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Last week our speaker was Deandre Williamson, an award winning journalist from Nassau Bahamas. Ms. Williamson spoke about journalism being risky and journalists having to risk their lives or risk going to prison. She said that having access to proper information can be a matter of life and death. She defined disinformation as false information designed to harm a person, group, organization or country. The COVID-19 pandemic was used as an example to demonstrate how disinformation was spread quickly.
It is easy to spread disinformation quickly because of the internet and social media. Millions of people can receive information or disinformation in a short space of time. One rumor can destroy a person, group, organization or country. An important point that she noted was that disinformation can cause persons to disbelieve what they see on mainstream media as a result of what they see on social media. Ms. Williamson highlighted that good journalists rely on facts and correct information having credible sources.
Ms. Williamson spoke about journalists following a code of ethics and good journalists fighting disinformation by posting information that has credible sources that can be verified. Journalists also use social media at times for stories but would not publish anything they have seen on social media without properly investigating it. The public can also assist in fighting disinformation by demanding good information. If one feels that the media is not providing good or adequate information, they should not hesitate in calling the news room and letting the journalists know.
