Information and Its Counterfeits:
Propaganda, Misinformation and Disinformation

If counterfeiters put pictures of their family members on their handiwork, nobody would be fooled. What constitutes a good fake is how well it resembles the real thing. This document will help you be able to distinguish real information from its three lookalikes, or counterfeits: propaganda, misinformation and disinformation. Understanding the counterfeits will enable you to become a much more critical consumer of information.

Go immediately to:
Information | Propaganda | Misinformation | Disinformation

Information

This is probably what you're looking for when you use the Internet for academic purposes. Information, at its most basic, is data set in a context for relevance. In other words, information tells us something that is understandable and has the potential to become knowledge for us when we view it critically and add it to what we already know.

Information, noun
"Knowledge communicated concerning some particular fact, subject, or event; that of which one is apprised or told; intelligence, news. spec. contrasted with data." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)

For example, "8,000,000" and "9%" are not information; they are bits of data. However, "The population of New York City in 2000 was reported to top 8,000,000 persons, a growth of 9% since 1990" is indeed information. Adding that information to other information and data on the funding of and expansion in public healthcare services in New York City would help city officials to develop knowledge of the stresses related to delivering healthcare services.

Read Topology Maps of Elements of Cyberspace from An Atlas of Cyberspace.

Read "Freedom of Expression on the Internet", a report issued by Human Rights Watch.

You probably found one of these documents more difficult to understand than the other. Both are information. To what extent is the "understandable" or "contextual" nature of information dependent upon our prior knowledge or familiarity with a given topic? Is the value of information intrinsic, or dependent upon the user?

Information should always be accurate and either free of bias or make note of its own bias. Information also needs to be useful for a given purpose to have value.

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Propaganda

Propaganda is a commonly misused term. Because of its historical use, such as in the name of the infamous "National Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda" run by Joseph Goebbels for the Nazi government of Germany, many people associate propaganda with inflammatory speech or writing that has no basis in fact. In reality, propaganda may easily be based in fact, but facts represented in such a way as to provoke a desired response.

Propaganda, noun
"The systematic propagation of information or ideas by an interested party, esp. in a tendentious way in order to encourage or instil a particular attitude or response. Also, the ideas, doctrines, etc., disseminated thus; the vehicle of such propagation." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)

Political campaign speeches and party political statements are often, in reality, a form of propaganda. They fit this definition when they present the opposing point of view in an unfavorable light. All political organizations do this on a variety of issues.

"President Bush has named a one-sided, misguided commission that has only one objective: to privatize Social Security. In so doing, he is ultimately risking the future of the program on which millions of Americans rely for retirement security, widow benefits, and disability payments. In fact, the only security about which this commission seems concerned is the security of the financial industries and special interests who stand to make millions if Social Security is privatized." -- from a press release dated May 3, 2001 from the Democratic National Committee (Read the entire release)

""The American people would be better served if the misguided leadership of the Democratic Party were to lower the destructive rhetoric that drives people apart and engage more constructively in the process," said Ann Wagner, Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee." -- from a press release dated April 26, 2001 from the Republican National Committee (Read the entire release)

Identify the terms used to color the information reported in each press release above. Read the releases again, deleting those terms. How much actual information do these statements contain?

When you read documents or listen to audio or video files that characterize opinions or positions in terms of their integrity or moral content, you may well be in the presence of propaganda. Remember, the purpose of propaganda is to instill "a particular attitude": to encourage you to think a particular way. Think for yourself: base your opinion on the facts, not the hype.

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Misinformation

"Nobody's perfect" is an excellent rule of thumb in most cases but a bad omen when you're looking for information on the no-editorial-control Internet.

Misinformation, noun
"1.The action of misinforming or condition of being misinformed.
2. Erroneous or incorrect information." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)

Misinformation differs from propaganda in that it always refers to something which is not true. It differs from disinformation in that it is "intention neutral": it isn't deliberate, it's just wrong or mistaken.

"It's going to require numerous IRA agents." -- George W. Bush commenting on Al Gore's tax plan, which he felt would lead to a larger Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and probably not a larger Irish Republican Army (IRA), in a campaign speech given at Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 10, 2000 (Read the Salon archive of "Bushisms")

One of the most popular forms of misinformation on the Internet, especially e-mail, is the passing along of urban legends. Urban legends are fabricated or untrue stories that are passed along by sincere people who believe them...and feel the need to "inform" others.

"If you're driving after dark and see an oncoming car with its headlights turned off, DO NOT flash your lights at them. This apparently is a new common gang member initiation "game" that goes like this: the new member being initiated drives along with no headlights on and the first car to flash their headlights at him is now his "target." He is now required to chase that car and shoot at or into the car in order to complete his initiation requirement." -- a recurring urban legend that has appeared in print, fax campaign, and through e-mail (Read the entire Dedham, Massachusetts Police Dept. list of scams)

Misinformation is perhaps the most difficult information lookalike to diagnose. Why? What strategies could you develop to determine whether what you are reading constitutes information or misinformation?

Urban legends may arise from malice or simple misunderstanding. They become misinformation when they are repeated by sincere, but mistaken, people. Everybody makes mistakes...check the validity of everything you read before you put your belief in it and use it.

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Disinformation

You have now reached the lowest of the low. Never underestimate the evil intentions of some individuals or institutions to say or write whatever suits a particular purpose, even when it requires deliberate fabrication.

Disinformation, noun
"The dissemination of deliberately false information, esp. when supplied by a government or its agent to a foreign power or to the media, with the intention of influencing the policies or opinions of those who receive it; false information so supplied." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)

One of the most notorious uses of disinformation was the dissemination of anti-Semitic speeches and writing by the Nazi party in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Unfortunately, disinformation didn't end with World War II. In fact, the Internet is an excellent vehicle for disinformation.

Read Reflections on Human Rights in Tunisia at the Rights-Tunisia.org Web site. This Web site is owned by the EuroMed Group, a lobbying organization based in Paris, France, which has done work for the Tunisian government.

Read 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Tunisia at the U.S. Department of State archive Web site. The State Department issues country reports each year.

These two reports represent very different viewpoints on human rights in Tunisia. One of them may well represent disinformation. One good starting point in determining whether or not a document may constitute disinformation is to find out who owns the document or domain and then find out what that individual or group's mission or beliefs are. Ask yourself what the document owner has to gain by circulating the document.

Always validate or confirm information on individuals, institutions or groups, and countries that you find on the Internet. If you don't know who wrote what you read or why they wrote it, you don't know if it's trustworthy. There are a growing number of disinformation purveyors who don't want you to be able to determine their deliberate lack of trustworthiness.

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©2001 Elizabeth E. Kirk 7.20.2001