Richard Sullivan, Director at Institute for Cancer Policy and Co-Director at King’s Centre for Conflict and Health Security, shared on LinkedIn:
“When over 25% of mainstream media stories about a subject as sensitive as cancer in the British Royal Household are misinformation, then you know something is going seriously wrong. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
Misinformation is just part of a continuum from hype and hyperbole through to disinformation and propaganda. The scale and range of the dys-infodemic problem in cancer research and care is growing. Hype and hyperbole in scientific reporting are becoming almost normalised; remember the GRAIL debacle?
The problem is systemic; not just in mainstream media reporting but also throughout social media. While media misinformation on cancer stories could be shrugged off as irrelevant, the increasing use of social media to push dangerous and/or unproven cancer treatments is having a real effect on patients. Misinformation exploits the way we think.
The rise of the semantic web (Web 3.0) and artificial intelligence will provide even greater capability to deceive, distract and disorient. Disinformation is no longer confined to the dark arts. We’re getting better at describing the problem, but inoculating the public and patients against it remains elusive.”
Other articles from Richard Sullivan on OncoDaily.