Skip to main contentdfsdf

Mary Bernklau's List: Disinformation

    • Misinformation and disinformation

        
       

      These words have different meanings.

       

      Misinformation is an old word meaning incorrect or inaccurate information:

       

      In the popular press there is much misinformation about the mechanics of gene expression.

       

      Disinformation is a newer word meaning information intended to deceive.

       

      Persuading the population of the need for war would require both crude and sophisticated forms of disinformation.

       

      Misinformation arises from ignorance; disinformation is designed to mislead. Misinformation might therefore be considered the lesser of these two evils – if that’s not too strong a word – because unlike disinformation it does not imply deliberate duplicity. Both terms are associated with propaganda, disinformation especially so.

    • Disinformation originates in the deliberate and systemic effort to break down social cohesion and to deprive humanity of perceptive consciousness of our conditions. Disinformation seeks to isolate and divide human beings; to alienate us from our ability to use our senses, our intellect, and our communicative powers in order to identity truth and act on this knowledge. Disinformation is deeply implicated in the history of imperialism, Eurocentric racism, American Manifest Destiny, Nazi propaganda, the psychological warfare of the Cold War, and capitalist globalization. Disinformation seeks to erode and destroy the basis of individual and collective memory, the basis of those inheritances from history which give humanity our richness of diverse languages, cultures, nationalities, peoplehoods, and means of self-determination. The reach and intensity of disinformation tends to increase with the concentration of ownership and control of the media of mass communications.” - Professor Anthony J. Hall 
    • These examples demonstrate possible consequences of inaccurate and deceptive information: suspicion, fear, worry, anger, and decisions resulting from these consequences. As gossip and rumours abound, it is difficult to distinguish among information, misinformation, and disinformation. People enjoy sharing information, especially when it is ‘news’. Although they may not believe such information themselves, they take pleasure in disseminating it through their social networks. In this way, misinformation (inaccurate information) and disinformation (deceptive information) easily diffuse, over time, across social groups.
    • 'while disinformation will typically be inaccurate, it does not have to be inaccurate. It just has to be misleading. So, disinformation is actually not a proper subset of inaccurate information [misinformation]'

    1 more annotation...

1 - 3 of 3
20 items/page
List Comments (0)