Module 4: Media and Information Literacy Competencies to Tackle Misinformation, Disinformation and Hate Speech
Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.
Background and Rationale
The search for truth is the story of mankind. In the past decades, we have witnessed unprecedented innovations in information and communication technologies (ICTs) of previously unimaginable speed and reach. But such inventions and innovations did not always advance the search for truth. In fact, what was said by the Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift in the 16th century still resonates today, "Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it." The 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab study on Twitter validates Swift’s satire when it concluded that "Falsehoods diffused farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than truth in all categories of information.”
This module, Applying MIL Competencies to Tackle Misinformation and Hate Speech is divided into two main parts. First, it examines the different types of misinformation that pervade in the so-called post-truth era. Second, it illustrates how misinformation can breed distrust, division, and intolerance. The module reinforces several previous modules spotlighting for readers how MIL competencies and tools can be brought to bear on seeking and defending truth, prevent the spread of false information, and create an inclusive, participatory, and open society.
The module uses ‘misinformation’ as a generic term, although it also, at another level, distinguishes between disinformation, misinformation, and mal-information including conspiracy theories. It debunks the popular term “fake news” and calls it what it really is – false or misleading content. UNESCO discourages the term fake news, on the basis that if the content is fake, it is not news. Educators and learners should carefully examine misinformation for the many tribulations it has caused and continue to cause to individuals and societies. These include blanket distrust in the factual news media, in science and established institutions, rise in hate speech, intolerance and polarization, disruption of democratic processes (especially free elections), threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and, lately, the emergence of the ‘disinfodemic’ in relation to the coronavirus crisis that has engulfed the world at the time of writing. These are but a few of the damages of misinformation.
Second, the module enables us to understand how news and information can be corrupted to create distrust, division, intolerance, and prejudice among individuals and societies. It examines the perception that mass media and social media are “platforms of choice” in propagating hate speech, discrimination, conspiracy theories or myths, radicalization and violent extremism.
MIL provides the competencies and tools that enable us to prevent the further spread of false information and to push back the purveyors of deceit and intolerance and digital business models that amplify such content and connections amongst those providing it. MIL enables learners to (1) identify misinformation and harmful content, (2) to debunk them through fact-checking, (3) to, when necessary, counter them without further amplifying them through reporting and/or counter messaging. This module presents fact- checking tools and applications that can be included in a MIL toolkit. , Commitment 7, Action 20 accentuates the need to use education as a tool for addressing and countering hate speech by promoting the values and skills of global citizenship education and enhance media and information literacy. in turn associates hate speech with disinformation while encouraging responses that focuses on critical thinking, social and emotional skills and responsible engagement, through global citizenship and human rights education. MIL is about critical thinking, and enabling global citizenship and human rights awareness, in ways that counter misinformation.
How MIL programmes promote inclusion, gender equality, diversity and pluralism is also key to combating misinformation. Gender-sensitive MIL that fosters truth about women’s roles in various societal developments of the world. For instance, intercultural (inter-ethnic) communication and interreligious (interfaith) dialogues can help counter toxic masculinity, discrimination, stereotypical representations and prejudice. MIL can help to contribute to strengthening views from multiple perspectives and historical literacy. The past decades we have witnessed technological breakthroughs which, in some cases, have also led to technological conundrums, informational silos, and even ethical breakdowns.