If you';re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net.Brianna Lyman‚ elections correspondent at The Federalist‚ recently reported on a panel discussion featuring Al Schmidt‚ Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth‚ and Beth Schwanke‚ Executive Director of the Pitt Disinformation Lab. Schmidt and Schwanke‚ speaking at a forum organized by Spotlight PA‚ voiced their stance on misinformation and disinformation surrounding elections. Strikingly‚ Schwanke recommended that rather than conducting self-led investigations‚ Pennsylvanians should place their confidence in so-called trusted sources. These include certain institutions and media outlets that have unfortunately been tied in the past to acts of censorship.Related:Pennsylvania Collaborates With DHS and CISA To Monitor Online Election-Related SpeechOne thing everyone can do to make sure they are seeing accurate information is to use trusted sources. So in elections that means using the Department of State‚ that means using your county elections office‚ it means using media organizations that follow‚ that adhere‚ to professional journalism standards like your local NPR affiliate‚ Schwanke said. And it doesnt mean you know‚ doing your own research and just asking questions and sharing‚ you know‚ posts from I dont know‚ in my case‚ its Uncle Joe‚ right? It means being thoughtful about where your sources are coming from.Schwankes advice‚ interestingly‚ seemed to discourage individual research‚ questioning‚ and sharing of ideas. Instead‚ she advocated the use of sources like the Department of State‚ county elections offices‚ and‚ strikingly‚ media organizations such as local NPR affiliates‚ which she implied upheld superior journalistic standards.Despite what Schwanke says‚ the importance of being vigilant about our sources of information cannot be overstated. This was vividly demonstrated in the lead-up to the 2020 election when a significant story on Hunter Bidens laptop by the New York Post was unjustly labeled disinformation‚ and subsequently suppressed across several tech platforms.As The Federalist reported‚ what made matters worse‚ in an incident hinting at bias‚ NPR blatantly refused to report on the story‚ with its Managing Editor Terence Samuels declaring it as unworthy of coverage.The Pennsylvania State Department presented a similar cause for alarm. It announced its collaboration with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to monitor and control online talks deemed a threat related to the election process. Despite its claimed intention to offer voters accurate‚ trustworthy election-related data and to counter threats such as so-called misinformation‚ there is good reason to question the impartiality of its activities. Case in point‚ CISA had previously facilitated the silencing of Americans expressing valid concerns on social media‚ as if they were spreading disinformation‚ and even had a post from President Donald Trump flagged under these pretenses.The post Disinformation Expert Tells People To Only Use Trusted Sources‚ Avoid Doing Your Own Research appeared first on Reclaim The Net.