Civil Rights and Wrongs for May 24, 2022

On Tuesday we’ll have an encore presentation.  Sam Woolley first joined us in February, 2020 to discuss the internet and democracy.  He is a faculty member in the UT School of Journalism, where he is also a Program Director in the UT Center for Media Engagement.  In addition, Sam is affiliated with the Program for Democracy and the Internet at Stanford University.  Even before the 2016 presidential election, Sam was researching computational propaganda – that is, the use of social media to manipulate public opinion.  He discusses the ways in which political groups in the United States and abroad have leveraged tools such as bots and trending algorithms, as well as tactics of disinformation and trolling in efforts to control information flows online. We also hear from Jim Harrington, retired founder of the Texas Civil Rights Project.  And Michelle Manning-Scott, Associate Producer of the show, is with us, too.

Toward the end of the show, Austin Sanders, Staff Writer for the Austin Chronicle, reports on vandalism that recently occurred at Pecan Gardens.  The property in far Northwest Austin was previously a Candlewood Suites hotel, but was purchased last year by the City of Austin, to provide income-restricted supportive housing for single adults 55 and over, and living with disabilities.  Unfortunately, the city had not been providing on-site security during the conversion, leaving the building vulnerable.