Another undercurrent in Sunday coverage was the speed with which misinformation spreads — especially around disaster aid, corruption claims, and policy decisions.
The instinctive response is to blame social media. This is convenient — and wrong. Social media does not create mistrust. It exploits it.
In environments where institutions communicate slowly, selectively, or defensively, alternative narratives thrive. Gaps are filled instantly. Corrections arrive late. Trust erodes faster than facts can travel.
Sri Lanka’s information problem is structural. Official communication remains hierarchical, cautious, and reactive. It assumes patience in a world that no longer has any.
Sunday commentary often laments “viral falsehoods.” Rarely does it examine why official data is unavailable, delayed, or inaccessible.
Trust is not restored by rebuttal. It is restored by pre-emption.
Real-time
accountability, and predictable communication are the only antidotes to misinformation. Without them, every crisis becomes an information vacuum — and vacuums are always filled.
Social media is not the enemy. Institutional silence is.
