Our day usually starts with reading news from any kind of sources that would inform us regarding the activities or important events or anything that concerns our immediate community. However, for the past few years it has been used in a different way where it  divides or misleads people. News that is supposed to help us be informed on a situation or an event that is happening in our country are instead used for propaganda.

According to UNESCO, misinformation refers to any information “that is false but not created with the intention of causing harm.” Meanwhile, disinformation is defined as information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization, or country.

News is so powerful that it has the ability to instantly change someone’s mood.

In contrast, news is supposedly a tool that can be used to alert or inform people about a significant event that has occurred or a topic that may pique someone’s attention. News is so powerful that it has the ability to instantly change someone’s mood or cause trouble in our community as it carries weight and opinions on a particular subject. Thus, when it is misused by an individual or group, it can turn into an extremely deadly tool that causes irreparable harm to our society. 

If this only occurred occasionally, it would be easy to make a phoney news story seem real. Fake news will hinder the dissemination of accurate information and damage our methods for verifying what is accurate. Our internet has been overrun by disinformation these days, and it is quite difficult to quickly identify the real stories behind any information.

As per UNESCO, there are seven types of misinformation and disinformation (mis/disinformation) that could be harmful even to children. One of these is satire or parody – which has no intention to cause harm but has the potential to fool. Another type is fake context or when genuine content is shared with false contextual information. 

With these in mind, it is vital to be equipped with knowledge on how to spot disinformation. To achieve this, you ought to attempt these actions:

• • • • Cross-Check Information: Check other news websites, like ABS-CBN, GMA, and others, for the same story. Be wary if it’s reported by only one source.
      • Check for Manipulation and Bias: Examine the terminology used. False information may be indicated by dramatic headlines, emotive language, or a dearth of reliable proof. 

In the current digital era, we must be aware of when to seek references and other forms of source verification because failing to do so could endanger someone’s life or cause issues in our community. Instead, we should be responsible enough to know and share whatever we feel like sharing. Since people rely on the information that may cause panic, we must be extremely sceptical of this. You can be the light that would shield our community from this harmful use of news in a world full of false information.