Meta-reflexivity for resilience against disinformation

Abstract

The rise of digital media contributes to fake news and disinformation being circulated on a larger scale and pace. The central aim of the work is to consider the potentials of individuals to actively respond to disinformation and fake news. In that regard, the authors rely on Archer’s theoretical framework of reflexivity and its modes. It is argued that a specific mode of reflexivity, namely meta-reflexivity, can enable people to take a critical distance towards media messaging. The method involves the Reflexivity Measurement Tool (RMT) to provide an approximate assessment of one’s reflexivity in terms of quantitative scores. The survey has been conducted in Slovenia on a representative national sample and path analysis is applied to identify the relationship between demographic features, media exposure, reflexivity and fact-checking. The results show how age and education affect media preferences, in terms of how frequently an individual is exposed to a particular type of media. Younger people, women and persons with tertiary education are more meta-reflexive, which contributes to their active response to disinformation. It is concluded that meta-reflexivity is essential but not sufficient to produce an active response of individuals to disinformation. Need for professional fact-checking-services and media education is discussed.