Solution to Misinformation? Not Quite Yet.

When reading Nyhan’s article on Death Panels and other such political myths, I couldn’t help but wonder how he expects his “answers” to the problem of misinformation to be put into action. He argues, first, that this misinformation is brought about through the tendency of the media to give “misinformers” large amounts of attention, making them reach a large audiences and enabling them to change individual perceptions. Nyhan then argues that the best remedy to this problem is to first create a negative publicity for misinformers, therefore raising the cost of their action, and secondly to pressure the media into giving these individuals less attention. While I think his goal is worthwhile, and that his general theory is logical, I’m not convinced that his method is realistic.

First of all, to create negative publicity around these individuals, and have it affect them enough to kill the movement they attempted to begin would be very difficult. It would surely be a complex task to decide exactly which individuals were misinforming people, and who may be genuinely attempting to draw attention to a real issue. This attempt to constantly shed negative attention on pundits and informants could quickly lead to an overly alarmist media regime, and could then eventually result in a public that does not take their news outlets seriously.

Secondly, his assertion that the media could be “pressured” to draw attention away from the misinformants seems overly optimistic. Aside from the desire of the media to inform the public, the strong commercial drive of media outlets surely already places pressure on these sources to disseminate the very information that Nyhan would have them exclude. Therefore, in order for this plan to work effectively in the real world, Nyhan would have to present a type of “pressure” that outweighs the commercial demand placed upon the networks by their parent companies, who measure their monetary intake in relation to entertainment programs, and drive them to rely upon sensationalist misinformants.

Overall, the problem of misinformation as propagated through our media regime is certainly a serious one. However, the solution that Nyhan proposes seems lacking real world plausibility. Is there really any way to stop politically radical “informants” from disseminating false information? Better yet, is there any way to make sure that the populace does not fall prey to these mistruths?