Our government is ‘sexing up’ the threat of a Russia-Ukraine conflict

Personally, I remain sceptical about any Russian plan to invade. But overheated talk, from wherever it comes, risks bringing about precisely that result, writes Mary Dejevsky

Liz Truss said that there were ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border (AP)

Fake news, disinformation, misinformation – call it what you will. The study of disinformation has become ubiquitous across the western world and currently draws lavish funding.

Its aficionados tend to proceed from two assumptions. One is that the world is made up of “us” and “them”, friend and foe, and disinformation always and only comes from “them”. The other, which often shines through the painstaking analysis of algorithms, bots and the rest, is the belief that the majority of our fellow human beings are too stupid to tell truth from falsehood, and need to be taught, by the initiated and from an early age, how to spot the rogues.

None of this helps, however, when erroneous, misleading or – perish the thought – actual disinformation comes from your own side. When that information also has the potential to distort or fuel a changing and potentially incendiary situation, it poses a big question for journalists: can you believe what you are being told and, if not, what can and should you do about it?