The problem with fake news: misinformation and disinformation

At a time when some governments frequently accuse the media of disseminating fake news, these experts in the university see the need for the public to be informed on how fake news is generated and disseminated, and how media practitioners can enhance their capacity to verify information they receive from sources, prior to publishing or airing their news stories on TV, radio, print and online.

For communication educators like Arao, David and Khan, social media plays a key role not only in the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation, but in the fight against the spread of the same troubling phenomena as well.

To read more about how fake news affects Philippine society, politics and democracy, please click here: https://www.up.edu.ph/index.php/the-problem-with-fake-news-up-experts-speak-on-the-impact-of-disinformation-on-politics-society-and-democracy/

#fakenews #disinformation #socialmedia

Clarissa David: Fake news itself,
we try to avoid the term now,

because it puts together into one category

many different kinds
of harmful content that's online.

So we make the distinction now
between misinformation and disinformation.

What is common between them

is that information inside is incorrect,
not factual, not accurate.

Danilo Arao: The common
definition of fake news

is that they consist of lies,
misinformation and disinformation.

So, sometimes there are mistakes

that are made

in the reportage of the media.

Some are minor, others are major.

The major mistakes
would have to do with crucial data

as well as analyzes
that would tend to disregard

other aspects of the data
that are gathered.

Rachel Khan: There are
two types of fake news.

Fake news that could be
based on what we say,

what we call misinformation,

meaning "dahil nag-kamali
yung nag-rereport"

or "pwedeng mali kasi yung information
na binigay ng source."

CD: So the difference between
misinformation and disinformation.

In many ways, misinformation is organic.

It spreads, it's natural,

people will disbelieve some things,

and that happens, right?

Disinformation is orchestrated.

It's funded, it's orchestrated,

it's planned.

In politics, it's run by professionals.

It's run by heads of, you know,

prominent PR people
in advertising and campaign staff,

and organized volunteers
in political campaigns.

Subtitles by Maurício Kakuei Tanaka