The Age of DisInformation

The Internet is changing our information space. Accessing information has never been so easy. Media distribution has been facilitated at remarkable speeds, but so to has the spread of lies.

Indeed, in 2014 the World Economic Forum polled its 1500-member Network of Global Agenda Council to rank the world’s most pressing trends. Among the top 10 was the “rapid speed of misinformation online.”

How did the Internet change traditional media coverage? Are journalists and consumers really equipped to sort through fact and fiction in real time? Are we aware of just how much the media environment has changed? Can we compete with the slick psychological savvy of propagandists?

This series of articles explores a few of the ways the information environment – and media as a result – are changing and how this is contributing to an Age of Disinformation. Drawing from original research as well as other sources, we’ll consider:

• How content is changing;
• How we participate in the spread of (dis)information;
• Types of deliberate disinformation; as well as,
• Means for tackling the misinformation problem.

Read Posts in The Age of (Dis)information Series