Katarzyna Bąkowicz, a communication and media researcher at SWPS University in Warsaw, told Poland's PAP news agency that the problem is less the size of the "information gap" than the public’s growing impatience with it.
"We have become very impatient in everyday life," Bąkowicz said. "It is worth remaining patient and waiting for reliable, verified information."
'Information gap'
The gap appears during crises when official sources do not yet have verified information, while false claims and speculation can circulate online almost immediately.
"When, for example, a rocket falls, as happened in Lublin province ..., the appropriate services first have to reach the site and investigate the incident," Bąkowicz said, referring to an incident in late July when a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile entered Poland's airspace during a massive overnight Russian attack on Ukraine before crashing in the country's east.
She said authorities may also have legitimate reasons to withhold some information temporarily for security reasons.
That delay can be exploited by people spreading false information.
"Reliable information has always required waiting," she said. "But over the past 20 years we have become accustomed to news about something happening on the other side of the world reaching us in a fraction of a second."
Social media and other digital services have reinforced the expectation that information should be available instantly, she said. When it is not, people become more susceptible to speculation and conspiracy theories.
Bąkowicz argued that the urge to fill gaps is rooted in human behavior. People tend to prefer an explanation, even an unreliable one, to admitting that they do not yet know what happened.
She also drew a distinction between information, knowledge and judgment.
"We have believed the biggest lie in the world, that the internet is a source of knowledge," she said. "Information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom. There is no knowledge on the internet. There is only information."
The rise of artificial intelligence has added another problem, Bąkowicz said.
She pointed to the "liar’s dividend," a term for the ability of people to dismiss genuine recordings, photographs or other evidence as AI-generated material.
The mere existence of convincing synthetic media can therefore help people deny authentic evidence and further weaken trust in established sources.
'Information diet'
Bąkowicz said confusion between facts and opinions also gives disinformation producers an advantage. False or sensational claims can bring financial rewards, publicity and political influence before they are corrected.
She recommended an "information diet": choosing which subjects genuinely require attention, relying on a limited number of credible sources and accepting that some facts will take time to establish.
Media organizations should also be willing to tell audiences when reliable answers are not yet available, she said, rather than compete with speculation for speed.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP