Age Of Post-Truth Research Articles

Fake News in The Age Of Post-Truth

Fake News in The Age Of Post-Truth

Populist communication in the post-truth age: A comparative analysis of treatment of journalists by Donald Trump and Aleksandar Vučić

The populist communication model of perceiving journalists as enemies of the state, presented in the political communication of the 45th US President Donald Trump, seems to be not only reserved for the US but has become a trend for populist leaders worldwide. Such rhetoric has been revitalized by the recent rise of populism in Western Europe, fostered in Central and Eastern Europe and recognized in the local media landscape in Serbia. Tis paper compares the communication models of US President Donald Trump and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic as directed toward journalists. The results show that these leaders use a similar communication pattern: they favour divisive issues, stressing a friendly vs. unpatriotic media, alienating the media outlets and contributing to the further polarisation in media and society. This research is based on a qualitative analysis of 12 press conferences, including media statements chosen for their unique interactions with media representatives.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note Bruce R. Burningham The Year 2020 has been a tough one so far. As I write these words, we are still dealing with the impact of the COVID pandemic, which has certainly changed the way we all go about the business of teaching and researching the works of Cervantes and other early modern Iberian and Latin American authors. And this year has also seen the loss of two more eminent cervantistas: Luis Murillo and Manuel Durán. This Spring issue of the journal begins with a homage essay in honor of Murillo written by Jim Parr, while the Fall issue will include a homage essay written in honor of Durán written by Roberto González Echevarría. Both scholars were important to my own education and career, and I will add my own brief thoughts on each of them in turn (for Murillo, here in this current Editor's Note; for Durán in my Editor's Note in the Fall issue). ________ Regarding Luis Murillo, I will be forever grateful for the way he took me under his wing when I was a newly-minted assistant professor at USC. I used to come back from teaching class to find him waiting for me outside my office door with a sparkle in his eye, at which point we would head off to lunch somewhere nearby. He constantly gave me (and later mailed me) copies of essays he had just written on California history and culture, and I still reach for his edition of Don Quixote whenever I am doing research. He was famous for taking the LA mass transit system as he moved about the city, and I could never get him to accept a ride home. Yes, he would allow me to give him a lift, but only as far as the nearest bus stop or Metro station. After I moved away from LA, I always tried to visit Luis whenever I was back in Southern California. We usually started with brunch in Pasadena and then he would improve my education by taking me around to visit places he [End Page 7] thought I really ought to see. On one visit, he announced that he was taking me to see the library at Cal Tech. The last time I visited him, we toured the grounds of the Pasadena City Hall, where he (reluctantly) agreed to take a selfie with me. This photo, with City Hall set against the deep blue of the Pasadena sky, and with Luis sporting his signature buzz cut and a pair of wrap-around sunglasses, quickly became one of my favorites: he was, by far, the coolest cervantista in SoCal. Abrazos, Luis, y mil gracias. ________ Regarding this Spring 2020 issue of Cervantes, we begin with two essays on gender and sexuality by Mar Martínez Góngora and Stacey Parker Aronson. These articles are followed by two essays by David Boruchoff on Cervantes's "art of brevity" in Don Quixote and Jesús Botello on ekphrasis in Los baños de Argel. Following these two articles, we offer an interlude of sorts in the form of a magisterial essay by Howard Mancing on "The Amadís Phenomenon." We then conclude with a cluster of essays written by Eric Graf, David Castillo, and Charles Patterson on Cervantes's works within the context of contemporary society. In this regard, Graf examines Don Quixote against the backdrop of this year's Black Lives Matter protests. Castillo reads "El licenciado Vidriera" in the context of our "post-truth age." And Patterson examines Anglo-American modernity in Manuel Altolaguirre's Las maravillas. The Spring 2020 issue concludes with a single book review, written by Rogelio Miñana, of Stephen Haff's Kid Quixotes: A Group of Students, Their Teachers, and the One-Room School Where Everything Is Possible. Thanks, as always, to our Associate Editors and other peer reviewers for all their hard work, to Ana Laguna for curating the book reviews, and to John Beusterien for helping me manage the submissions process. [End Page 8] Copyright © 2020 Cervantes Society of America

Literature to the Rescue! A Cervantine Survival Kit for the Post-Truth Age

Este ensayo propone una relectura de El licenciado como un texto cuya excentricidad e incompleto marco narrativo hacen posible diferentes interpretaciones en el mismo sentido en que las experimentales tecnicas de enmarcamiento y los juegos de espejos de Velazquez invitan al espectador a imaginar diferentes perspectivas. De este modo, frente a aquellos lectores que puedan identificarse con el publico o espectadores internos, celebrando con ellos las presuntas agudezas de Vidriera, el texto invitaria una segunda lectura o perspectiva oblicua desde la que podriamos interpretar a Vidriera como un contenedor efectivamente transparente de los prejuicios mas comunes de su tiempo.

