Independent journalism is the antidote to disinformation

Free Press Unlimited believes that creating an environment in which reliable information can thrive is the best way to counter the negative impact of disinformation on Human Rights. We emphasise two strategies: improving media literacy and bolstering access to information. 

Disinformation poses short-and long-term challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. It poses obstacles to citizens obtaining life-saving information. It manipulates public debate, exacerbating social tensions and inciting violence. Facts need to be prioritised over falsehoods and half-truths. An informed society is an autonomous and empowered society, and less receptive to disinformation.
 

Impact of disinformation in conflicts

In crisis situations across the globe, citizens depend on reliable information to survive. Information is essential to know where to find shelter from airstrikes, how to avoid active warzones, and where to obtain humanitarian aid. By ensuring access to reliable information, independent media act as a lifeline.

However, disinformation is easily circulated during crises, competing with reliable information. Dangerous crisis contexts, poor living conditions, the threat of violence, and demolished media infrastructure impede the ability of journalists to obtain, record, and disseminate reliable information. 

Against this backdrop, the impact of disinformation on vulnerable populations can be disastrous. For example, in October of last year, citizens in Lebanon were falsely alerted as to where bombings took place, instilling fear and sowing chaos. According to our partners from the Silat Wessel outlet in Lebanon, this resulted in people being “scared by all the disinformation and no longer know who and what to believe”. Disinformation has been similarly used as a deliberate tactic of war in Sudan, where warring parties have employed fake accounts on social media to mislead citizens as to where they are safe. 

The long term impact of disinformation

By misleading, confusing, and making reliable information less accessible, disinformation undermines public trust in the media, resulting in long-term destabilizing effects. It can do this by influencing public debate to interfere in election processes, or exploiting social divisions to polarise societies. 

Actors that seek to promote violence and spread uncertainty actively use disinformation to shape public debate, accepted narratives, and perceptions. Disinformation can contain partial truths that are intentionally misinterpreted and misleadingly framed to produce polarizing effects. For example, in Syria, disinformation campaigns by the fallen Assad regime attempt to fuel sectarian discord in the aftermath of the civil war. Similarly, in Sudan, disinformation promoting hateful and harmful rhetoric is used as a tactic used by warring parties to fuel ongoing conflict.

Our approach to addressing disinformation

FPU believes in a two pronged approach in addressing disinformation: investing in media literacy and improving access to diverse and reliable information.

Improving access to reliable information ensures that citizens have the necessary information to make well-informed decisions and engage in public debate. This can be done by supporting and amplifying local independent media, who are most knowledgeable on local issues and discourses.

For reliable information to reach its intended audience, however, media literacy is key. Media literacy enables citizens to make critical judgments about the information they consume using a diversity of sources, making them more resilient to disinformation. 

Together, improving media literacy and access to information ensures that citizens have access to the facts and know how to discern them from disinformation in the long term. In a time where technology facilitates unprecedented volumes of disinformation, reactive strategies such as fact-checking initiatives are like mopping the floor with the faucet still running. The two-pronged strategy is less sensitive to the volume of disinformation in circulation, making it a more sustainable approach to countering the negative effects of disinformation on human rights.

Improving access to reliable information

Through SCIENCE+, an initiative developed by Free Press for Eastern Europe and Free Press Unlimited, this approach has been put into practice. SCIENCE+ was developed in response to the jarring reality revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic of the low public awareness of, and the high volume of disinformation spread about, public health risks in Central and Eastern European countries in the EU. 

SCIENCE+ aims to strengthen the quality of medical journalism and to improve the availability of trustworthy information about public health by facilitating the sharing of expertise and coordination between journalists, academics, fact checkers and officials from more than 40 organizations and institutions. The initiative focuses on small media outlets, which invest in trust-based relations with audiences and adopt audience friendly formats to disseminate reliable news. This is done through knowledge exchange and teaching small outlets how to deal with political pressure and be resilient to disinformation. 

Urgent action is needed

Countering disinformation requires long-term investment in quality journalism and the promotion of media pluralism. There is both a role to be played by state actors in facilitating a free and independent media ecosystem, as well as by social media platforms, who have a responsibility not to amplify mis- and disinformation. States in turn have a responsibility to accordingly regulate platforms. 

However, independent journalism is increasingly under threat due to repressive disinformation laws, economic constraints, and targeted attacks on journalists. Addressing these challenges requires urgent action from states, social media platforms, and the international community. Governments must refrain from weaponising disinformation laws to suppress free expression, ensure financial sustainability for independent media, and protect journalists’ safety. Meanwhile, social media companies must be held accountable for algorithm-driven amplification of disinformation and online hate.

See below our complete input to Human Rights Council’s Advisory Committee’s study on the impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realisation of human rights.