General Overview

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Governments and corporations who place profit over the health and well-being of the public rely on false and misleading information to achieve their goals. The proliferation of “fake news” and right-wing alternative media narratives coincide with a kind of “war against reality” being waged by those with a vested interest in preserving the unsustainable status quo. Corporations like Exxonmobil have been disseminating false and misleading information about climate change for decades to protect their profits and avoid responsibility and liability for their destruction of the environment.

Internet

Media literacy refers to the skills and practices that allow consumers of media to access and critically examine the information they receive from media sources. Very few grade schools offer media literacy as part of the general curriculum, and for college students, these courses are optional and tied to specific majors if they are even offered at all. Due to a lack of media literacy, false ideas about both the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have flourished, endangering the lives of those who may act upon the false and misleading information they have received.

Social Media

Corporate-backed, profit-driven media is a threat to both public health and our ability to mitigate the effects of climate change. Information that is false, skewed, or misleading is permitted as long as the purveyors of this disinformation can afford to pay for air time, advertising, and access into people’s homes and consciousnesses. Those who control huge media conglomerates often have their own political agenda and use their media empires to influence public opinion against things like increased corporate regulation and higher taxes for billionaires.

Tech companies like Google and Facebook contribute to a toxic media landscape with antisocial practices that increase their profits at the expense of public discourse. By refusing to deplatform violent racists, and by creating a space for harmful conspiracy theories and right-wing echo chambers, tech companies throw fuel on the fire of ignorance and disinformation.

Disproportionate Impacts

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Access to timely and accurate information is crucial for surviving pandemics like COVID-19 and for navigating a world rapidly changing due to climate change. The digital divide refers to the inequitable distribution of information and communication technologies and services. The existence of this divide highlights the fact that access to modern technology is a privilege taken for granted by some while systematically denied to others.

A lack of access to accurate and trustworthy information disproportionately harms those who need this information the most. BIPOC, those living in poverty, and those with underlying health conditions are most at risk from being led astray by fake news and disinformation regarding the pandemic. Similarly, those who live and work in frontline communities are those who would most benefit from impartial, objective, evidence based information; these are the communities with the most exposure to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.

Although some people are not participating in technology-based information systems, we cannot assume that they do not have access to information.

Moving Forward

The historic protests that erupted during the summer of 2020 following the tragic murder of George Floyd highlighted the increasingly intersectional nature of today’s activist movements. The need for increased police accountability and oversight was seamlessly intertwined with calls for acknowledgement that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately harmed BIPOC communities and workers. There has also been a concerted effort to reveal how the environmental racism that has exacerbated the climate crisis has also been increasingly associated with negative outcomes for BIPOC communities struggling to survive the pandemic. 

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