Disinformation has been a topic which has created ripples in context of slashing the vitality of freedom of expression and its core values. The over all concept of disinformation can be understood with a clear definition of false information spread deliberately to deceive.
The main question that comes here is the intention as in today’s world, people are more habituated with social media and communication platform that their communication pattern is set to the trend of what shows most up in front of their technological devices. Similarly, their communication pattern and psychological behaviors has drastically changed creating vulnerability with the preexisting values. These preexisting values are subjected to the credibility of media that has been transcended where media in the past were revered as the only source of credible information.
Likewise, the current trend of news breaking tradition has created a definite pattern in the disinformation trend which has characterized into a more pervasive culture adapting the new technology and communication medium. In such scenario differentiation of the intention and overall evaluation of the process can be a hectic and chaotic.
The differentiation of the Definition and clarity of disinformation can be seen in practice in between developed and developing economies. As in Developed economies the disinformation exists in the very definite way of characterization and limitation where specific indicator of context, intended message, and agenda are priority. Looking back at the lower economies Disinformation exist in a more shuttle way as a culture that caters a politics among various stakeholders from media to other actors who practice it in their daily lives for the specific objective. This creates a polarization of issues creating a chaos of engulfing various sensitive issues in objectifying the overall process.
The Disinformation done through a communication can multiply by the social online platform in terms of creating a ripple effect with more focused indicators that can create a definitive consequence towards a certain subject.
Looking at the current scenario, there may be a confusion about how the overall concept of disinformation is being processed in the developed nation and rest of the world. From the developed nation’s perspective, it’s a manipulation of indicators in context of an event for radicalization of creating an unwanted situation that prolongs with fake data and information. For example, CNBC reports, “The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday a policy to alert the public about foreign cyber operations like Russia’s alleged hacking and disinformation campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia used hacking and disinformation to try to tilt the election in Trump’s favor.”
After the US Election of 2016, the issue of Disinformation and fake news was streamlined in highlighting the overall accountability of media in context of how it’s used and interpreted. With the overall controversy technology and social media has been termed the basic driving force for creating a social environment where the injected false information intensifies the contextual variation of reality in affecting the present scenario. The overall concept of fake news is assumed upon the context of news being fake or manipulated but in journalism when we talk about news. News has certain standards and calibration. It is an equation of information moderated of its credibility and sources. These sources need to be fixed and fact checked in context of any journalistic practice. So, in such context how can news be fake. News is the protagonist form of informational variable of equation created on basis of sources and data.
One thing that needs to be highlighted here is news core values has not changed but the business model and the means of communication has changed. This change in the pattern has caused a variation of deflect which creats gap which has a deflect of occurrence and interpretation.
But today with the defined communication pattern of technology and online media the repercussion of such information spread has been more provocative in terms of the damage and creating a situation.
The problem lies within the overall gaps where technology gives access to the variation of information manipulated and are directed towards a cause or event creating disinformation.
This situation has not only challenged the contextual aspect of a region or a country but has grown as a threat to the overall democratic practice of the ecosystem.
Looking back the trend and culture of Disinformation, in the lower and developing economies disinformation has been a part of the daily lives where every day information and its vitality is manipulated in a desired way creating better use of corresponding results.
The overall concept of disinformation is based on the flexibility of variable that are associated with either a single event or some indicators or supporting platforms that directly work with the overcall process of disinformation. Reality is nobody is questioning the revenue model of news agency that is more prune to popularity crisis are and create a loop hole.
Solution for disinformation
- Media core values literacy
- Online media and social media need to be based on fixed core values
- Factchecking and reporting needs to be mechanism with definite action
In a lot of the case scenario Disinformation and fake news has been a major cause for internet restriction and shutdown. It may start with a limited information manipulated with the variable in creating a vague meaning, but the objective is very clear in creating an unwanted situation. With limited knowledge and practice the government to the authorities of containing the problem click the first Kill Switch which is either restriction or shutdown. This may look like a simple solution but on the other side of the story it creates an unwanted situation of crisis and chaos. In most of the cases the kill switch strategy has failed in containing the situation where virtually it has fueled the situation in highlight the democratic values of the people and democratic system.
