Abstract Social media misinformation is widely recognized as a significant and growing global problem. Yet, little is known about how misinformation spreads across broader media ecosystems, particularly in areas with varying internet access and connectivity. Drawing on research in northern Ghana, we seek to address this gap. We argue that ‘pavement media’—the everyday communication of current affairs through discussions in marketplaces, places of worship, bars, and the like and through a range of non-conversational and visual practices such as songs, sermons, and graffiti—is a key link in a broader media ecosystem. Vibrant pavement and traditional media allow for information from social media to quickly cross into offline spaces, creating a distinction not of the connected and disconnected but of first-hand and indirect social media users. This paper sets out how social, traditional, and pavement media form a complex and deeply gendered and socio-economically stratified media ecosystem and investigates its implications for how citizens differentially encounter, process, and respond to misinformation. Based on the findings, we argue that efforts intended to combat the spread of misinformation need to move beyond the Western-centred conception of what constitutes media and take different local modalities of media access and fact-checking into account.

中文翻译：

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跨越数字鸿沟的错误信息：来自加纳北部的理论和证据

摘要 社交媒体错误信息被广泛认为是一个重要且日益严重的全球性问题。然而，对于错误信息如何在更广泛的媒体生态系统中传播，尤其是在互联网接入和连接不同的地区，人们知之甚少。借鉴加纳北部的研究，我们寻求解决这一差距。我们认为，“路面媒体”——通过在市场、礼拜场所、酒吧等场所的讨论，以及通过歌曲、布道和涂鸦等一系列非对话和视觉实践，对时事进行日常交流——是一种更广泛的媒体生态系统中的关键环节。充满活力的路面和传统媒体允许来自社交媒体的信息快速进入线下空间，不是区分连接和断开连接，而是区分第一手和间接社交媒体用户。本文阐述了社会媒体、传统媒体和普通媒体如何形成一个复杂的、深度性别化和社会经济分层的媒体生态系统，并研究其对公民如何以不同方式遇到、处理和响应错误信息的影响。基于研究结果，我们认为旨在打击错误信息传播的努力需要超越以西方为中心的媒体构成概念，并考虑到不同的地方媒体访问模式和事实核查。和人行道媒体形成了一个复杂的、深度性别化和社会经济分层的媒体生态系统，并研究了它对公民如何以不同方式遇到、处理和响应错误信息的影响。基于研究结果，我们认为旨在打击错误信息传播的努力需要超越以西方为中心的媒体构成概念，并考虑到不同的地方媒体访问模式和事实核查。和人行道媒体形成了一个复杂的、深度性别化和社会经济分层的媒体生态系统，并研究了它对公民如何以不同方式遇到、处理和响应错误信息的影响。基于研究结果，我们认为旨在打击错误信息传播的努力需要超越以西方为中心的媒体构成概念，并考虑到不同的地方媒体访问模式和事实核查。