Disinformation serious issue, says BBC boss
A CHARITY set up to tackle flooding in an area of West Yorkshire devastated by Christmas storms in 2015 has thanked its volunteers in a video message on the fifth anniversary of the floods.
Slow The Flow was launched after the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd were inundated by flooding on Boxing Day five years ago.
The charity said the coronavirus pandemic had “all but stopped” its practical work in 2020 but it had used the year to make plans for the future.
Slow The Flow released a series of videos about its work on Saturday, as forecasters warned that Storm Bella would bring severe gales and heavy rain to the UK and Ireland, and residents in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire faced severe flood warnings.
THE problem posed by disinformation online is “increasingly serious”, the BBC’s director-general has said.
Tim Davie told the Radio Times that “traditional journalism has been playing catch-up in the disinformation world”.
He added that this year has “repeatedly” highlighted the dangers of the online world as conspiracy theories about coronavirus and the US election were circulated on the internet.
“News sources such as the BBC need to work harder than ever to expose fake news and separate fact from fiction,” he said.
“We need to take care that trusted news is not blown off course by claims that are unfounded, however widespread they become. And we need to recognise that we are up against the well-funded, state-backed actors who see news as an extension of state influence and a tool for disrupting our societies and democracies.”
He added that it is important to fight against disinformation online as vaccines for coronavirus begin to be administered.