How Communicators Can Help Fight

How Communicators Can Help Fight Disinformation

By Bob Pearson and Christina Nemr

WHEN IT COMES TO our home and the outdoors, we all want to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

When it comes to our education, we want clean copy and trust what we see and hear.

Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a wave of information pollution (https://greentarget. com/insights/research-report/fake-news-2020) that is impacting our planet.

Since we all want to trust the content that we read, hear or see, the question is, how do we get better at doing this in a media world, where there are fewer gatekeepers and more channels being created every day?

The answer is that there is a growing series of solutions designed to make the information world safer. We can all play a role in vetting and potentially using some of these tools and platforms.

It's Easy

The backdrop is simple. The ability to exaggerate the truth, spin a conspiracy, start a hoax or spread falsehoods has never been easier due to the availability of so many channels operating without gatekeepers.

This relatively new area of disinformation (www.npr.org/2020/10/24/927300432/robocalls-rumorsand-emails-last-minute-election-disinformation-floodsvoters) can be broadly defi ned as false information deliberately created to mislead, create distrust and sow uncertainty and chaos.

Though used interchangeably, disinformation is not to be confused with misinformation, which, while also being false information, is created and spread unintentionally by citizens around the world.

The key question is what can we do about it?

It is here that we look to you to join us in being part of a larger gatekeeper community to protect our global village.

What’s Available?

There are tools, approaches and applications (www.prnewsonline.com/fake-news-AI-research-Burke) that can help spot disinformation, how to expose it and push back against it.

For example, First Draft News (https://fi rstdraftnews. org) is working to help everyone from the average news consumer to newsrooms understand and deal with disinformation. It provides easy-touse fl ashcards, accessible text courses, and illuminating webinars.

Poynter (www.poynter.org/poynter-training) off ers similar trainings and courses designed for the classroom, offi ce or newsroom.

An online hub like Disinfo Cloud (https:// disinfocloud.com) highlights the latest technologies and tools to help fi ght disinformation. It features social listening tools common in the marketing industry as well as consumer-friendly browser extensions. These help discern factual information from contested information and reputable sites from low-quality news sites that frequently peddle misleading information.

These tools are assessed according to their perceived strengths and weaknesses and their ability to help combat disinformation. Disinfo Cloud users determine which tools might best help them as they navigate the information environment. In addition, it compiles the latest news, research, and events around the world to help keep users