Resistant Communiqués: Journalism, Social Media, and the Age of Disinformation with Anna Lekas Miller

Resistant Communiqués

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Resistant Communiqués: Journalism, Social Media, and the Age of Disinformation with Anna Lekas Miller

Resistant Communiqués Podcast, S2, E1

Resistant Communiqués Podcast, Anna Lekas Miller, Jamila Hammami, and Zeb Larson

Feb 28, 2026

Welcome to Season 2 of Resistant Communiqués!

First, we want to thank our incredible listeners and co-learners. The Resistant Communiqués Podcast hit Substack’s top 100 Rising in Education the first week of January 2026! Thank you. We are forever grateful to our listeners for their support.

Now, onto our first episode of our second season…

As we end February, the Resistant Communiqués Collective is honored to present Season II, Episode I of the Resistant Communiqués Podcast, “Resistant Communiqués: Journalism, Social Media, and the Age of Disinformation with Anna Lekas Miller”, featuring Anna Lekas Miller, an award-winning author and journalist who tells intimate stories of love, migration, and resistance across borders.

Our first episode of the second season comes at a critical time. The information ecosystem of the 21st century is overwhelming. The internet makes it possible to receive more information than ever before, but it also amplifies sources of disinformation and rumor. Social media makes connections easier, but it also rewards inflammatory content and creates feedback loops that can distort audiences’ grasp of reality. Even as it boosts the reach of traditional journalism and news, those sources have been undermined by the Internet’s business model and other socioeconomic forces. The result is akin to trying to drink from a fire hose.

Our incredible guest this month is Journalist and award-winning author of Love Across Borders, Anna Lekas Miller. Anna discusses the historical and contemporary impact of disinformation and misinformation in today’s political landscape, the impact on the ICE occupation of Minneapolis, and the state of journalism and social media.

We will learn about some of the limitations placed on journalists in this environment, the sometimes-toxic role of social media and artificial intelligence (AI), the possibilities inherent in new forms of citizen journalism, and how we can build better, more ethical information ecosystems.

Anna Lekas Miller is an award-winning author and journalist who tells intimate stories of love, migration, and resistance across borders. As a journalist, she has lived in and reported from Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq, where she covered the stories of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and Syrians fleeing Assad’s regime. She chronicled the fall of ISIS in Iraq and the great migration of refugees to Europe.

While conflict reporters often report from a distance from their stories, Anna’s life was shaped by it--her partner, Syrian journalist Salem Rizk, was kicked out of Turkey and needed to seek asylum in the United Kingdom. This journey inspired Anna to explore how people’s love lives are shaped by borders and migration, culminating in her first book, Love Across Borders, which weaves together the real-life love stories of refugees and immigrants who have stood up to border regimes to be together. The book won the 2024 Arab American Book Award and has galvanized countless discussions about border policies and their impact on ordinary people across the United States.

Since October 7th, Anna has returned to her roots, reporting on Palestine and drawing on her Middle East reporting to dispel disinformation while developing a novel that satirizes Western media coverage of the Middle East. At this moment, she is focused on dispelling the Trump administration’s narratives on migrant communities and giving people the tools they need to resist ICE and advocate for their neighbors.

Here is our interview with Anna Lekas Miller.

Listen, share, and study with us using the multimedia syllabus below.

Luta,
Resistant Communiqués Collective

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Note: This is not an exhaustive bibliography; it serves as a starting point for further research.

Please note: Due to Substack’s interface, some of the bibliography items below are directly linked to the items instead of being correctly formatted with a hyperlink. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Media Literacy

Ayala Rios, A. J. (2024, November 22). The Decline of Media Literacy and How to Navigate the Ocean of Information. The Student Movement, 109(9). https://www.andrews.edu/life/student-movement/issues/2024-11-22/id_medialiteracy.html

Disinformation and Immigrant Communities

Butcher, A.-H. N. and P. (2022, August 29). Disinformation on Migration: How Lies, Half-Truths, and Mischaracterizations Spread. Migrationpolicy.Org. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/how-disinformation-fake-news-migration-spreads
Capodice, N. (2021, June 29). Japanese American Internment. Civics 101: A Podcast. https://www.civics101podcast.org/civics-101-episodes/japaneseamericaninternment
McKanders, K., & Harvard Law Review. (2024, November 18). Politics of Belonging: Anti-Black Racism, Xenophobia, and Disinformation. Harvard Law Review. https://harvardlawreview.org/blog/2024/11/politics-of-belonging-anti-black-racism-xenophobia-and-disinformation/

The State of Journalism in the 21st Century

Northwestern University-Medill. (2024, October 23). Medill report shows local news deserts expanding—Medill—Northwestern University. Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. https://www.medill.northwestern.edu/news/2024/medill-report-shows-local-news-deserts-expanding.html
Setty, R. (2026, February 3). The Fog of Content. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/analysis/the-fog-of-content-georgia-fort-don-lemon-arrests-streamers-minnesota-minneapolis-ice-trump.php
Tameez, H. (2026, February 13). Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows. Nieman Lab.https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/washington-post-layoffs-disproportionately-affected-union-members-of-color-preliminary-guild-data-shows/

Social Media and Disinformation

Miller, A. L. (2025, May 13). Countering the Zionist disinformation campaign. Prism. https://prismreports.org/2025/05/13/canary-mission-zionist-disinformation/
Oladipo, G. (2024, September 18). ‘Racism is embedded in our society’: How attacks on immigrants in Ohio highlight US disinformation crisis. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/18/trump-republicans-springfield-aurora-political-disinformation
Thuy Vo, L. (2025, August 4). Guide to Investigating Social Media Algorithms. Global Investigative Journalism Network. Global Investigative Journalism Network. https://gijn.org/resource/guide-investigating-social-media-algorithms/
van Ess, H. (2025, September 1). Reporter’s Guide to Detecting AI-Generated Content. Global Investigative Journalism Network. Global Investigative Journalism Network. https://gijn.org/resource/guide-detecting-ai-generated-content/

Citizen-Journalism

Eaton, K. (2021, January 22). A citizen journalist’s legacy lives on: Telling Tulsa’s hidden secrets. International Journalists’ Network, International Center for Journalists. International Journalists’ Network. https://ijnet.org/en/story/citizen-journalists-legacy-lives-telling-tulsas-hidden-secrets
Traub, L. (n.d.). Citizen Journalism is Not Yet Credible Enough to Carry Out Its Goals | Department of English. Interpolations, University of Maryland, (Fall 2013/Spring 2014). https://english.umd.edu/research-innovation/journals/interpolations/interpolations-fall-2013spring-2014/citizen-journalism

Additional Works and Themes Discussed in the Episode

Lekas Miller, A. (2023). Love Across Borders: Passports, Papers, and Romance in a Divided World (First Edition). Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
Miller, A. L. (2026, February 9). A Guide to Meaningful Action Against ICE. Truthdig. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/a-guide-to-taking-meaningful-action/

Additional Research Resources Mentioned in the Episode

404 Media. (2026, February 26). 404 Media. 404 Media. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). (n.d.). Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/
Sahan Journal. (2026). Minnesota News for Immigrants and Communities of Color. Sahan Journal. Sahan Journal. https://sahanjournal.com/
WIRED. (2026). WIRED. WIRED. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/