Editing Disinformation (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:The Etymology of Disinformation.png|thumb|The Etymology of Disinformation by H. Newman as published in The Journal of Information Warfare in 2021.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Newman |first=Hadley |date=2022 |title=Information Warfare: Leveraging the DMMI Matrix Cube for Risk Assessment |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27199985 |journal=Journal of Information Warfare |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=84–102 |jstor=27199985 |issn=1445-3312}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Hadley |first=Newman |date=2022 |title=Author |url=https://www.jinfowar.com/authors/hadley-newman |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228134920/https://www.jinfowar.com/authors/hadley-newman |archive-date=28 December 2022 |access-date=28 December 2022 |website=Journal of Information Warfare |quote=Strategic communications advisor working across a broad range of policy areas for public and multilateral organisations. Counter-disinformation specialist and published author on foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI).}}</ref> Elements of the word disinformation have their origins in [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] language family. The Latin 'dis' and 'in' and can both be considered to have Proto-Indo-European roots, 'forma' is considerably more obscure. The green box in the figure highlights the origin 'forma' is uncertain, however, it may have its roots in the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelean]] concept of μορφή (morphe) where something becomes a 'thing' when it has 'form' or substance.]]
The English word [[wikt:disinformation|''disinformation'']] comes from the application of the Latin prefix [[wikt:dis-|''dis-'']] to [[wikt:information|''information'']] making the meaning "reversal or removal of information". The rarely used word had appeared with this usage in print at least as far back as 1887.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1887-02-17 |title=City & County Cullings (Early use of the word "disinformation" 1887) |pages=3 |work=Medicine Lodge Cresset |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7726932/early-use-of-the-word-disinformation/ |access-date=2021-05-24 |archive-date=24 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524135425/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7726932/early-use-of-the-word-disinformation/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1892-08-18 |title=Professor Young on Mars and disinformation (1892) |pages=4 |work=The Salt Lake Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7729235/professor-young-on-mars-and/ |access-date=2021-05-24 |archive-date=24 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524135429/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7729235/professor-young-on-mars-and/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1907-09-26 |title=Pure nonsense (early use of the word disinformation) (1907) |pages=8 |work=The San Bernardino County Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7729323/pure-nonsense-early-use-of-the-word/ |access-date=2021-05-24 |archive-date=24 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524135452/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7729323/pure-nonsense-early-use-of-the-word/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1917-12-18 |title=Support for Red Cross helps U.S. boys abroad, Rotary Club is told (1917) |pages=4 |work=The Sheboygan Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7818737/support-for-red-cross-helps-us-boys/ |access-date=2021-05-24 |archive-date=24 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524135431/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7818737/support-for-red-cross-helps-us-boys/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some consider it a [[loan translation]] of the Russian {{lang|ru|дезинформация}}, [[Romanization of Russian|transliterated]] as [[wikt:дезинформация|''dezinformatsiya'']],<ref name="pacepa">{{citation |author=[[Ion Mihai Pacepa]] and [[Ronald J. Rychlak]] |title=Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism |title-link=Disinformation (book) |pages=4–6, 34–39, 75 |year=2013 |publisher=WND Books |isbn=978-1-936488-60-5}}</ref><ref name="bittman1985" /><ref name="shultzgodson" /> apparently derived from the title of a [[KGB]] [[black propaganda]] department.<ref name=jowett>{{citation|author1=Garth Jowett  |author2=[[Victoria O'Donnell]]|title=Propaganda and Persuasion|pages=21–23|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-0898-6|year=2005|chapter=What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From Persuasion?|quote=In fact, the word disinformation is a cognate for the Russian dezinformatsia, taken from the name of a division of the KGB devoted to black propaganda.}}</ref><ref name="bittman1985">{{citation|first=Ladislav|last=Bittman|author-link=Lawrence Martin-Bittman|title=The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View|year=1985|isbn=978-0-08-031572-0|publisher=Pergamon-Brassey's|pages=49–50|title-link=The KGB and Soviet Disinformation}}</ref><ref name="adamtaylor">{{citation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/26/before-fake-news-there-was-soviet-disinformation|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=26 November 2016|access-date=3 December 2016|title=Before 'fake news,' there was Soviet 'disinformation'|first=Adam|last=Taylor|archive-date=14 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514041408/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/26/before-fake-news-there-was-soviet-disinformation/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="pacepa" /> Soviet planners in the 1950s defined disinformation as "dissemination (in the press, on the radio, etc.) of false reports intended to mislead [[public opinion]]."<ref name="ned">{{citation|first=Dean|last=Jackson|title=Distinguishing Disinformation from Propaganda, Misinformation, and 'Fake News' |year=2018|publisher=[[National Endowment for Democracy]]|url=https://www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Distinguishing-Disinformation-from-Propaganda.pdf|access-date=31 May 2022|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407003326/https://www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Distinguishing-Disinformation-from-Propaganda.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Disinformation'' first made an appearance in dictionaries in 1985, specifically, ''Webster's New College Dictionary'' and the ''American Heritage Dictionary''.<ref name= bittman1988>{{citation|title=The New Image-Makers: Soviet Propaganda & Disinformation Today|first=Ladislav|last=Bittman|author-link=Lawrence Martin-Bittman|year=1988|pages=7, 24|isbn=978-0-08-034939-8|publisher=Brassey's Inc}}</ref> In 1986, the term ''disinformation'' was not defined in ''Webster's New World Thesaurus'' or ''New Encyclopædia Britannica''.<ref name=pacepa /> After the Soviet term became widely known in the 1980s, native speakers of English broadened the term as "any government communication (either overt or covert) containing intentionally false and misleading material, often combined selectively with true information, which seeks to mislead and [[Psychological manipulation|manipulate]] either elites or a [[mass audience]]."<ref name=shultzgodson>{{citation|first1=Richard H.|last1=Shultz|first2=Roy|last2=Godson|author1-link=Richard H. Shultz|author2-link=Roy Godson|title=Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy|publisher=Pergamon-Brassey's|year=1984|isbn=978-0-08-031573-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dezinformatsiaac0000shul/page/37 37–38]|title-link=Dezinformatsia (book)}}</ref>

By 1990, use of the term ''disinformation'' had fully established itself in the English language within the lexicon of politics.<ref name=davidmartin>{{citation|title=The Web of Disinformation: Churchill's Yugoslav Blunder|first=David|last=Martin|page=[https://archive.org/details/webofdisinformat0000mart/page/ xx]|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|year=1990|isbn=978-0-15-180704-8|url=https://archive.org/details/webofdisinformat0000mart/page/}}</ref> By 2001, the term ''disinformation'' had come to be known as simply a more civil phrase for saying someone was [[lie|lying]].<ref name=heinemann>{{citation|page=124|title=Developing Media Skills|first=Geoff |last=Barton |publisher=Heinemann|isbn=978-0-435-10960-8|year=2001}}</ref> Stanley B. Cunningham wrote in his 2002 book ''The Idea of Propaganda'' that ''disinformation'' had become pervasively used as a synonym for [[propaganda]].<ref name=cunningham>{{citation|title=The Idea of Propaganda: A Reconstruction|first=Stanley B. |last=Cunningham|pages=67–68, 110|chapter=Disinformation (Russian: ''dezinformatsiya'')|year=2002|isbn=978-0-275-97445-9|publisher=Praeger}}</ref>