Impress Calls For Urgent Action To Tackle Misinformation
One of the reasons the Totnes Pulse exists is to counter the rise of mis-information. As Southport has witnessed, anywhere can suffer from lies or ‘fake-news’ being spread to incite a section of any community. Every area in the UK is at risk and small hyper-local media organisations like ours are popping up everywhere to fill the void left by the loss of print media and general scrutiny in communities.
As a media group publishing local news, we are members of an organisation called impress. They are in place to monitor publications like ours, both to keep us on the straight-and-narrow and to assist in fact-finding and offering protection from litigious people or businesses that would prefer we didn’t look into things!
After the unrest this week, impress have made a statement that we’ve chosen to copy here in full..
Misinformation
The dangers posed by misinformation have rarely been more stark than they were in Southport on Tuesday night.
In the wake of a horrific incident in the Merseyside town, that remains the subject of police investigation, unfounded rumours regarding the perpetrator’s identity began to spread, seemingly started by accounts masquerading as legitimate news sites.
Despite police and government officials dismissing this information as false, it was spread on social media and promoted by prominent figures, whipping up anger that manifested in discrimination and violence on Tuesday night. While this is not the first time misinformation has led to these outcomes, it needs to be the incident that sparks serious conversations and changes regarding how misinformation is promoted and spread. Impress is therefore calling on politicians, media organisations and community groups to convene and collaborate with urgency to improve public news literacy, journalistic standards and discuss future legislation that can help tackle this ongoing and increasingly threatening problem.
To this end, if you read or hear of any stories you believe to be false or inciteful, please let us know – info@totnespulse.co.uk