I was recently a guest on the NPR affiliate WAMU in D.C., "The Kojo Nnamdi Show", talking about the role of skepticism and media literacy in recent rumors of child abductions. You can hear the interview HERE. You can find more on me and my work with a search...
Media Literacy
Cancer Survivor/Activist’s Claims Questioned
An inspirational cancer survivor widely honored (and featured in Beyoncé's "Lemonade" video) turns out to have made up or changed important parts of her past. Now many of her supporters are feeling betrayed, accusing her of theft, faking illness, and worse. It's a...
Interviewed by VICE Media on my ‘Pokemon Panic’ Investigation
I was recently interviewed by Vice media about my investigation into the 1997 Pokemon Seizure case. I think the girl who got me a latte at my favorite coffee shop wasn't even born when I solved that mystery... You can find more on me and my work with a search for...
How False Reports Target Minorities
A Memphis mother calls police saying that her baby son was kidnapped by a Black man who stole her car. An Amber Alert was issued; police dogs, helicopters, and searchers scoured the area for hours--and find that her baby was never missing. Skeptics and skeptical...
My NPR Interview on UFOs
My recent interview on NPR about UFOs and aliens, opposite Leslie Kean, George Noory, and others, is now out. It's not a bad show, but if you want to hear some skepticism, start about 40 minutes in... you can listen HERE. From the Colin McEnroe show: UFOs have been...
How Trump Uses Conspiracy Theories
While there are many factors in Trump’s rise, one of the most bizarre is his use of conspiracies. Whether the topic is voter fraud, Obama wiretapping Trump Towers, or anti-vaccination arguments, no modern politician has so successfully and routinely employed...
Fortean Times review of ‘Bad Clowns’
From a review of my book Bad Clowns in Fortean Times magazine (Issue 349): “Benjamin Radford shows in his masterful survey that bad clowns have always been with us.... This is not a dry or scholarly read, and there’s a lot of welcome debunking. Bad Clowns moves...
How False Reports Target Muslims and Minorities
My recent blog on how a faked abduction may have contributed to the mosque shooting in Quebec, and why false crime reports often target minorities... Skeptics and skeptical researchers routinely encounter and investigate a wide variety false reports: False...
My Research Quoted in “Witchcraft as a Social Diagnosis”
I got a Google Scholar alerting me that my research on African witchcraft and superstition belief is cited in a new academic book, "Witchcraft as a Social Diagnosis." Glad my work is helping to bring attention to the dangers and injustice of modern-day witch hunts!
Yes! Yes! Ye- Oh, Damn: The 10% Fail
Those times you really agree with someone, then they go off the rails... my new CFI blog: About once or twice a month (though sometimes once or twice a week, depending on how much I'm reading at the time), I come across an article or blog that makes some important...