Ken,
Thanks for the clarification, though I don't think it significtly
alters my interpretation of your message. As I see it, there is nothing
unique about the Internet that lends itself to disinformation that
traditional media genres don't also employ very effectively.
Consider the case of Alian Gonzalez. We are told repeatedly that
Alian is in the custody of his "relatives". Not one news account in
ten ever uses the word "distant" to describe these relatives.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, the Internet places control of the
truth more completely in the hands of the reader. What the Internet
provides us is the means to access additional information to check the
veracity of any story. The power of disinformation is diluted by abundance
of data available to a critical reader.
Martin
On Sun, 23 Jan 2000, Ken Goodman wrote:
> Perhaps Martin Ryder thought I said misinformation. I was talking about
> disinformation- deliberate lies and distortions to influence people's
> understandings and beliefs. When the sources of such disinformation are
> highly funded and well connected think tanks and the projects they spawn
> they are able to use democratic freedoms to destroy democratic freedom.
> Even well educated people can be taken in by the slick multimedia
> packaging of very deliberate disinformation. Let the buyer beware never
> worked very well before propaganda went high tech.
> Ken Goodman
>
>
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