Thoreau spent his life pursuing the ‘hard bottom’ of truth. But he confronted a sensationalist newspaper industry that, in many ways, mimicked today’s media environment.
News consumers don’t often believe fake news. But it’s nonetheless critical that they learn to gauge the legitimacy of news sources and become aware of their own biases.
Licensing journalists would be difficult to do, and the rules would be tough to enforce – and wouldn’t prevent anyone with a smart phone from disseminating false information online.
Reports of facts’ death have been greatly exaggerated. Effective communication jettisons the false dilemma in favor of a more holistic view of how people take in new information on contentious topics.
Students in high school now will be eligible to vote during the 2020 election cycle. How can we prepare them to become informed citizens in an era of misinformation, where anyone can publish anything?
Public interest journalism exposes corruption and wrongdoers, and holds the powerful to account. But it is increasingly under threat, and we need to find ways to protect it.
Pundits have been keen to link post-truth to post-modernists, post-positivists or any other ‘postie’. They should turn their energy to forming a real popular front against Trump’s faux populism.
Lindsay Grace, American University School of Communication
Readers read, viewers watch and players do. That level of engagement gives games real power to influence people both within and outside the play itself.
It’s election time and all the political parties are locked in a social media battle. But does it help inform political debate or just cause even more confusion?
The president has fled the country. An activist has died in jail. A military coup is afoot. Fake news is dividing Venezuelans, making a peaceful end to its profound crisis ever less likely.