Resenha/Book Review: Music Education in an Age of Virtuality and Post-Truth

Este texto apresenta a resenha do livro Music education in an age of virtuality and post-truth, do professor canadense da Western University, Paul G. Woodford. O livro costura o pragmatismo de John Dewey com as ideias de George Orwell sobre as sociedades de massa em busca de compreender o impacto que determinadas ações de políticos do século XXI podem causar no campo da Educação, da Arte e das Humanidades. Como conclusão, são oferecidos exemplos similares de políticos do Brasil e da América Latina, com o suporte das ideias de Newton Duarte,2 que ele chamou de O currículo em tempos de obscurantismo beligerante (2018).

Under Siege: The Rise of Right-Wing Populism or has the Demos Become Crazy?

Abstract The title of this paper is a play on words re-working the word democracy into demos-crazy. This re-working however is not a joke as the election of authoritarian illiberal candidates in the United States, the Philippines, Hungary, Turkey and Brazil (to name but a few) has called into question the future shape of politics. Electoral politics is under siege by new parties as well as spontaneous movements. There are fundamental questions which need to be addressed. What are the reasons for the rise of right-wing populism? Is populism undemocratic? What has been the role of social media and ICTs in helping to create a new political spectrum? Politically and socially what does it mean if we have entered a post-truth age? The demos has not become crazy but democracy is certainly in retreat. This paper argues that liberalism needs to construct an honest counter-narrative in contrast to the fear-mongering and false nostalgia of the right. The rhetoric of the right is opportunistic, but it would be a fatal mistaketo dismiss its appeals. After all, it has won elections. The demos is not crazy, but has been ignored and in many cases left behind. Positive populism is grounded in human dignity and fairness. This is the essence of democracy.

Research on Media Literacy Cultivation Strategies of Chinese College Students in the "Post-Truth Age"

In the context of the "post-truth" age, fake news and news reversal will appear from time to time on the Internet, highlighting the uncertainty of the spread of truth as well as the spread of rumors, which have a negative impact on online public opinion. Therefore, the ability to explore the truth, exactly the core of media literacy, turns to be important now. In this paper it is found that the formation mechanism of the "post-truth" age in China lies in the interaction between the "post-modern" social characteristics and the characteristics of cyberspace. In order to deal with various existing problems that Chinese college students present in the cyberspace, it is suggested to build the media literacy training system of Chinese college students from three levels: the media literacy training system of Chinese college students should be constructed from the knowledge dimension; the six major media literacy abilities of college students should be cultivated from the skill dimension; and the media culture communication platform in campus should be built from the comprehensive dimension to build the media literacy training system of Chinese college students.

When Nothing Is True, Everything Is Possible: On Truth and Power by Way of Socialist Realism

In this essay, i contend that our current crisis of truth, however distressing, is a replay of an earlier one that saw a far-reaching, devastating destruction of truth. The simultaneous recrudescence of right-wing populism and dawn of the post-truth age recall the way totalitarian movements in the twentieth century exposed the masses to organized lying. Today, the plague of so-called alternative facts and fake news, while incubated and spread by digital technology, can, like totalitarianism's organized lies, be traced back to the erosion of democratic institutions and the loss of faith in democracy's foundational narratives. To understand how our contemporary politics could be going down the dark lane of history again, I turn to the political philosophy of Claude Lefort, Anthony Giddens, and Hannah Arendt, who have written perspicaciously on what happens to truth when the citizenry collectively disinvests from common knowledge and disbelieves in the common good.

Deakin Interviews Author of "Fake News and Dinosaurs"

Deakin Interviews Author of "Fake News and Dinosaurs"

Elevating Problems of Journalistic Power in an Age of Post-Truth

Recent pushes to embrace problems and solutions related to working and teaching in an age of “post-truth” reveal problematic, long-time journalistic cultures and approaches of journalism that educators are challenged to address. This essay provides a critical voice to this special issue on education in “post-truth” to interpret current themes of threats to journalism discussed across journalistic communities. This perspective takes into account forces of neoliberalism and hegemonic ideologies within journalism education that, if addressed, could turn trials of “post-truth” into a redevelopment of journalism education for the common good.

Leadership in a post-truth era: A new narrative disorder?

