{"id":25367,"date":"2024-08-27T15:17:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T22:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=25367"},"modified":"2024-08-28T11:40:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T18:40:09","slug":"the-adulteration-of-the-facts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/the-adulteration-of-the-facts-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The adulteration of facts is a political instrument: UNAM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The adulteration of facts is a political instrument: UNAM. In image: Ra\u00fal Trejo Delarbre, researcher at the UNAM Institute for Social Research, Geysha Gonz\u00e1lez, director of operations at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), based in Washington, DC Screenshot from the video of the conference \u201cDoes disinformation demand media literacy?<\/a>was born.\"\u00a0<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Education is a powerful tool to counteract disinformation, a phenomenon that has become a \u201ccancer\u201d for societies. In the face of the manipulation of information, a digital citizenship is needed that is well-versed in the ability to discern between contents, experts said.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the press conference \u201cDoes disinformation demand media literacy?<\/a>, organized by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the United States Embassy in Mexico, Ra\u00fal Trejo Delarbre, researcher at the Institute for Social Research of this university, stated that the distortion of facts has been a deliberate practice throughout world history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along the same lines, Geysha Gonz\u00e1lez, director of operations at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), based in Washington, DC, explained that disinformation is the manipulation of information with the intention of blurring the line between what is reality and what is fiction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, \u201caggressor actors are trying to push false narratives\u201d that attempt to suppress that line, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adulteration is a political instrument, but the characteristic of today is that with the rise and global and multitudinous use of social-digital networks \u201cwe are more exposed to the fabrication of falsehoods.\u201d Unlike what we see in the media, the information that appears in them is de-hierarchized, jumbled, confusing and brief, Trejo Delarbre said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The specialist in media and social-digital media, and member of the Institute for the Democratic Transition, the Mexican Association for the Right to Information and the Mexican Association of Communication Researchers, added that there are people who only learn about political and electoral issues through the networks; they do not read newspapers and their prejudices are reinforced.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this regard, he said that, additionally, we are currently faced with the possibility that these digital tools, in addition to the lies told by political actors, contain false content created with generative artificial intelligence resources, which create videos, audios or texts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis way of deceiving people is just one way of distorting the public debate that is necessary in any democracy,\u201d he warned.<\/span><\/p>\n

In light of this, he proposed that companies label their content in an indelible manner so that it is known whether each material is artificial or not. In addition, the role of the media is fundamental because \u201cno one can assess or examine the content better than information professionals,\u201d he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Trejo suggested that society at least try to discriminate between false and true content, and that each person ask themselves whether it is true or not before forwarding it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom of expression is sacred and must be inviolable, he said, but it does not exist if there are no guarantees from the State; and this requires plurality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

"There are governments that set themselves up as truth-tellers, and want to tell society what is false and what is true. And here we face the risk that the biases that each one has will prevail and, instead of verifiers, we will have 'pontiffs' of truth," he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this reason, he insisted, we must encourage digital citizenship, without forgetting that there is no freedom that is absolute and does not require laws. The same applies to freedom of expression to protect the privacy and honorability of people against defamation, he concluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Returning to the use of the word, Geysha Gonz\u00e1lez explained that this phenomenon is a \u201ccancer in our societies,\u201d which affects communication with each other, health (as occurred with the issue of vaccines during the pandemic), the way in which important issues are discussed, and \u201cit separates us.\u201d Moreover, it does so effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social media, he recalled, is a business that is not based on true or false facts, but on how much time the public spends on them. Therefore, he considered, the most appropriate way to counter misinformation \u201cis the individual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In this regard, he mentioned that misinformation is like smoking: addictive; the world loves to know, \u201cclick,\u201d follow; \u201cbut cigarettes cause cancer, and despite this, people decide to smoke.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As citizens concerned about democracy and the future, the most important thing should be individuals, who must verify the information, and seek the truth and the facts. \u201cThe citizen has the responsibility, and the power, to know the truth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The most valuable thing about democratic societies is that no one can restrict freedom of expression; \u201cyou can say your opinion and express yourself.\u201d In that sense, the solution is not to restrict it. Civil society and journalists, for example, can participate in verifying what is true, he stressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

One in three people in the United States get their news information on TikTok. Each individual has a responsibility and needs the tools to identify it on social media, Gonzalez added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democracy is failing and losing in the global competition as to what is real and what is false; \u201cwe are not countering the falsehoods that are spread in society.\u201d To achieve this, he reiterated, education is the most powerful tool.<\/span><\/p>\n

You may be interested in:<\/strong> \u201cDonald Trump has lost strength because of his polarizing comments\u201d: Anna Lee Mraz, sociologist<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Estamos en WhatsApp.\u00a0Empieza a seguirnos ahora] Escucha esta nota:   La educaci\u00f3n es la herramienta poderosa para contrarrestar la desinformaci\u00f3n, fen\u00f3meno que se ha constituido en un \u201cc\u00e1ncer\u201d para las sociedades. Ante la manipulaci\u00f3n de informaci\u00f3n se requiere una ciudadan\u00eda digital entendida como la que permite discernir entre los contenidos, afirmaron expertos. En la conferencia […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usworld","8":"category-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25367"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25427,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25367\/revisions\/25427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}