Information competency an alternative to fight disinformation and fake news in the post-truth context

an analysis of the movie “Do not look up” in the light of Information Science

Abstract

This is a review article, with a qualitative approach, whose main objective was to analyze the film "Don't look up", in the light of the concepts about the terms Disinformation, Fake News and Post-truth, present in the literature of Science of Life. Information. To this end, a search was carried out in the Reference Database of Articles of Journals in Information Science (Brapci), on the mentioned terms, with a time span between 2018 and the first half of 2022. During the mining of the terms, were located 31 articles, which supported from the theoretical framework, to the analysis of the film chosen for this article, allowing us to compare our inferences with the concepts identified in the recovered texts. After analyzing the scenes through observation and annotation of the most relevant aspects, we arrived at 17 elements that permeate the terms Disinformation, Fake News and Post-truth, they are: Denialism, Conservatism, Nepotism, Interference of entrepreneurs in matters of public interest , Sensationalist media, Indifference of individuals and institutions in the face of extreme situations, Banality of evil, Sharing of data between intelligence agencies, Information classified as a state secret to prevent truths from coming to light, Distortion of Information, Prevarication, Government retaliation to media, Infantilization of the news / mediatization of characters, Devaluation of public education to the detriment of private education, Religious interference in solving problems and crises, Overvaluation of technology, Minimal State. In view of the aforementioned terms, it is concluded that IC, as an applied social science, plays a fundamental role both in the training of its professionals and in the development of research and studies aimed at the development of informational skills necessary for the responsible use of information, as well as as in checking the authority, timeliness, quality and accuracy of published and shared information. Thus, in the wake of the actions, punctuated in the film, in line with the reality that can be verified daily, what is observed is the transfer of administrative activities to the hands of the population. Another issue about technology is its wide use to optimize the processes of disinformation and fake news, submitting the population to the yoke of the ruling classes. In this context, information competence arises with the objective of refracting such actions.

Keywords: Information Competence. Misinformation. Fake News. Post-truth