The voice note that spurred a rush to bottle stores across the country this week has blurred an already opaque line.
It wasn’t a media house that stirred up panic booze-buying, but rather an individual playing on the fear of many South Africans and taking advantage of the proliferation of messaging apps.
This underscores that the media is no longer the gatekeeper to information, and misinformation; the responsibility for separating fact from fiction falls on all of us.
The next time something like this crosses our path, the first question we should ask is: who benefits the most? It’ll usually make the message clearer…
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