Abstract
A wide variety of misinformation and disinformation is prevailing, notably in the digital information space. When the Noto peninsula Earthquake occurred on January 1, 2024, posts that sparked people’s fear by claiming “it was caused by a man-made earthquake” and fake rescue requests were appeared on social media one after another. Also of concern is the spread of fake videos exploiting generative AI, which are becoming more elaborate year by year.
One countermeasure against them is fact-checking. It is expected to be an effective method of determining the authenticity of information, and some mass media are actively working on this. However, the reality is that fact-checking by the media is still limited and yet to become widespread.
At the NHK BUNKEN FORUM 2024 that was held online on May 24, 2024, a session themed “How to Confront Misinformation and Disinformation: What Can the Media Do?” was held to examine issues surrounding mis- and disinformation. With five panelists form media and fact-checking organizations, we reported the gravity of the problem, which was followed by an in-depth discussion about the measures the media could take. This paper reports the gist of discussion as well as the results of a questionnaire surveys of information recipients that had been conducted prior to the forum by the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute.
The problems related to mis- and disinformation may disrupt people’s decision making, if left unchecked, and is even a danger of threatening a healthy democratic society. How to confront them as the media will become more and more critical.
