The silent assassin of trust

The crisis in the media is creating information deserts at the local level, making it fertile ground for disinformation. A British study based on an analysis of 125,000 messages reveals that the 4.4 million citizens in these journalistic wastelands are three times more likely to end up spreading misleading messages originating from groups operating on social networks at a local level. According to this research, 1 in 26 Facebook messages related to news contain disinformation, and two out of five groups contained at least one piece of misleading information (and often several more) when analyzing the last 1,000 messages on any given topic. On X, the ratio of manipulated or false content exceeds 25%. The co-author of the study stated that “local disinformation is the silent killer of trust in the United Kingdom”.

The question is inevitable. And in Catalonia? Fortunately, the local media's information undergrowth is distinctly Mediterranean: they are not in the most splendid or fertile situation in the world, but they are stubbornly resilient, and serve as benchmarks in certain specific areas. However, disinformers know that they don't need to operate in an information desert to gain traction. This is where what we technically call “the liar's dividend” comes into play: their gain is not just in trying to pass off a falsehood, but, above all, in spreading the idea that it's impossible to know whether things are one way or another. That's why it's important – as we have done with food when identifying healthy and problematic ingredients – to promote the distinction between journalism that meets standards and the rest. And for the media to do their job well, of course. Only with this demand can trust be regained, which is currently bleeding out with a couple of tweets about immigration lodged in the temples, and a Facebook post about vaccines festering in the groin.