News

How to avoid disinformation regarding voting and campaigns?

A case study for elderly people going to vote.

Key words: vote, citizens, seniors, disinformation, public.

Background: Senior citizens are often long-time residents of their communities. This means they have strong social ties and an interest in ensuring their voices are heard regarding decisions that will shape their futures.

 

Many have called 2024 the ‘year of elections’ – and for good reason: at least 64 countries are heading or have already headed to the polls this year. 

This includes the US – which will hold a presidential election in November – and more likely than not the UK – which is required to have a general election before the end of January 2025.

The same goes for the European Union. Parties from across the political spectrum will be out in full force to claim as many seats as possible in the European Parliament election in June.

With such important polls being held this year on the continent and beyond, the stage is also unfortunately set for huge swathes of dubious claims to be spread both on the campaign trail and online.

 

During elections, fake news can come in many different forms.

You might come across rumours both on and offline about particular candidates and their policies; you may hear conspiracy theories about nefarious figures trying to influence the election from the outside; or you might even come face to face with deep fakes – digitally edited photos and videos designed to show politicians in an unflattering light.

Misinformation often presents itself as legitimate news, taking the form of articles or professional photos, and can come from a range of sources.

The biggest three sources are politicians, those with a financial incentive to spread misleading claims, and even ourselves, according to Yotam Ophir, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo.

“Sometimes we get an article and it seems very surprising, very emotional, and we want to share it with others,” he said. “We want to hear what our friends are thinking about it. Sometimes the headline is so engaging that we don’t even open up the article before sharing it with others.”

“So if we can practise some caution and be more prudent with the information we share, that will also help us reduce misinformation during those times,” he added.

One of the most important ways to avoid falling foul of fake news is by viewing everything with a critical eye.

It’s always a good idea to check where a claim or piece of news has come from. If things seem too good to be true – or too bad to be true if it’s a claim about someone’s political opponent – then it’s worth taking a step back and double-checking, according to experts.

It’s important to not cross the line from being critical to becoming cynical, however. 

“Cynicism is where you begin to say ‘everybody is lying, I can’t trust anyone’,” Ophir told The Cube. “Some of us are moving towards that kind of position in recent years, and I see it as a very dangerous place for democracy to be in.”

“We need to learn how to listen to those who want to benefit the public good, and to ignore those who are trying to promote themselves for financial or political gain,” he continued. 

 

Trustworthy, neutral sources of news and information are key. 

Experts say that rather than just accepting what political candidates say verbatim, listening to random people online or consuming news from just one side of the political spectrum, it’s best to rely on well-known, nonpartisan organisations.

Both the left and the right have their own share of sources and outlets dedicated to skewing news coverage to benefit them, so some suggest regularly checking in on more neutral news sites.

“It could be the Associated Press, for example, or AFP,” Ophir said. “Those are agencies that do not make financial gains or political gains from the information that they spread.”

 

Trust the experts

Similarly, when in doubt about a particular talking point that might pop up during an election campaign, it’s best to listen to the experts, according to Ophir.

“These days, people have a tendency to try and do their own research, which is admirable on one level, but it’s going to lead to a lot of confusion and misinformation on the other,” he said.

“Most of us are not capable of understanding complicated issues, complicated legislation, or complicated political processes,” Ophir added. “We need those mediators.”

For much of history, journalists and the mass media acted as those mediators, sifting through large amounts of information to summarise them for the general audience in an objective and reliable way.

 

Older voters as diverse group and stability factor

AGE was tasked to give a counterpoint to the youths’ concerns. While this seems counterintuitive, the representation of older people of pension age – aged 70+ – in politics is actually also very low, and senior organisations within political parties have also to struggle to make themselves heard. AGE highlighted that older voters tend to have much higher turnout rates than younger ones, stick more often to the political choices they have done in the past and make their decision earlier about whom to vote for. Therefore, older voters should also be seen as a factor of stability. The societal shifts of the past 40 years are now visible within older voters, as many older people now also vote for less traditional parties such as the Greens or the Liberals.

 

Drivers for populist sentiments in younger and older voters

However, the concern about populism or older voters thinking about their own interest rather than the one of their grandchildrens needs rebalancing. Mr Seidel took the example of the Brexit referendum, where many older voters supported Brexit, as a case in point: when looking at other variables, beyond age, the picture is less clear: more voters in rural areas or in declining industrial areas, and people with low educational attainment have voted for Brexit – regardless of their age: While 80% of low-educated older people have voted for Brexit, 70% of younger low-educated did as well. It is the case that older people have less benefited from educational opportunities, are more often living in rural areas and have a direct personal experience of declining industry.

Participants in the panel agreed that more debate and engagement is needed to counter the ‘atomisation’ of society into fragmented individual interests and build a wider common understanding for the challenges we are all facing.

 

 

Bibliography:

 

 

Images source: Unsplash.com

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Agreement number: 2022-1-BG01-KA220-ADU-000085514

© 2023 Information Matters Project, All rights reserved