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Thinking about this year. At the start of 2020, I was still on the disinfo beat, with a focus on health. In the first two months, I published stories about people who fell into internet rabbit holes, to tragic consequences. This one will stay with me. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/she-wanted-freebirth-no-doctors-online-groups-convinced-her-it-n1140096
Meanwhile, sitting on the same floor as our medical unit (remember offices?), it became clear that this new virus was something serious. So we all became Covid reporters. This was filmed in February which seems like one thousand years ago.
In March, it all went off the rails. Guided by our editor, @JasonAbbruzzese, my best friend and reporting partner, @oneunderscore__ and I tracked the political opportunists, clout chasers & right wing media machines pumping out Covid disinformation. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/conservative-activist-family-behind-grassroots-anti-quarantine-facebook-events-n1188021
As I homeschooled three kids (lol), a monster of misinformation formed. Born online and grown IRL: a many-headed beast of militias & boogaloo boys, anti-vaxxers, QAnon, and tea party types. They found each other on Facebook and united under a president. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/trump-s-liberate-tweets-extremists-see-call-arms-n1186561
As new info about the virus dripped from public health officials, that monster pumped out content of its own—filling in knowledge vacuums with information that proved dangerous. Most notably, we got "Plandemic." https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/plandemic-goes-viral-those-targeted-discredited-scientist-s-crusade-warn-n1202361
But we also had an election! Along with false claims about Covid, the president spent a lot of time seeding the narrative of a “rigged" election to his network of so-called digital soldiers who amplified his claims before a single vote had been cast. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-s-rigged-election-claims-online-megaphone-awaits-n1243309
The president and his allies had successfully employed a Steve Bannon-coined tactic, “flooding the zone with shit.” A week after Election Day, a dizzying array of false claims and conspiracy theories dominated social and ultraconservative media. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/misinformation-thousand-cuts-varied-rigged-election-claims-circulate-n1247476
It’s funny, @oneunderscore__ and @BostonJoan and I were slated to give this talk before it was canceled due to the pandemic. But I couldn’t have even imagined 2020's mess. It's crazy to suggest I know what 2021 will be like, though I thought about it:
https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/12/misinformation-fatigue-sets-in/
https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/12/misinformation-fatigue-sets-in/
I’m very much looking forward to the end of this year, but there were bright spots. I worked more closely with pioneers of online disinformation research — relationships which turned into stories that I never could have done on my own. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/these-disinformation-researchers-saw-coronavirus-infodemic-coming-n1206911
And we saw our reporting have an impact. A week after a scoop uncovering an internal audit which showed thousands of QAnon groups with millions of members, Facebook banned the conspiracy theory from the platform.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-groups-have-millions-members-facebook-documents-show-n1236317 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-qanon-across-its-platforms-n1242339
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-groups-have-millions-members-facebook-documents-show-n1236317 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-qanon-across-its-platforms-n1242339
Because this was a year disinformation became so important, my beat and work got a lot of attention. I talked about it on television, with really smart and supportive colleagues like @AliVelshi, @chrislhayes, @mehdirhasan and others. (tysm)
I was included in a @fastcompany list of legit superstars for being productive and even did a fancy photo shoot (socially distanced and outdoors, of course). If you’re looking for a copy in North Carolina, good luck as my mother has bought them all. https://www.fastcompany.com/90582592/nbc-news-reporter-brandy-zadrozny-plunges-the-darkest-recesses-of-the-internet
I also got to join my favorite podcast, @onthemedia, several times—a real nerd dream come true. Here’s my favorite episode, talking about our story of what happened when the Antifa boogeyman came to Klamath Falls. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-its-going-down
Finally, I really enjoyed my children. Kids are these magical little beings who need so much but give in equal measure in ways I can’t really explain in a tweet. Getting to be with them literally all the time has made me a better mom, and that’s made me a better reporter.
So Merry Holidays and Happy 2021. If you have info on far-right movements, fringe media, machines behind anti-vaccination or health misinformation movements, or anything else in this space that’s a secret but shouldn’t be, tip me or @oneunderscore__, please. See y’all in 2021. 
