With the growth of “fake news” and other digital disinformation, media consumers have been inundated at an unprecedented scale with content that seeks to influence their attitudes and behaviors­—much of it taking place covertly. Dr. Michelle A. Amazeen will highlight some of her research on the nature and effects of mediated persuasion that blurs commercial interests, journalism, and politics. Leveraging the Persuasion Knowledge Model—a theory of how people’s understanding of persuasion affects their ability to cope with persuasive attempts—her work expands what we know about the dispositional and situational factors that affect whether and when people recognize and how they respond to covert persuasion in digital news contexts. Beyond helping news consumers to identify covert persuasive attempts, Dr. Amazeen will discuss the implications of this research on the journalism industry and policymakers who seek to make our media environment less deceptive.