“Misinformation” is information that is factually inaccurate but is passed along by a purveyor who is ignorant of the inaccuracy and does not intend to deceive. “Disinformation,” on the other hand, is information the purveyor knows is false yet deliberatively imparts with the intention of deceiving or misleading.
Disinformation is to communications what a diversion is to a military manoeuvre. It is information which has the semblance of truth, leaked or made available to espionage or to the media, in order to create attitudes or provoke actions favourable to the objectives of the disinformers. In some cases of social statistics, disinformation is provided to international collecting agencies solely to make programmes and policies of incumbent regimes appear progressive and productive. Disinformation is therefore static in the entire international communications network, civil or military, commercial or political.
Government, military and other bureaucracies are organized in such a way that reports from lower echelons must necessarily contain a certain percentage of disinformation in order to meet with the approval of the higher echelons to which they are submitted. Programme reports are written so as to give the best possible interpretation to the actions of those responsible for their implementation and thus further (or protect) their future careers. In intergovernmental organizations writing 'positively' is often encouraged.
Disinformation is so pervasive because distrust of traditional sources of authority, including the news media, keeps increasing. When people think the mainstream media is not holding industries and governments to account, they may be more likely to accept information that challenges conventional beliefs.