The early days of the internet were such promising times.
With this new tool, information previously confined to libraries, encyclopedias, newspapers, and text books could be accessed with just a few clicks and shared with anyone who had access via a computer. Moreover, the internet democratized information gathering and information sharing. Traditional gatekeepers and barriers began to erode, and eventually anybody could share any information with anybody. No longer do you need to have correct information. Now, you just need to be good at wielding the microphone (or the keyboard or the smartphone).
This is the great failure of the digital age: the loss of truth. Thousands of websites, blogs, podcasts, media organizations, and influencers are all too happy to feed their core audiences with the exact information they want to hear, regardless of its truth and all for the sake of clicks, attention, and money. Politicians will deny obvious truths or make up lies until a large enough portion of their base agrees with them. Businesses will spin information to put themselves in the best possible light. We are slowly losing all collective sense of reality.
In this edition, Staff Writer Mica Kanner-Mascolo dives into the industry where pervasive misinformation has the most dire consequences: health care. In her “Informing a misinformed world”, she talks with exacerbated providers who find it increasingly difficult to offer informed health care in a world where modern snake oil salespeople peddle mis- and disinformation for their own benefit.
This latest discussion was kicked off by President Donald Trump’s claims that Tylenol and its active ingredient acetaminophen cause autism, and providers throughout Central Massachusetts were compelled to immediately respond to refute the false information being spread by the most powerful person in the world.
At WBJ, we take our allegiance to the truth extremely seriously. We don’t always get every fact right, but when we are wrong, we admit our mistake and loudly correct it. Ultimately, we are all beholden to the truth. Lies only provide short-term benefit at the sacrifice of long-term stability. Always tell the truth.
Brad Kane is editor of the Worcester Business Journal.
