Disinformation in the Media

The media is full of false information from rumors about actor, politicians or local news to biased reports of news articles with a lack of proper research or simply someone’s ill-intentions about another person, place or thing. When we scroll our social media feeds we are fed hundreds of questionable information through re-posts of our friends and their friends. So often posts are based off of an alarming title and intruiguing subtitle. Sometimes information is re-posted without even reading the article. For example, the Hobby Lobby scare where they were reported as closing their doors becasue of some new federal regulations that went against their morals. They same article was re-circulated many times, changing the date to make it seem current. A Statement was later released after many concerned customers contacted Hobby Lobby about the rumor, that is was, in fact, false. The social media crowd is relatively trusting of information coming across their feeds

News waters, likewise have their favorite news channels and don’t often engage in the news releases or articles from other sources. This creates a very narrow path towards finding correcting information. It opens the door to biased information at the least. For example consider all the news coverage on President Trump that have a major left or right sided lean. The “baffled” attitude towards First Lady Melania, and the shoes she wore to visit the Hurricane Victims, was especially reported in a biased manner. New York Times posted an Article that told a relative unbiased story and showing the First Lady before and after the plane ride and her change of shoes along the way. However, most articles only talked about the heels she wore to get on the plane. 

Professor Don Fallis researched the idea of unconscious bias in his up and coming book, “Routledge Handbook of Misinformation, “Even when politicians believe what they say about an issue, such as climate change, they often believe it becasue it fits with what htey already believe rather than because the evidence supports it. Thus, they can be a source of misinformation that results from unconscious bias.” (Fallis, 2) Fallis also indicates the difference between misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation is information that was posted or reported falsely by accident or unknowingly or becasue of the unconscious bias. Disinformation, on the other hand, is when infomration is posted or reported by someone who is actively trying to relay false information such as lying about who you really are online.

As readers and viewers it is our job to determine whether our source is factual and reliable. What are some ways we can check our sources for good infomration? Some suggestions are researching the authors and publishers. Does the website look and feel legitimate? Google facts to see if there are other articles posted about the same thing. Most importantly, it’s important not to re-post information on social media news feeds without checking for reliability.

References:

Fallis, Don. Forthcoming. “Mis- and Dis-information” Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Information