The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

Pope Francis speaks out against ‘fake news’

In his 2018 World Day of Communications message, Pope Francis urged journalists, and all who receive their reports online or in the traditional media, to speak the truth rather than spreading “fake news.” According to the Holy Father, fake news involves spreading false information based on non-existent or false data. He observes:

“The effectiveness of fake news is primarily due to its ability to mimic real news, to seem plausible. Secondly, this false but believable news is ‘captious,’ inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration.

“The ability to spread such fake news often relies on a manipulative use of the social networks and the way they function. Untrue stories can spread so quickly that even authoritative denials fail to contain the damage.”

It’s not easy to distinguish fake news from the real news that it imitates—both because of the clever ways such stories are framed, and because people read or hear what they want to read or hear. As Pope Francis explains:

“Disinformation thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue; instead, it risks turning people into unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas. The tragedy of disinformation is that it discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them and fomenting conflict. Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth.”

Fake news thrives on people’s refusal to open their minds and hearts to differing points of view. Because they “tune out” sources of information that they distrust, their only sources of information are inherently biased.

Pope Francis believes that it is everyone’s responsibility to counteract the damage that is being done by “disinformation.” As he says:

“None of us can feel exempted from the duty of countering these falsehoods. This is no easy task, since disinformation is often based on deliberately evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric, and at times the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms.”

The Holy Father challenges all people of good will to work against the dissemination of fake news by means of “a profound and careful process of discernment.” He says we need to unmask what could be called the “snake-tactics” (a reference to the serpent’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden) used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike at any time and place.

“To discern the truth, we need to discern everything that encourages communion and promotes goodness from whatever instead tends to isolate, divide and oppose. Truth, therefore, is not really grasped when it is imposed from without as something impersonal, but only when it flows from free relationships between persons, from listening to one another. Nor can we ever stop seeking the truth, because falsehood can always creep in, even when we state things that are true.

“An impeccable argument can indeed rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others, however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits: whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results.”

What Pope Francis is telling journalists (and all of us) in his 2018 World Day of Communications message is that both the intentions and the effects of our messaging can help us discern whether or not we are transmitting or receiving the truth.

“Falsehood can always creep in,” the Holy Father says, “even when we state things that are true.”

So if our communication is factually accurate, but intended to discredit another or cause harm to individuals or communities, we may well be guilty of spreading fake news. This is doubly true when the information being shared is not accurate or a distortion of the truth.

Pope Francis is not promoting “a saccharine kind of journalism” that avoids dealing with serious problems. Instead, he advocates for a style of journalism that is “opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans and sensational headlines.” He seeks forms of communication that are “less concentrated on breaking headlines,” and more concerned with exploring the underlying causes of problems so that effective solutions can be found.

This is not the journalism of escalating shouting matches or verbal abuse, the pope says. It is “a journalism of peace.”
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †