False information surrounding the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio in early February has circulated at alarming rates in the incident’s aftermath.
Delayed, confusing responses from public officials sparked confusion and anxiety among community members, and created a void for false online posts about journalists being arrested, dead fish and cattle, warnings about acid rain, and more, to go viral.
“Understandably, I noticed a clear sense of fear and a desire for people to understand what was happening to them in that moment,” said Eleanor McCrary, a fact-checker at USA Today, of the misinformation.
Misinformation around disasters is common for a variety of reasons, explained Colleen Hagerty, a freelance disaster-focused journalist who writes a weekly newsletter called “My World’s on Fire.”
For one, people are in search of immediate answers. “Part of it is certainly that there are structures and systems in place for officials to respond to disasters, so that information isn't always coming out maybe as quickly as people want it, especially nowadays with social media," Hagerty said. “People might be turning to untrustworthy sources, because [that is] where they're seeing information coming from.”
In the weeks following the derailment of the Norfolk Southern train, some also claimed the story wasn’t being covered in the news. Joe Donatelli, the digital director of News 5 Cleveland tweeted a thread debunking these claims. Hagerty added: “I...
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