Aug 28 — Technology has changed not only how we consume media, but also how information reaches us. In the past, most people depended on newspapers, television and radio for information about events happening around them and in other parts of the world. Today, social media platforms and smartphones allow information to reach the public almost immediately. Videos, photographs and eyewitness accounts can be shared by anyone, sometimes while an event is still happening.

This development has made the media we consume more immediate and less filtered. We are now able to see events that might previously have been edited, shortened or excluded from traditional news coverage. During wars, protests or natural disasters, for example, people can upload videos directly from the scene. These images can sometimes be violent and disturbing. The amount of information available can also be overwhelming, especially when hundreds of videos and opinions about the same event appear within a short period of time.

However, greater exposure to raw information is not necessarily a negative development. Traditional media has always played the role of gatekeeper. Editors and journalists decide which stories should be reported, which sources should be interviewed and which photographs or videos should be shown. This process is important because journalists are expected to verify information and follow professional standards. At the same time, no news organisation is completely neutral. Decisions about what to report and how to report it may be influenced by editorial policies, political interests, commercial considerations or the values of the organisation.

Digital media has reduced the power of these traditional gatekeepers. A person who witnesses an important event no longer needs a newspaper or television station to tell the story. They can record what happened and share it directly with thousands or even millions of people. This gives the public access to perspectives that may not appear in mainstream news coverage. It can also make it more difficult for governments or powerful organisations to completely control information about an event.

The same openness, however, creates another problem. If everyone can publish information, then people who have no expertise, evidence or understanding of an issue can also reach a large audience. A social media post written by an expert may appear on the same screen as a post written by someone who has little knowledge of the subject. Both can be shared widely, especially if the content is emotional or controversial.

Artificial intelligence makes this problem more complicated. Images, audio recordings and videos can now be generated or manipulated to show events that never happened. In the past, seeing a photograph or video might have provided strong evidence that an event had taken place. Today, even visual evidence sometimes needs to be questioned. The technology that has given us more direct access to information has also made it easier to create convincing false information.

For this reason, it would be incorrect to assume that unfiltered media is automatically more truthful. Even a genuine video only shows what happened within the frame. The person recording it chooses where to point the camera and when to begin or stop recording. The person uploading it may add a misleading caption. Social media platforms then use algorithms to decide which content becomes visible to more users. Therefore, the filters have not completely disappeared. Instead, some of them have changed.

This creates a different responsibility for media users. In the traditional media environment, audiences depended heavily on journalists and editors to verify information before publication. In the current environment, individuals must take greater responsibility for evaluating what they consume. This includes checking the original source, comparing information from different sources, considering whether the person making a claim has relevant expertise, and being cautious about sharing information before it has been verified.

Technology has given society access to more information and more perspectives than previous generations could easily obtain. This can help expose realities that traditional media may overlook or choose not to show. However, access to more information does not necessarily mean access to more truth.

As the media environment becomes more open and less controlled, media literacy becomes increasingly important. The challenge today is therefore not only learning how to access information, but learning how to decide what deserves to be believed.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.