Experts Warn Global Misinformation Threatens Democracy, Urge Media Literacy Summit

President Donald Trump recently delivered a speech to the U.N. disputing the reality of climate change, making several inaccurate claims about global warming and renewable energy, including false statements about China's wind power capacity and the cleanliness of coal energy, as fact-checked by FactCheck.org. PolitiFact's data reveal a disproportionate focus on fact-checking Trump, with over 1,000 checks and a high percentage of false ratings, prompting criticism of partisan bias in media fact-checking practices. The rise of disinformation, particularly on social media platforms, is complicating public understanding of truth and falsehoods, posing challenges to democracy and necessitating responsible journalism and media literacy, as highlighted by experts at the #Disinfo2025 summit in Slovenia. While fact-checking journalism aims to provide citizens with accurate information essential for democracy, debates continue about media bias and the influence of ideological leanings on news coverage, with some commentators arguing that mainstream media outlets are shifting rightward under conservative influence. These dynamics underscore the ongoing struggle over truth, misinformation, and political narratives in the current media landscape.