"The specificity of reasoning for a false claim could be an improvement, as could the directness of the new label, "false claim." But if that's the case, why not be even more direct and call this deception a "lie" instead? That could be part of the problem: We've been calling it "fake news" and "misinformation" and now "false claim," but they are all just forms of lies."
""In today's fractured information ecosystem, one person's 'misinformation' or 'disinformation' is another's truth. And in that ambiguity, bad actors win." So writes McKenzie Sadeghi of the online platform NewsGuard as she explains their decision to retire those problematic words. This shift, at first glance, seems to mimic an earlier shift away from "fake news," which had become so politicized as to be meaningless. Sadeghi goes on to explain that NewsGuard will replace these words with "language that's more precise, harder to hijack, and more specific.""
NewsGuard is retiring the words "misinformation" and "disinformation" and will use more specific language such as "false claim" to label problematic reporting. The organization plans to assess whether reports fabricate facts, distort events, or impersonate legitimate sources instead of broadly tagging content as misinformation. The move mirrors earlier shifts away from "fake news" that became politically charged. Psychology research on language effects can inform which terminology helps people recognize harms and resist hijacking. Questions remain about whether terms like "false claim" can avoid partisan misuse or whether stronger labels like "lie" would be more accurate.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]