Author Topic: Differentiation between misinformation and disinformation  (Read 17389 times)

Justine A.

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Differentiation between misinformation and disinformation
« on: June 07, 2022, 07:02:49 AM »
Sir, can you illustrate through examples the difference between "misinformation" and "disinformation"?

Joe Carillo

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Re: Differentiation between misinformation and disinformation
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2022, 12:12:14 PM »
Information is, of course, the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence presumably in a balanced or unbiased manner. Misinformation is the spreading of bad, wrong, doubtful, suspicious, or untruthful information whether inadvertently or deliberately. And disinformation is the deliberate and often covert spreading of false information to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.

                                                      IMAGE CREDIT: NTCENTER.BG

Owing to differences in the cultural, social, religious, political, and educational upbringing of people, I am extremely hesitant to provide illustrative examples of the differences between "misinformation" and "disinformation." It depends entirely on the mindset or point of view of the source and spreader of the information, on one hand, and that of the target or receiver of the information, on the other. This is of course very much in evidence in the perpetual clash of opinions about anything big or small in the public sphere--whether in mainstream media commentaries or social media postings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and what have you. It takes a lot of doing, patience, and sufferance to thresh out truth from the everyday barrage of assertions by people from day to day. And frankly, Justine, it will just be literally stirring the hornets' nest to attempt to classify which of those assertions are "misinformation" and which are "disinformation." Just make a small try doing this and there will be no end to the stings and slings raining down on you from the enraged purveyors whether of fact, falsehood, or fabrication.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2022, 08:40:43 PM by Joe Carillo »