There’s a lot going on in our country right now, and it has been that way for the last several years. I don’t know about you, but some mornings I wake up, turn on the news, and feel like I’ve suffered mental whiplash after only five minutes. This is one of the reasons I want people to know how to find accurate information for themselves. As a matter of fact, one specific situation caused me to start thinking about this months ago.
In September 2024, Hurricane Helene caused an unprecedented level of flooding, material damage, and tragic deaths in areas of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina in the Appalachian Mountains. Here in Tennessee, we were inundated with information from a variety of sources including first-hand accounts, news media interviews, and social media content.
(NOTE: I am going to insert some information here because I’m not going to provide a link to the video that I’m discussing. The content creator chooses to wade into political commentary as it pertains to his beliefs and what was occurring in the aftermath of the hurricane. I’m not into political commentary as a writer so I’m going to summarize his short video without any judgment. What matters the most here was his honest approach in dealing with what turned out to be disinformation.)
This content creator has a channel on YouTube, and he interviewed someone concerning events in the wake of the flooding. After posting his original video, another person contacted the content creator to inform him that some facts had been reported inaccurately by the person he interviewed. When the content creator did a bit more research, he felt that it was only appropriate to apologize to his viewers and report the information correctly even though the accurate information didn’t support his personal political opinions. I applaud this content creator for acting responsibly, and I feel bad that he trusted someone who ultimately chose to provide inaccurate information to YouTube viewers.
Let’s pause for a moment here to understand a couple of things because I had to go research these two topics myself. What is misinformation, and what is disinformation? They aren’t the same thing, but they are related.
According to the current definition on Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, misinformation is “incorrect or misleading information.” Disinformation is “false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.” (Links to these definitions and discussions will be listed below.) The key here is the intent of the person, people, or organization providing the information. Misinformation could simply be a mistake in which information is reported incorrectly or if someone doesn’t do enough research and misses key information. Disinformation is the intentional delivery of false information to mislead people.
This content creator delivered misinformation (unintended) in his original video because the person he interviewed provided disinformation (intended). To put a finer point on it, the person interviewed lied to the content creator, and when the content creator realized it, he recorded a video to correct that by telling the truth. This content creator did his own research after a tip-off about what happened, and he publicly acknowledged his error and apologized.
This is one of those “enough is enough” kind of moments. Let’s keep a few things in mind when we access online content. Anyone may post on YouTube, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Reddit, Instagram, Vimeo, etc. as long as they agree to and abide by the community guidelines. Furthermore, anyone can create a website and report whatever they want. There is no foolproof way of preventing the posting of inaccurate information. The online world is far too vast for the monitoring of everything out there. Furthermore, every person online or in the media has a perspective that may bleed into their reporting of facts so that the facts become tainted by opinion. That’s where our own research skills come into play.
RESEARCH SKILLS MATTER!
I’m not trying to lecture anyone here. What I want is to empower you to find true information for yourself. When someone says something to you, I want you to be able to check that information for yourself. The first step is recognizing when information is being presented inaccurately. Just because you love your favorite writer, influencer, YouTuber, etc. doesn’t mean they can’t be wrong. Ask yourself if you know how to spot that information and seek out the truth for yourself. We’ll dive into fact-checking so we can learn how to investigate truth, misinformation, and disinformation for ourselves.
References to learn more about misleading information:
Merriam-Webster’s definition and examples of “misinformation”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misinformation
Merriam-Webster’s definition and examples of “disinformation”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinformation
Britannica’s article on “misinformation and disinformation”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/misinformation-and-disinformation
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And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, NKJV)
All Things Subject to Change 