What do you do in a world where there are multiple competing “facts”? Where it’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between what is real and what is made up? Where there is declining trust in truth?
The documentary series The Matter of Facts, screened on ABC TV, asks these questions and attempts to come up with some (credible) answers.
You can be a part of the conversation in an interactive workshop hosted by the Noarlunga Library, The Matter of Facts Workshop, on Friday 28 August (2pm to 3:30pm).
Built around the documentary series and developed by ABC TV, Western Sydney University and the Australian Library and Information Association, the workshop explores one of the most important global issues of our time.
It’s designed to build your confidence in questioning media, assessing sources, and recognising false or misleading information online. In other words, it’s about giving you tools to tell the difference between fact and fiction, the real and the artificial.
The Matter of Facts, a 3-part series presented by journalist Hamish Macdonald, investigates the growing crisis of misinformation (and deliberate disinformation) and the erosion of trust in facts and evidence.
It asks the central question: how can society function if we can no longer agree on what is true?
As you’ll learn at the workshop – or probably already know – telling the difference between truths and untruths is getting harder with the all-pervasive nature of social media and the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI).
And, according to The Matter of Facts, that’s no accident.
Following events in Jindabyne, Paris, Taiwan, Poland and the Philippines, the documentary explores the spread of disinformation and the implications for democracy, social cohesion and the concentration of power.
Maria Reesa, Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, says in the documentary that the tearing down of democracy begins with the tearing down facts, with lies on social media spreading 6 times faster than facts.
“If you lace information with fear, anger and hate, it spreads even faster,” she says.
“When you don’t have facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these 3, you have no shared reality. We can’t begin to solve any problem.
“The death of democracy is happening by a thousand cuts… It’s happening everywhere the tech is ruling us.”
Social media, such as Facebook Instagram and YouTube, are the main source of information and news for an ever-growing number of people. The platforms spread information at a pace never before seen in human history and their algorithms limit rather than expand what individuals see.
As one of the documentary’s interviewees explains, “The reality of social media is that people get into their own bubbles and it becomes very difficult to talk to each other. There’s also a degree of egging each other on… Facts stop mattering.”
AI is expected to accelerate these trends.
Increasingly, it is impossible to distinguish between what is AI-generated and what is real. It’s equally difficult to track the source of much of the content – as well as its intent.
With the rapidly growing challenges AI poses to truth, the strain on democracy and social cohesion are expected to be even greater.
The Matter of Facts is available on ABC iView and was produced by Northern Pictures in association with Media Ocean.
The Matter of Facts Workshop is part of a series run by libraries right across Australia.
Bookings for the Noarlunga event are essential: go to Eventbrite or phone 8384 0655.
Noarlunga Library
Hannah Rd, Noarlunga Centre
Friday 28 August, 2pm-3:30pm
Adults 18 years and over