Misinformation

Domed Reading Room, Public Library of Victoria, 1950, H40309

Misinformation and disinformation might seem like a new phenomena with many recent stories about 'fake news' and AI generated tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, but people have been 'misinformed' throughout history.

Three words sourced from the current online edition of the MacQuarie Dictionary connect the dots of this concept:

Information : "noun - Knowledge communicated or received concerning some fact or circumstance" originating from the Latin word informāre (to "shape fashion mould")

Misinform: "Verb - To give false or misleading information to" ('misinformation' being the noun)

Disinformation: "Noun misleading information supplied intentionally, as in counterespionage" a translation of the Russian word dezinformatsiya

As a word 'disinformation' is the youngest, only appearing in dictionaries in the last 30 years or so (the first appearance of the word in the MacQuarie Dictionary is the 1987 second edition). It's Russian origin speaking to techniques applied during the period of political tension between the USA and Soviet Union known as the Cold War.

See our Navigating the web tab for a list of useful misinformation and disinformation terms

Bad News

The Misinformation Game

BBC Bitesize Quiz: AI or Real?

In September 2024 the Australian Government proposed a bill, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024, which was aimed at dealing with the spread of misinformation and disinformation in Australia. The bill passed the House of Representatives in November, but was withdrawn later that month as a result of broad opposition by a wide range of bodies including human rights organisations, church groups, and libertarian groups, as well as many of the non-government members of parliament. The fact that the bill was unable to pass a Senate reading speaks to the difficulty that exists in legislating against mis- and disinformation: the contexts these phenomena exist within are nebulous and ever-shifting. The concerns with this bill included the vague ways that misinformation and disinformation were defined, as well as the impacts on freedom of speech and censorship of factual information that could occur as a result of the implementation of this bill, and the overreliance on what amounts to corporate policing of mis-and disinformation. There needs to be an appropriate balance of protecting human rights via freedom of expression online, and being able to appropriately identify and report actual misinformation.

 Mount Alexander Mail, Mon 29 Aug 1892, Page 4

Some advertisements found in early newspapers stretch credulity with their promises to 'cure all'. The pictured electric belt 'cures' everything from spinal weakness to nervousness. Many of these advertisements are available to browse as part of the comprehensive collection of early digitised newspapers on Trove.

Angry Penguins, issue 6, Autumn 1944

The Angry Penguin's journal (produced by Max Harris and John and Sunday Reed) was a title that became synonymous with the rise of Australian modernism in the 1940s. Ern Malley's poetry was published and celebrated in the journal (including a whole special issue in 1944), while the poetry is real, the person is not, created a a hoax, intended to show up avant garde and modernist poetry and practices.

Max Harris at the beach, [ca. 1939-ca. 1945], H2008.98/423

The Herald, Monday 25 August, 1873

A front page story about the discovery of a race of humans with tails ran across several days in The Herald 1873. The final story revealed the punchline, that if anyone was interested in tales than they should come to Cole's book store at the Eastern Market. It was all an advertising ploy taking advantage of front page advertising by giving the impression it was front page news.

Elephant crushing a man in its trunk, India, Police News, February 10, 1877, PN10/02/77/00

Richard Egan Lee's 19th century newspaper Police News never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

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