The Messenger (not the Medium) Is the Message? Uncovering Journalists’ Perceptions of Digital Disinformation in Conflict Countries

Abstract

While research on disinformation in Africa is starting to gain attention, only a few of these studies have sought to uncover its connection to conflict contexts, an important area we seek to draw attention to with this study. Furthermore, barely any studies have uncovered journalists and other media workers’ perceptions of disinformation, particularly in countries dominated by conflict. This article uses participatory action research, specifically focus-group interviews with over 30 Malian and Ethiopian journalists to uncover rarely discussed perceptions and contestations emerging from authoritarian contexts dominated by both disinformation and conflict. Our aim is to make a significant contribution in the field of journalism studies by studying the rapid rise of disinformation within a context marked by both authoritarianism and conflict. We believe our findings, which reveal previously unknown evidential pointers to journalists, journalism educators and other news media workers’ perspectives on disinformation in a non-democratic contexts potentially have wider applicability given disinformation is a problem that even democratic countries are also currently grappling with. Our findings show that there are varying actors in the disinformation landscape. Also, conflicting notions on disinformation exist while there is a noticeable lack of established truth-telling institutions. Besides, ethnicity influences people's perceptions of truth.