Brief 8: Misinformation and Fact Checking.

Though the new's purpose is to be informative, it is important to fact check sources. Especially with the endless capabilities of the Internet and everyone having a voice on social media, it is more critical now than ever to review and double check information. It seems (more so now than ever before) that the plague of false information is spreading like wild fire. People are taking to heart information like it is gospel, when in fact, it is nothing more than a series of lies strung together to make a fabricated story. It is an issue that is slowly gaining more attention as people are becoming aware of how fabricated news easily flows through their feed.

False news takes on several forms. One shape it takes can be seen prevalent in several countries with restrictive media laws. Often in countries of this nature, false news rears its head up in the form of propaganda. Propaganda is false news that is geared to benefit the image of the government. This often comes at the cost of telling one side of the story, with-holding information, or even twisting facts to their benefit. Some countries are so bold as to flat out lie to make the people think a certain way that is beneficial to their ideals.

During this outbreak of COVID-19, communist government China, has been accused on several occasions of propaganda articles published. They are stating false claims about the severity of the virus outbreak and have even gone as far as to try to paint other countries in a negative light to get the heat off of them. Many world leaders, governments, and health organizations have called out these claims made by the Chinese.

Since the Corona virus outbreak, the Chinese government has issued a people's war to combat the problem within their borders. This has created huge controversy in how the Chinese government is dealing with the people. They have increased surveillance to keep track of people's movements. They are even encouraging people to report family members and loved ones to the authorities for testing. The invasive measures to privacy are appalling to some, but their government is not held accountable to laws that restrict their power.

This issue is, as with many countries, there's not enough medical supplies and tests. So, to provide aid, several US organizations including the Franklin Graham Samaritan's Purse donated ample medical supplies.

“The cargo holds in those 747s were full of medical and other supplies donated by Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse, by the LDS Church out in Salt Lake, to take supplies and to take things that will help the people in Wuhan, as a sign of our friendship to the people of China from the people of the United States,” said the White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien" Source

For reasons unknown, the Chinese government took to creating false claims that the medical supplies given by the US were inadequate. Published in such a way to come across as accusatory; as if the US government on purpose neglected aid to the Chinese in a time of crisis. 

"The U.S. government hasn't provided any substantive assistance to us, but it was the first to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on Chinese travelers. What it has done could only create and spread fear, which is a very bad example,” said China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying" Source

It is important to note how they turned the story around. When the Chinese reported on it, they said it was the US government that had done the injustice. They emphasize how the US is failing to aid, but the first to save their tails when things go wrong. They are not acknowledging the cargo loads of supplies sent over, and if it is addressed, it is only to speak on it negatively. One can speculate that to ensure that the Chinese kept faith and moral in their government, they had to paint the US in a negative light someway somehow. Because many have questioned the ethics of how the Chinese have handled the issue of corona since the first outbreak at the start of the year, the content that the Chinese government spreads appears to be working to make other countries look like the enemy. They appear to not want their people to think that the US would do something benevolent for them, and that their own government was not working to ensure their safety. 

However, in many ways the propaganda and agenda they were trying to spread has come to haunt them. Many are working to expose the truth, and this has left the Chinese government, metaphorically speaking, with its hand caught in the cookie jar. Many are accusing them of hiding information and not being forthcoming about the severity of the virus.

When the outbreak first began, Chinese doctor Li Winliang attempted to get the news out. Called a whistleblower, he was trying to warn other world leaders as to what was coming and what was currently happening in China that they were trying to keep hidden. Shortly after, he was declared dead at the age of 34 with the information of his death relayed by communist owned news source. They said that he was charged with spreading rumors online and severely disrupting the social order (Source). 

Since then, much outrage sparked after his death. People were convinced that this was a poor attempt to silence this man trying to warn the world of what was coming, and that if allowed to speak, many causalities would have been prevented; people would have been able to prepare sooner and better. His death did not silence the matter, and the cat was out of the bag. The Chinese government could not hide behind their propaganda to save their credibility. So in an attempt to make amends, they fired several government officials putting the blame on them in hopes that would appease the outrage. They also made an official apology to the family as well (Source). 

However, their reservations to release transparent records about the coronavirus already discredits them in the eyes of many. A common joke trending among social media users is the death toll numbers China is releasing. The numbers are so low that medical professionals and government officials are not buying it. They are so low people are taking to social media to mock it. 

Since then, China has revised those numbers. They claimed that the chaos brought on by the pandemic and the over whelmed health care system resulted in inaccurate data. They even went a step further to confirm the suspicions that there were in fact more deaths than the official reports show. But what those numbers truly are is still hidden. It is up to speculation whether or not the claims for the real reason the releasement of these false figures are true. 

Some feel that they did not want to reveal the truth of the severity of the virus within their country, thus lowering the numbers. The idea of spreading this propaganda of an image of an indomitable country, or the image that they had the virus under control since they have already received much heat for not taking precautions sooner and not warning others to do the same.  That their secrecy is what made the pandemic that much worse because the world was not informed to take action sooner. However, the issue with propaganda is that the only thing you can call out is the misinformation. You cannot accuse a country on an agenda because that is not clearly stated, However, in cases such as this, you can point out the falsified claims and fact-check the information to prove that these articles are not accurate and are spreading lies.