As we all know, within the last few days, Russian president Vladimir Putin has used the Russian military to launch an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Here at Lutheran Peace Fellowship we are opposed to violence. Especially senseless violence like what’s taking place in Ukraine. This attack is leaving many of us in countries not directly affected scared, worried, and searching for a way to help.
One of the most important things we can do is to honor the Ukrainian people by listening to what Ukraine says. Ukraine has said that the most important support we as private citizens can provide the Ukranian people, is to prevent the spread of misinformation. A major tool used by Russia to support their own goals is disinformation campaigns. By spreading lies and misleading statements, they are attempting to convince people that they are right in their actions, or at least to create confusion and disarray.
When you find an article, clip, post, or anything else talking about the invasion, make sure that you examine the source. While there are a number of sources of trustworthy information, there are many more that are not trustworthy at all and instead spread misinformation.
A few bullet points:
- The aggressors in an attack are not an unbiased source. At this time, any Russian media should be considered suspect.
- While there are actual Ukrainians on social media posting about what is happening, there are also a lot of people and bots misrepresenting themselves as Ukrainian in order to spread misinformation.
- When you see a post on social media about the situation, do not share it unless you can find reputable sources to back it up. Social media is not a good source.
- TikTok with its video format is especially prone to manipulation by bots and other Russian trolls.
- Opinion pieces are not good sources for information. By nature opinion pieces are reflecting the opinion of a singular person and should not be treated as news no matter where they are published.
- Memes are not a reliable way to access or share information, and are one of the primary ways that misinformation spreads. Memes are designed to oversimplify complex situations, they are intended to provoke a specific reaction, and to resonate and magnify existing biases.
- Even with a reliable source, always check the original publish date and updates to ensure that the information you are looking at is current.
- The most reputable sources for actuate information on this invasion are the same sources that are reputable at other times. Such as The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Bloomberg, and the news elements of National Public Radio (NPR), The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
- Ad Fontes Media has put together an interactive chart that can be used to help determine whether or not a media is reliable. https://adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/
Working together to combat misinformation is one of the most important things that we can do right now to help the people of Ukraine.
–Written by Alexandra Winder, February 26, 2022