DERRY JOURNAL editorial: With us you can believe it

The UN public health agency insisted that viruses cannot travel on radio waves or mobile networks; that adding pepper to your soup does not prevent or cure COVID-19; that houseflies don’t spread the virus; and that drinking alcohol does not protect you against it.

This isn’t satire, this is the sad pass we’ve come to at the start of the third decade of the 21st century.

RTÉ, the national broadcaster, also felt it necessary to step up the fight againt ‘fake news.’ It’s running a high profile advertising campaign under the ‘Truth Matters’ banner advising citizens not to believe everything they read, see or hear on social media platforms and the internet. It is right to do so.

Steven Taylor, a Professor and Clinical Psychologist at the University of British Columbia in ‘The Psychology of Pandemics’ which was published last December cited research which showed that in a 2018 survey ‘20 to 30 per cent of YouTube videos about emerging and infectious diseases contained inaccurate or misleading information.’

He further pointed out how a 2018 survey of YouTube videos about the Zika virus found 24 per cent contained misleading information and an analysis of Facebook during the Zika crisis found misleading posts about the illness were far more popular than posts presenting accurate public health information.

‘Fake news’ has always been with us. However, twenty or thirty years ago we would have ignored the drunk in the pub, the crank in the café or the conspiracy theorist in the bingo hall. Now their daft and dangerous nonsense can literally travel around the world and back while the truth is lacing up its boots.

While the advent of social media has been hugely positive in democratising debate, improving communications, connecting people, and promoting creativity, there are good reasons why RTÉ is running its campaign.

Traditional media organisations like RTÉ and the Derry Journal invest in journalism and abide by strict ethical and professional guidelines with respect to truth and fairness.

In Ireland and Britain, in particular, newspapers and broadcasters are subject to some of the strictest defamation laws on the planet and would be subject to huge damages if we printed or aired some of the libels that are so commonplace on social media feeds.

This paper is further regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and the Editors’ Code of Practice.

This makes us accountable for what we print and helps to protect individual rights, uphold high standards of journalism and maintain freedom of expression for the press.

Moreover, all of the Derry Journal editorial staff are members of the National Union of Journalists and as such bound by the trade union’s code of conduct.

Among the code’s stipulations are that members ‘strive to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair’ and that they do their ‘utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies.’

By comparison , the internet is like the ‘Wild West’ with little or no regulation and damaging falsehoods being bandied about on a regular basis. This is worrying and has real world effects at a time when Derry is in the midst of a once-in-a-century health crisis.

‘New media’ needs to take responsibilty for what is published on its platforms. Some of the signals and messages that our citizens have been getting from their social media feeds throughout this pandemic have been unhelpful to say the very least.