On Wednesday, April 2, 2025, Southern Utah University students gathered in the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service to discuss this week’s Pizza and Politics topic: Misinformation.
Presenters Brett Hedges and Kaci Rohrer began by discussing the difference between misinformation and disinformation. The key difference they highlighted was that misinformation is not always spread intentionally, while disinformation is a deliberate attempt to mislead an audience.
They then described some of the social impacts that have occurred as misinformation has become more widespread. The main points being that trust in media and the news has declined, and parties have become increasingly polarized. 
Hedges and Rohrer showed a graph outlining the trust in media between popular parties. According to this graph, the Democratic Party tends to trust mass media most, while the Republican Party trusts it significantly less. One attendee suggested that this may be because rhetoric used by a party makes a difference on whether its members have a positive or negative view of mass media.
The presenters shared that misinformation, while more widely spread with today’s technology, has been around for years in all forms of media. For example, newspapers falsely publishing that life was discovered on the moon.
Misinformation can be found anywhere — on social media, through advertising, magazines, blogs and other sources.
Hedges and Rohrer ended their presentation with strategies for avoiding misinformation. They suggested to do independent research, fact check sources, find multiple sources and to be aware of cognitive biases.
“I learned about new ways to fact check things,” said SUU student, Savannah Coleman. “I learned new websites to look into to double check the information you receive online is correct.”
The last question the presenters asked was if anyone had spread misinformation before, and almost all attendees raised their hands. Examples included everything from convincing an elementary school class that they were from London for a whole year, to falling for an AI generated clip of a politician speaking badly of another candidate.
The next Pizza and Politics event, “Soap Box” will be held April 9 at noon in the Leavitt Center.
Author: Amy Huefner
Photographer: Heather Turner
Editor: Anna Mower
news@suunews.net
