In a time when everyone has information, the question is who has the truth

medijskapismenost.me

Never in history has man had so much information at his disposal as today. Yet, the question of whom to trust has never been more important. While the greatest challenge once was to gain knowledge, modern man faces the opposite problem - how to navigate the vast amount of information, distinguish facts from manipulation, and recognize sources we can trust.

This change is particularly interesting when viewed through the lens of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. Set in the 14th century, at a time when knowledge was rare, difficult to access, and largely controlled by a small number of people, the library in this work is not just a place where books are kept, but a symbol of power. Eco brilliantly describes the idea that ignorance is useful to those who rule over people, because controlling knowledge also means controlling the way people understand reality. This idea of ​​limiting access to information has not disappeared today, it has just changed form.

Today, information is no longer the privilege of a few people. The Internet and digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to access a large amount of data and content. However, this very accessibility has brought a new challenge: it is not enough to have information, but it is also necessary to know how much we can trust it.

The time when traditional media were the main sources of information was not easy either. Different media often presented the same events from different angles, in accordance with their editorial policies.

However, professional journalism was based on fact-checking, accountability to the public, and an effort to present events accurately and in the appropriate context.

Today, the information space is much more complex. In addition to professional media, information is produced and shared daily by users of social networks, various internet platforms and anonymous sources. In this environment, accurate information and disinformation can often look very similar. Content spreads faster than it can be verified, and corrections to inaccurate information generally do not reach the same number of people who saw the original post. A special challenge is the development of artificial intelligence. Photos, videos and audio recordings are no longer always sufficient as proof that something really happened, because technology allows them to be modified or completely new content to be created. Artificial intelligence can be an important tool for journalists, researchers and other professions, but it can also be misused to create content that aims to deceive the public.

That's why the question "Is this true?" is becoming one of the most important issues for a modern citizen. Media literacy today does not only mean the ability to use technology, but also the ability to think critically. It implies that we know who the source of the information is, how it was created, whether there is evidence and what the intention was for its publication. It is important to understand that manipulation does not always have to look like an obvious lie. Sometimes it is enough to leave out an important part of the context, change the title or extract one sentence from the wider story to change the meaning of the event. Therefore, today it is not enough to ask only whether a piece of news is fake, but also who published it, why they published it and what we may not have been told.

In Montenegro, this issue is particularly important. In a small society, information and disinformation can spread very quickly through social networks and various applications. An additional challenge is social polarization, as people sometimes accept information not because it is verified, but because it confirms what they already believe. In such an environment, the role of the media becomes even more important. Traditional media are no longer the only sources of information, but their responsibility remains great. Their role today is not only to convey the news, but to verify the facts, explain events and enable citizens to understand the broader context. As stated in the Code of Journalists of Montenegro, journalists have the obligation to respect the truth and to persistently search for it, bearing in mind the public's right to be informed. Facts must be the basis of journalistic work, and their correct presentation is one of the key responsibilities of the profession.

If we return to Eko's The Name of the Rose, we can say that the problem has not fundamentally changed – only the way in which knowledge is controlled has changed. The problem used to be that access to information was limited, but today it is that we have too much of it and it is difficult to assess which ones are reliable. This is precisely why the future of media literacy cannot be based solely on warning citizens about the dangers lurking on the Internet. It is necessary to develop a culture of questions, verification and responsible sharing of content. Every user of social networks today is both a recipient and a potential distributor of information. Clicking on share is no longer just a personal choice, it can certainly affect the public space, which is why it is also a responsibility.

I am convinced that AI will not only change the way we create content, but will also affect the way we decide what to believe. It will affect humans and their ability to reason and think. That is why the most important habit of the future will be the simplest one: to pause before sharing something that we have not verified. Fear of new technologies should be prevented by developing our ability to use them responsibly. The most important skill of the future may not be to always know what is false, but to learn how to pause, verify and think before we believe.

The author is the program director of the Civic Alliance