What is the purpose of the information? At a time when everything must be justified by its usefulness, the question is haunting. Asked in this way, it is difficult to answer, except in the manner of Jean-Philippe Rémy, a senior reporter for Le Monde. Information is like freedom. Everyone can understand that “without” – without freedom, without information – things would no doubt be worse.
The inhabitants of authoritarian or war-torn countries feel the absence of truth very strongly. They are no longer alone. Digital disinformation now gnaws at democracies. In the age of social networks, rogue states “troll” the internet to spread rumours, false news and destabilise the world. Rogue presidents do this at the head of the world’s first democracy at the risk of tipping democracy into something else. Is there any alternative to democracy other than a form of dictatorship?
In the Philippines, the laboratory of the Trump team, the torrent of hatred that started out as virtual has become very real. It has already killed more than 20,000 people. All over the world, with general indifference, journalists are being threatened, imprisoned, tortured, taken hostage or murdered, all the way to Europe where they are now the target of mafias. With total impunity.
How to get around the obstacles? How to restore confidence? Another major challenge. Reliable, credible, professional information is in danger. But information is not a commodity like any other. And while the media – which is very weakened economically – is not free of criticism, citizens have a share of responsibility. By choosing “free” media, they are turning away from reliable information (that which counts and which has a cost: investigation, reporting, analysis) in favour of the digital ocean, its psychoses and paranoias. The cost of a serious source of information, on a daily basis, is less than the price of a coffee, let’s remember. But many still consider it too expensive.
Is a citizen who is uninformed, misinformed or even disinformed, who does not participate in the debate, who does not understand what is at stake in the society he lives in, still a reliable voter? Can we, without reacting, continue to hear this lazy phrase: “The media say whatever they want”? Excellent quality media still exist. Citizens must be willing to buy them and take the time to get informed.
