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  • Snopes Digest Issue #109: Covering Trump's tariffs, Yellowstone rumor gone wild — and more

Snopes Digest Issue #109: Covering Trump's tariffs, Yellowstone rumor gone wild — and more

Here's what's happening inside the Snopes newsroom

Author

Izz LaMagdeleine
April 16, 2025

April 16, 2025・Issue #109

1. Fact-checking highlight: Trump’s tariffs

Let's talk about what's going on with Snopes: the newsroom, the products, the people, and everything and anything that makes Snopes, Snopes. This month, Web Producer/Production Editor Izz Scott LaMagdeleine gathered some of Snopes’ best work surrounding President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Tariffs have become a major part of Donald Trump’s second presidency. He announced higher rates on imports from dozens of countries on April 2 — only to announce a "pause" hours after they were implemented a week later. Snopes has been hard at work tracking these changes as they are announced, as well as fact-checking specific claims about them. Here is a short round-up of our work covering Trump’s tariffs:

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2. Behind the Snopes: Keeping up with Trump’s tariffs:

From Reporter Anna Rascouët-Paz:

Based on the coverage we did of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, we knew tariffs would be a major element of Donald Trump’s second term.

Fairly quickly, we realized that his application of tariffs would not follow a predictable strategy. Further, it appeared they had different purposes. As he announced them, he implemented some quickly — as was the case with Mexico and Canada — and pulled others almost as soon as he’d announced them.

As such, we recognized we needed a clear way to visualize the tariffs as he mentioned them, a table that would reflect the current state of tariffs without getting lost in the details of Trump’s exchanges with countries on which he imposed the duties. Keeping the tracker up to date is a daily job, but it also helps our team provide context for new stories on tariffs.

3. Overheard at Snopes

We look into a lot of weird stuff at Snopes. We imagine it's very interesting to be a fly on the wall, so we wanted to give you a look at some of the things we have to say when fact-checking.

Overheard: if I read this headline I'd be calling up my doctors like we need to have a chat

— Reporter Taija PerryCook

4. Behind the Snopes: A Yellowstone rumor gone wild

From Senior Reporter Jordan Liles:

Back in March, Facebook users began sharing a copied-and-pasted rumor claiming hundreds, or possibly thousands, of grizzly and black bears had formed a blockade at one of the entrances to Yellowstone National Park, either in Montana or Wyoming. A fake picture accompanied the posts appearing to show a massive gathering of bears blocking a tree-lined road.

Snopes received questions about the matter, as well as quite a lot of interest for our fact check once we published. From what we could gather, the popularity of the rumor likely stemmed from the fake photo itself. A user generated the image with an artificial-intelligence (AI) tool.

Also, with Yellowstone being one of the more prominent U.S. national parks, users perhaps became interested about the matter with the recent news of President Donald Trump’s administration firing National Park Service workers — some who later were reinstated following court orders.

5. Since we last met: Ida B. Wells intern

From Executive Editor/Managing Editor Doreen Marchionni:

I noticed an X post last year from a mentor encouraging journalism students to apply for a summer internship via the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, based at Morehouse College, an historically Black college. Wells is considered the forerunner of U.S. investigative reporting, perhaps best-known for her anti-lynching work. On a whim, I reached out to the Society director and asked if the organization would consider placing one of its interns at Snopes as a partner newsroom. Now, this many months later, it’s about to happen. Cindy (Xinyi) Shan, who’s finishing up her journalism master's degree at Columbia University in New York City, will be joining Snopes on June 2 for the summer. We plan to sic her on all kinds of mini-investigations, probably related to U.S. politics and the economy. Look for her byline soon.

Mental Health Break

Snopes investigates some grim and depressing claims, so we know how important it is to your mental health to see something silly, funny, or just plain heartwarming. Here are some links that made us smile.

6. Snopes-worthy Media

What Snopes is paying attention to across the web.

— Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab

— Juliana Kim, NPR

— Pablo Torre Finds Out, Meadowlark Media

Thanks for reading this edition of the Snopes Digest. We send new issues of the newsletter every month, so please add this email address to your white list and keep an eye out for the next issue.

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