Here is the presentation that accompanied the course introduction.

1. JRN 450 –
Disinformation
Introduction
• Welcome to JRN 450 –
Disinformation and
Truth Decay.
• Let’s study this Bosch
painting The Conjurer
(1502) for a moment
to see the key
techniques and
characters we will
discuss.

2. JRN 450 – Disinformation
Introduction
• Modern conjurers –
disinformation operators –
use social media to realize
their malevolent
intentions.
.

3. JRN 450 – Disinformation
Introduction
• Disinformation spreads
rapidly and with a
measurable and
traceable trajectory.
• We’ll study how this
has led to truth decay
and what can be done
about it.
.

4. Disinformation - Definitions
• Disinformation: Information that is false and deliberately created
to harm a person, social group, organization or country.
• Misinformation: Information that is false but not created with the
intention of causing harm.
• Useful Idiot: A person or persons who spreads disinformation and is
targeted with disinformation because they are known to spread it.

5. Disinformation - Definitions
• However, in common practice, the two terms are, unfortunately,
interchangeable.
• That is, a media organization may use misinformation when it
means disinformation.
• In this class, disinformation is the term of choice but some of the
assigned readings will use misinformation.

6. Disinformation - Background
• Disinformation is a form of population manipulation, which, in
turn, is a subset of psychological warfare.
• It is practiced by military or political party teams committed to
manipulating public opinion online.
• It is generally evident through specific forms.

7. Disinformation - Background
• Social media engagement
• Individual targeting
• Automated fake accounts (bots)
• Human fake accounts
• Government websites
• Content creation such as memes

8. JRN 450 –
Disinformation
Background
• The dominance of
social media in the
21st century has made
the spread of
disinformation
effortless. T

9. Disinformation - Consequences
• Why is disinformation harmful to journalism?
• It leads to mistrust of professional media
• Journalists themselves become unwitting amplifiers of it by providing
credibility to it when covering it and when the both-sides-ism trap of
objectivity and balance in professional journalism becomes a frictionless
channel to spread it.

10. Disinformation - Consequences
• Why is disinformation harmful to democracy?
• Without a common set of facts on which to debate, political compromise
becomes impossible.
• If one party believes that the other party exists to kidnap children and eat
them (i.e., QAnon), than it will be impossible to participate in an adult-
based public discourse.
• In short, political paralysis happens.

11. Disinformation - Consequences
• Why is disinformation harmful to people?
• Because it kills hundreds of thousands of them.
• Breaks up friendships and families.
• Leads to acts of political and personal violence.

12. Disinformation –
History
• Hesiod’s “Theogony” is
the origin story of the
universe. The Muses,
inspirational goddesses
of the arts, science
and literature,
appeared to the poet
and state “we know
how to tell many false
things similar to the
truth, but we know
how to speak the truth
when we want to.”

13. Disinformation –
History
• Yes, the Muses
practiced
disinformation as a
collective effort, just
as the Russian Internet
Research Bureau did in
2016, albeit in more
comfortable garb.

14. Disinformation –
History
• In Shakespeare’s
“Othello,” the villain
Iago is a
disinformation
operator of the
highest order,
manipulating his
targtet with “fake
news” to get him to
act according to his
design.

15. Disinformation –
History
• And what happens?
Othello smothers
Desdemona and
commits suicide.
• Shakespeare knew
words mattered (duh!)
and that
disinformation was
deadly.

16. Disinformation
– History
Just as they do today.

17. Disinformation
– History
Just as they do today.

18. Disinformation –
History
• The practices of
modern disinformation
are evident in both
World War I and World
War II through
propaganda campaigns
orchestrated by
governments.

19. Disinformation –
History
• Those practices
became permanently
embedded in
psychological warfare
doctrines such as the
CIA’s 1949 manual.
• The lessons from more
than 70 years ago
remain in play today.

20. Disinformation –
History
• Today, the information
space – where
disinformation
campaigns are lodged
– is the most important
element of 21st
century warfare in its
many forms, including
kinetic, political and
ideological.

21. Disinformation – History

22. Disinformation – Techniques
• Let’s review some of the CIA principles of psy ops and discuss how
each remains relevant today, replacing the dominant media of the
1940s – radio and newspapers – with social media.

23. Disinformation – Techniques

24. Disinformation –Techniques

25. Disinformation – Techniques

26. Disinformation – History

27. Disinformation – Techniques

28. Disinformation – Techniques

29. Disinformation – Techniques

30. Disinformation – History

31. Disinformation – Techniques

32. Disinformation – Techniques

33. Disinformation – Techniques

34. Disinformation – History
• “Certain Defendants traveled to the United States under false
pretenses for the purpose of collecting intelligence to inform
Defendants’ operations. Defendants also procured and use
computer infrastructure, based partly in the United States, to hide
the Russian origin of theiractivities and to avoid detection by U.S.
regulators and law enforcement.”

35. Disinformation –
Techniques
• That’s from the special
counsel’s indictment
against the Internet
Research Agency, the
Russian government
front company that
implemented the
disinformation
operation, illustrates
how the practices
work.
• .

36. Disinformation - Techniques
• Now let’s look at the economic condition of the United States in
2015-17 through the lens of data.
• And after reviewing the slides that follow, think of a target
population for a disinformation campaign based on the principles
of the CIA.

37. Disinformation – Techniques

38. Disinformation – Techniques

39. Disinformation – Techniques

40. Disinformation – Techniques

41. Disinformation – Techniques

42. Disinformation – Techniques

43. Disinformation – Techniques

44. Disinformation – History

45. Disinformation - Techniques
• So whom to target?
• What messages can be crafted to reinforce the existing economic
and cultural disruptions available in the data?
• How can those messages be reinforced?

46. Disinformation - Background
• Disinformation is the key to reaching that audience.
• Remember the manual’s lesson on radio listeners: reason is not in
play; it’s all emotion.
• When a population is under stress, it is more likely to believe
disinformation and act on it.

47. Disinformation – Techniques

48. Disinformation – History

49. Disinformation – Techniques

50. Disinformation –
Techniques
• What then, sang
Plato’s ghost? (Yeats)
• Unfathomable levels
of death & debt and
the Capitol invaded on
a disinformation-
driven insurrection.

51. Disinformation – Techniques