By Johnny Lawhon, 1910 PR Associate
The spring '23 semester was the first time I had the privilege of working on the Bateman Team at West Texas A&M University. I had a fantastic experience working with the most productive team. Together, the team worked fluidly, and everyone was responsible.
The campaign the Bateman Team worked on was “Fact vs Fib.” The aim of the campaign was to educate the public on the difference between facts, misinformation, and disinformation.
Personally, I learned about news literacy, and how disinformation and misinformation can do tremendous harm in the world. In the wake of a technological society, fake news is being spread exponentially.
I also learned that Canyon and Amarillo are in what we call a “News Desert,” and how people who live in News Deserts are more likely to be targeted with disinformation and misinformation.
The difference between misinformation and disinformation is that misinformation is untrue content that is shared to the public at large without the intent of harm or malice, while disinformation is untrue content that is distributed purposely to cause harm or malice.
The News Literacy Project is one that I would highly recommend. The organization truly cares about coming up with ways to stop the spread of fake news. I have been enlightened on my duty as an individual to help stop the spread of disinformation and misinformation: I need to always check my sources when it comes to sharing content on social media and when expressing my opinion. I know that I want to be one of the ones who spreads facts. What kind of person would you like to be?