Dezinformatsiya
I’ll begin this brief essay by defining a term: Disinformation is the deliberate spread of information that is known to be false or biased, in order to achieve a military, political, or social goal. The term was coined by Soviet planners, during the Cold War era. They dubbed it “Dezinformatsiya“. It has both military and geopolitical objectives. It includes strategic and tactical subsets that include propaganda, camouflage (“maskirovka“), contrived “news”, and political indoctrination. More than simply spreading false news of troop movements, dezinformatsiya is a grand strategy that encompasses all aspects of media manipulation and deception to reach a desired end.
I believe that Western world is now full in the throes of The Age of Disinfomation.
Disinformation is now often labelled “fake news”, but I dislike that vague, fuzzy term. Even the term itself has been politicized, so it is best to avoid it. I believe that the term disinformation is a better choice. It is more pointed, and less likely to be misinterpreted or turned into a smear.
The term disinformation should not be used interchangeably with misinformation. The latter is simply false or mistaken data–rather than an orchestrated plan to deceive or manipulate public perceptions.
Political Disinformation
The American mass media is now overtly biased and handing out disinformation on a grand scale. Leftists began infiltrating academia more than a century ago. One of their key goals was influencing those planning careers in journalism. I saw this first hand, as a journalism major at a university in California in the early 1980s. Any student who spoke up for conservative ideals was immediately pounced on by the School of Journalism faculty. And most of the students would usually pile on, in a harmony that would make Chairman Mao proud. Even back then, the leftist diatribes in lectures and classroom “discussions” (indoctrination sessions) were pronounced and sustained. I can only imagine what things are like in journalism schools today–in the era of Social Justice Warriors, Safe Spaces, and Trigger Warnings.
Up until the 1990s, the mass media’s leftist bias was fairly subtle. But now the newscasters of all ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MS-MBC all overtly seem to sound much like the commentators on NPR. (What I jokingly call National Pravda Radio.) Even the journalists at the “fair and balanced” Fox News lapse into left wing rhetoric when they talk about issues like “fairness” and “separation of church and state.” Though some of this is sure unintentional, it is nonetheless noticeable.
