Information, Misinformation, Disinformation: The Role of Communication Professionals in Liquid Modernity

Abstract

To claim for communication professionals the ethical responsibility of contributing to the public debate within the realm of their function in scientific and technological organizations, giving people the power to analyze the information available to them and based on that make better-informed decisions on issues that affect their lives, is the sole purpose of this exercise. Departing from a focus on the messages – information, misinformation and disinformation – we defend to refocus on relations to enable people to make the distinction between them, and then fulfilling communication’s purpose of reflexion.

Through a review of literature, we set out to delimitate and contextualize the role of communication professionals in scientific and technological organizations in today’s social and political environments. We conclude that communication professionals in scientific and technological organizations do need to embrace the responsibility to contribute to the empowerment of citizens regarding their access to information and ability to navigate through the overwhelming amount of data they have access to daily.

As we witness the rise and expansion of populist movements throughout the globe, it is not of lesser importance to reflect on the role of scientific and technological organizations in the public debate. As it is here that public opinion forms, it is important that organizations involved in the scientific and technology development call on themselves and embrace it as part of their identity, the responsibility to inform the decision-making process of citizens with the purpose of bettering it.

Citation

Moreira, V. and Eiró-Gomes, M. (2019), "Information, Misinformation, Disinformation: The Role of Communication Professionals in Liquid Modernity", Big Ideas in Public Relations Research and Practice (Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management, Vol. 4), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2398-391420190000004013