concept of “misinformation,” whereby we recognize that intentionally false or misleading information is transmitted to the listener, and how it’s had a devastating impact during the COVID-19 pandemic.We’ve also been awed by his use of Twitter to communicate that misinformation.The transmission model of communications describes the technical movement of a signal over a channel and across a distance.
But this is a poor description of presidential rhetoric.Too often we think that the complex, human task of communication is the same as the technical process of transmission.
We worry whether someone “gets” our suggestions. When the president’s doctors update us on his health status, we assume that they’re just “giving” us information.