Scientists are always doing research. Occasionally, they do something catchy and it gets covered by the mainstream media. I'm going to talk about how that science gets from the lab bench to the Twitter feed, and trace the evolution of facts as science becomes journalism. Next, I'll show you how math and science actually show up in mainstream journalism even when the stories have nothing to do with science! Finally, I'll make the case for scientific literacy as a necessary skill for understanding the news, promoting social justice and participating in the democratic process. Bio: Anna is an assistant professor of math at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. She does research in number theory, specializing in lattices and coding theory. In 2013 she was the AAAS-AMS Mass Media Fellow and spent 10 weeks writing science stories at National Public Radio in Washington, DC. She likes to think, blog and Tweet about math, especially the intersection of math and social justice. You can follow her @extremefriday.