What do those terms mean and how have they become an issue for how elections are covered? An expert weighs in.

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In a world filled with confusion, lies, and disinformation, it can be nearly impossible to figure out what’s real and what isn’t. Instead, it’s on each person to be vigilant in the fight against the spread of lies and deceit. Bell says the complexity of disinformation campaigns makes it hard to spot, “Disinformation is, is very subtle. And the kind of clever part is we don’t know if it’s disinformation or not. And then the second piece is when we do encounter something, that’s clearly misinformation, if it’s an important bit of misinformation, it’s probably worth correcting it.

Misinformation and disinformation are different words for false information. While misinformation may be passed along without malice, or many times by accident, disinformation is the evil cousin. “Disinformation campaigns around the world, that for a number of reasons it is cataloged that they are there to disrupt elections. Disinformation about COVID-19When it comes to disinformation, the news that’s being passed around about COVID-19 might be the largest problem we have. Hyman says there’s a biggie out there now, “There’s the current one out about only 6% of the COVID deaths are actually COVID deaths.

Many call it “fake news,” others might call it something else, but misinformation is false or inaccurate information, and it’s everywhere. Bell said disinformation can be part of a campaign designed to sway opinions in one direction or another. Hyman said it all spreads so quickly because “when you encounter some misinformation or part of a disinformation campaign, you may then share that information on social media, then you become an agent spreading that misinformation further." And you then share that but now you’ve shared something that is part of a disinformation campaign. Not all badBut this isn’t all to say that social media is bad and that all information on social media is bad.

Graham Media Group has announced the launch of Trust Index, a new initiative to combat misinformation campaigns targeting local media. Trust Index (WDIV)“Nothing is more important than getting the story right,” said Emily Barr, president and CEO of GMG. “We are providing timely training and processes to our six newsrooms to help in the fight against misinformation campaigns attacking local news.”Graham Media Group is partnering with Fathm, a global leader in the fight against misinformation, in the effort. “It is fantastic to be working with an organization like Graham Media Group, which is putting a high-priority focus on such an important initiative,” Bell said. Later this year, Bell will complete newsroom training sessions for all Graham Media Group stations.