Library association CILIP recently reminded us what the profession is all about. And why it matters.
It sent a strongly-worded official complaint to the Tories after they disguised their own Twitterfeed as an independent fact-checking site – complete with fake Twitter validation tick – and then issued fake
“information” during the leaders’ debate on ITV.
The party’s reaction was that it didn’t matter. But it does. CILIP has run a “Facts matter” campaign since 2017. It’s never looked so topical.
The fake site broke the Conservatives’ code of conduct into smithereens. But, much worse, says CILIP, the party’s “actions in misrepresenting itself as a legitimate fact checking service cross a line which ought never to be crossed – raising the spectre of state-sponsored misinformation and the deliberate undermining of truth and
accountability which should have no place in British politics.”
…”We hope the investigation of this complaint will provide an opportunity for the Conservative party to reflect on the fact that evidence and accountability matter in public life, and that the actions you have taken seriously undermine this principle.”
