Parties promise to shut down any false info flowing from their camps

Recognising the threat the use of disinformation and misinformation poses to Jamaica’s democratic process, the island’s two main political parties say they have committed to rooting out any instances of this among their ranks.

Disinformation is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead by intentionally misstating the facts. Misinformation, on the other hand, is false or inaccurate information, getting the facts wrong.

Misinformation may include false rumours and misconceptions about elections, while disinformation often consists of targeted messages designed to deliberately mislead voters. In either case, there is growing concern that this issue could cause confusion and undermine public confidence in the electoral process.

“We don’t just run out with any information, we try to ensure that we check the veracity of whatever it is before we put it out. Certainly, in this campaign, I can’t recall an example of us putting out any information out there that was inaccurate,” People’s National Party’s (PNP) General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell told T he Gleaner during a recent Editors’ Forum at the newspaper’s North Street, Central Kingston offices.

While acknowledging that the party cannot control what spreads on social media, he emphasised the PNP’s efforts to manage the information it does control.

“What we try to do is to give our bloggers, our supporters, accurate information for them to share. I don’t know what we can do about somebody who goes off on their own, and to produce information that is not true,” he said.

Labelling the use of disinformation in election campaigns as a “disservice to democracy”, member of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) communications task force Senator Marlon Morgan said the party is very keen on calling out instances of disinformation.

“In any democracy that is worth its weight, as it were, you want to have persons be in a position to make informed decisions and, of course, doing things on the basis of that which is good as opposed to other considerations,” he said during another recent Gleaner Editors’ Forum.

Although the party seeks to be “verified and fact-based” in all its utterances, Morgan stated that there may be times when persons, irrespective of their office, end up misinforming the public.

He outlined that the JLP has established standards to hold members accountable.

“Persons who resort to any disinformation tactics are persons who will be brought to book and, of course, appropriate sanctions levied on such persons ... especially at present with the age of AI (artificial intelligence) and all of the other contemporary tools available to us,” he said.

However, touting the Holness administration’s record of accomplishments, Morgan maintains that the Government “does not need to go the route of doing the public a disservice”.

However, expressing concern over what he described as the “propensity with which some persons peddle false information”, Campbell pointed fingers at the JLP, accusing the governing party of orchestrating a disinformation campaign that “is coming from the very top”.

According to Campbell, he has observed numerous instances where the Government has misled the public with false information, adding that he often has to fact-check statements issued by the JLP administration.

He contrasted recent reports that Jamaica’s poverty prevalence levels are at an historic low of 8.2 per cent in 2023, with a previous report by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization that revealed that 55.1 per cent of Jamaica’s population experienced moderate to severe food insecurity for the period 2021-2023, and 22.1 per cent of Jamaicans were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2022.

“I don’t know if we can continue like this. I think the road that we are on is a dangerous slope and I think Jamaica needs to reset. This is not what we’re used to as Jamaicans,” he said.

Ultimately, Campbell said, he did not believe that the use of disinformation or misinformation would have much impact on the general election due by September.

“I don’t think any amount of PR (public relations) can change the lived reality of people. So, regardless of what you say about what poverty is and what unemployment is, it doesn’t change people’s reality that they can’t afford to eat properly,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com