Consequences of disinformation in the life of the population: the role of the press in Angola

Abstract

The role of the public or private press is to maintain a healthy environment, abdicating any act of favoring people, groups or institutions. In the case of Angola, the lack of plurality and impartiality of information from the media, mainly public, has forced the population to resort to other means of communication, such as social networks and the international press. In this way, the objective was to analyze the role of the press in Angola, more specifically in relation to the consequences of misinformation in the lives of the population. In this context, the following research question is presented: what has been the role of the Angolan press in the fight against disinformation? The research is of a qualitative-quantitative nature, of the descriptive-exploratory type. To obtain the results, a questionnaire was applied with the Likert Scale, prepared in Google Forms, sent from digital media: emails, WhatsApp and Facebook. The questions were prepared in a semi-structured way, allowing participants to express their opinions. The questionnaire consisted of nine questions, which sought to know the real situation of the press in Angola. 103 questionnaires were answered, where participants freely and anonymously expressed their opinions. As for the results, they indicate that in relation to the Angolan Press Law, it was found that it safeguards the exercise of press freedom, and must ensure broad and impartial information, democratic pluralism, non-discrimination and respect for the public interest. Regarding the population studied, there was the participation of 103 (one hundred and three) respondents, aged between 19 and 49 years, highlighting the young population, with 50% of the participants being men. Regarding the channels that most disseminate disinformation: 55.3% mentioned that it is public television and only 10.7% mentioned that it is social networks, evidencing the loss of credibility of the public press with the population. It was found that the participants are aware of the consequences of disinformation and, therefore, resort to the private press and social networks to seek additional information according to their needs, striving for impartiality and truth. It is clear that the research participants are aware of the consequences of disinformation and, thus, turn to the private press and social networks to seek additional information according to their needs, striving for impartiality and truth.