In Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose it emerges that a number of monks have been killed by a poison placed on the corners of the books in their monastery library. This month the author discovered that modern vehicles of communication can be equally treacherous.

On receiving an honorary degree in “Communications and media culture” from Turin University, Eco warned against the unreliability of much of the information carried on Internet and suggested that schools should teach pupils how to sort the wheat from the chaff and newspapers should devote greater resources to a similar exercise.

“Social media give the right of speech to legions of imbeciles who previously spoke only at the bar after a glass of wine, without damaging the collectivity,” Eco told journalists in a conversation after the ceremony. “They were immediately told to shut up, while now they have the same right to speech as a Nobel Prize-winner.”

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