Irish Examiner view: Dangerous misinformation in a post-truth era

Story about a cancer patient who became severely malnourished while following the advice of a 'wellness guru' should give us all pause

Niamh Griffin's recent article about the perils of following the health advice of influencers quoted a statistic that the 'wellness' industry is worth $6.3tn. Picture: iStock

It’s easy, indeed, understandable, to think of misinformation in a political sense, even if there it is frequently blended and bound to the more deliberate act of disinformation.

The first coming of Donald Trump, with its extraordinary hostility to facts, heralded the onset of what has been termed the post-truth era. It has only been made worse with his second coming, where there no longer seems to be even a semblance of spin and the administration appears to lie with every statement, appearance, or breath.