Just this week there were more warning from the federal government about the threats of out malleable information ecosystem, warnings that Russia is targeting Canada with misinformation to sew divisions and erode confidence in democratic institutions. In an era of partisan media and A.I. deep fakes, how do you know that what you’re reading or seeing is the truth? Let’s talk about it…

It may surprise you that the idea of universally objective press is a relatively modern idea. In the past, anyone with the means, money and ability could start a pamphlet or newspaper if they had a point of view, whether that was supporting a political party or candidate, or advancing a business interest. In a sense, our media landscape has gone backwards in the last several years, we have returned to the days of partisan newspapers (in a sense).

When you’re doom scrolling on your favourite social media app, how to you know if the post you’re seeing has a specific political slant, even compared to the next post you see on the very same topic? Now there’s the added complication of artificial intelligence but how do you know that the story you’re reading, the video you’re watching of the picture you’re seeing is even real? The odds are against you, right?

Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you’re alone, or that you can’t get smarter on these issues. At a recent edition of Breezy Breakfast hosted at Uptown Grill, Trillium reporter Steve Cornwell, and I took part in a conversation that covers all the bases including A.I. slop, foreign misinformation campaigns, internet anonymity and how these issues impact us on even a local level. This was recorded at the May 21 edition of Breezy Breakfast.

So let’s talk about fighting A.I. and misinformation on this bonus edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can read the reporting of Cornwell and his colleagues at Queen’s Park, including their new hire Tina Yazdani, here, and you can sign up for Webb’s newsletter “In Other News” here. If you’re looking for help when it comes to the ways of combating misinformation, you can find resources on at Canada’s Centre of Digital Media Literacy, or the Centre for Information Integrity at the University of Ottawa. Breezy Breakfast happens every Thursday at 8 am at Uptown Grill and you can find out more by sending an email to breezybullhorn [at] gmail.com.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify .

Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Photo courtesy of Apple Inc.