals in the Latino community to check facts using websites from official agencies, including information on how, when and where to vote, before accepting or spreading information shared on social media.

He pointed to nonpartisan Spanish-language voter guides available at 'votemosnc.com' as a resource.

Rivera explained Latino communities are highly connected through encrypted messenger apps like WhatsApp, which allow disinformation to spread through a "closed chamber" of family members, friends, and other trusted contacts.

"You can see how easily with the lack of monitoring in those encrypted messenger apps with trusted messengers being in the mix, how easily disinformation could could potentially spread," he said.

He said some disinformation narratives are geared toward people from certain countries.

"We've seen a lot of campaigns aimed at folks coming from communist countries," Rivera said, "folks coming from socialist regimes like Venezuela, folks of Cuban descent that seem to be targeted."

The number of Latino eligible voters has increased by nearly 5-million since 2018, comprising more than 60% percent of the total growth in eligible voters over the past four years, according to the Pew Research Center.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
While Amendment 3 protects the right to abortion in Missouri, it does not mandate state funding for abortion procedures, so Medicaid and state funds are not used for most abortions. (Bits and Splits/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Strong reactions are pouring in from both sides as Missouri voters made history by adding abortion rights to the state constitution. The decision to …


Social Issues

play sound

If the election season made one thing clear, it is neither side can hear what the other is saying and one expert believes it is because most of us …

Social Issues

play sound

Roughly 30% of Minnesota's private-sector employees do not have a work-sponsored retirement plan but some business owners and consumer advocates hope …


Pima and Maricopa counties are the only ones in Arizona currently offering vouchers to residents and commercial users for electric lawn equipment. (Tyger Gilbert/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

It is finally cooling down in Arizona, which means more leaves on the ground as well as heightened use of lawn equipment to keep Arizona properties …

Social Issues

play sound

The early childhood development initiative "Too Small to Fail" is expanding in Pennsylvania to boost children's brain and language development…

City governments are strengthening financial security for families through reimagined debt-collection practices, equitable ability-to-pay processes and increased access to financial empowerment services. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Young people in Pueblo can now avoid serious and long-lasting consequences when they are unable to pay fines or fees. Chanell Hasty, program …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Health-care advocates are vowing to continue their fight to expand Medicaid in Kansas - despite this week's election, which expanded the Republican …

Social Issues

play sound

Once homeless and suffering from addictions himself, Joplin's mayor now leads a crusade to help others overcome the same hardships. About 53,000 …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021