Blog Post #10 - EOTO 2 Reaction

My Reaction to Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation

For the second EOTO presentation, I found Elliot Baratta's talk about misinformation, disinformation, and malformation interesting and relevant especially during a presidential election year. These types of misleading information are increasingly important because, being users of the internet, social media, and television, means we are constantly in contact with information not verified with proof or fact. As Baratta pointed out, something as small as the drinking age at Disney World to Trump visiting the troops can be fabricated to tell a much different story. 

First, Baratta talked about misinformation. Misinformation is false information given to someone without the intent to mislead. This information is frequently labeled "fake news" and can be seen everywhere, including in news outlets, social media, articles, and more. In his presentation, Baratta gave an example where ABC reported that Disney World was lowering its drinking age; however, their information came from something other than a credible source and was proven false.

On the other hand, Baratta also talked about disinformation, which is false information fabricated to intentionally harm, mislead, or manipulate. He stated that this type of information is frequently found regarding politics but can be found everywhere. Baratta stated that in 2019, news reported that Trump did not visit his troops during Thanksgiving or Christmas; however, this was completely false. In fact, he was the first president to visit on both holidays in the same year.

Finally, Baratta discussed malinformation. This term is one that I have not heard of before, and I found it the most interesting. Malinformation is true information that is taken out of context to make something seem worse than it is. One example that Baratta gave was an edited video of Trump throwing fish food into a pond impatiently while visiting Japan's Prime Minister. However, the full video shows that he was following the lead of the Prime Minister, and did not seem to have any ill intent. 

I thought Baratta's presentation was important because, as internet users, we run into false information constantly. For example, when watching TikTok, I constantly verify videos I see through my web searches. From my experience, I believe up to half of what I see is completely false or taken out of context. It is frustrating because trusting everything I see would save me so much time in research; however, this will always be a problem. It is important to always be cautious of what you hear and see which is an important part of media literacy.