How to say nasty things while staying popular: UnSpun Journal Club

How to say nasty things while staying popular: UnSpun Journal Club

From Unspun by Amanda Sturgill

May 26, 2026 · 16 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the impact of dogwhistle racism on political popularity and offers advice on recognizing such language.

This week's paper, from Sweden, answers an important question: when politicians dogwhistle racism, can it make them MORE popular? In this episode, DrSturg breaks down clearly what a dog whistle is and the clever way this paper studied the matter. She ends with advice on what YOU can do to not fall victim and a message for journalists. Here is the original paper . DrSturg's book, Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News is on sale! It also teaches you how to identify this kind of shady language yourself, using real examples from the news. Here are three places you can find directories of dogwhistles: American Jewish Committee Anti-Defamation League Southern Poverty Law Center Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

People in this episode

Host: DrSturg

Topics covered

  • dogwhistle
  • racism
  • politics
  • popularity
  • journalism

Keywords

  • dogwhistle
  • racism
  • politics
  • popularity
  • journalism
  • fake news
  • deception

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center

Books & works: Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News

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