This essay, and the special issue it introduces, seeks to explore leadership in a post-truth age, focusing in particular on the types of narratives and counter-narratives that characterize it and at times dominate it. We first examine the factors that are often held responsible for the rise of post-truth in politics, including the rise of relativist and postmodernist ideas, dishonest leaders and bullshit artists, the digital revolution and social media, the 2008 economic crisis and collapse of public trust. We develop the idea that different historical periods are characterized by specific narrative ecologies, which, by analogy to natural ecologies, can be viewed as spaces where different types of narrative and counter-narrative emerge, interact, compete, adapt, develop and die. We single out some of the dominant narrative types that characterize post-truth narrative ecologies and highlight the ability of language to ‘do things with words’ that support both the production of ‘fake news’ and a type of narcissistic leadership that thrive in these narrative ecologies. We then examine more widely leadership in post-truth politics focusing on the resurgence of populist and demagogical types along with the narratives that have made these types highly effective in our times. These include nostalgic narratives idealizing a fictional past and conspiracy theories aimed at arousing fears about a dangerous future.

Preparing Students for the Fight Against False Information With Visual Verification and Open Source Reporting

While some journalists analyze and verify “open source” materials such as social media, eyewitness video, and satellite imagery to hold leaders and institutions accountable, many journalists and students are not learning basic digital verification skills. Research shows that journalists find this work challenging and that newsrooms do not consistently offer resources. Educators can fill this gap, and address problems the press faces in a post-truth age, such as student overtrust of digital sources, public distrust of the media, and the advancement of tools to fake visual information. This essay offers exercises and resources for educators in a variety of settings.

Bridging the Gaps: Transfer Between Scholarly Research and Newsrooms in Journalism Education—Toward an Evidence-Based Practice in an Age of Post-Truth and State of Flux

Two boundaries impede an evidence-based perspective of journalism students and graduates on change, innovation, and epistemological problems of media reality: The separation of practical journalism training from scientific journalism research and the lack of transfer between academic research and newsrooms. The approach of this article bridges these gaps by making transfer projects a third pillar of journalism education. Based on projects from a master’s degree program, we show how—in an age of post-truth and state of flux in a developing digital journalism practice—students’ awareness of an evidence-based journalistic practice can be strengthened by research in and with newsrooms.

The post-truth age, the fake news industry, the Russian Federation and the Central European area

In this text, I first come up with the conceptualization of the terms ‘post-truth age’, ‘news’ and ‘fake news’. I explain the difference between news and fake news in a larger context of the post-truth age. In this regard I argue that for the contemporary period there are some –although not revolutionary – differences from previous forms of manipulations and propaganda. I’m also convinced that there is not a such radical difference between news and fake news. Further, I define the fake news industry and its linkage to the related soft-power strategy as manufactured and disseminated by the current Russian Federation and its allied forces in Central European countries with some examples from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. I argue that social and identitarian dimensions play an important role and may be explained by new societal cleavages as well as by activities conducted by homegrown patriotic campaigners, citizen curators of information and useful idiots.

Philosophy in the Age of Post-Truth: Servant of the King or Clown in the Agora

This article touches on two main themes of popular debate in the community of philosophers and the international information space. On the one hand, it deals with the emergence of the age of “Post-truth,” and related value, worldview and sociopolitical transformations. On the other hand, the article looks into the crisis of philosophy as a scholarly field and discipline, as well as debates around the prospects of philosophy’s survival in the current age, whatever it may be called (Post-industrial, Information, Post-truth, etc.). The main thesis lies in the fact that it is precisely in the age of Post-Truth that philosophy gains enormous relevance; however this new sociocultural situation demands that philosophy regain certainty of its role and position in society. Two typical roles and positions, two forms of philosophers’ communications with society thus emerge. Aphoristically they may be expressed as the Servant of the King (thus, a servile attitude to power, whether secular or ecclesiastical) or the Clown in the Agora (or the market of educational and intellectual services, governed by “market laws,” familiar to Sophists of the Ancient world). The author presumes that our age is in many fundamental respects similar to the age of the Sophists, especially in how higher education becomes reoriented towards market demand and mass preferences. The author describes the dialectics of freedom of philosophical thinking between outside compulsion and the needs of funding, and shows that the problem is far from being resolved.

Introduction: Special Issue ‘Complexity and Truth’

If not even earlier, then at the latest when Oxford Dictionaries selected ‘post-truth’ as Word of the Year 2016, did the global public become aware that ‘truth’ is not an uncontested and finite concept but a social construct. Are we, then, standing on the threshold of a new ‘post-truth age’ as – for instance – The Independent has claimed? (Norman 2016) Certainly, the Word of the Year 2016 has cast a bright light onto the case that there is not ‘one truth only’ but that there are facts that can be interpreted – or rejected – in different ways. This means that truth is ‘produced’, but is it produced as scientific or religious truth or as political truth? Just think of `fake news´ and its strategic use in influencing elections, as in the case of the latest presidential elections in the US or Brazil, or the leave campaign in the case of the Brexit referendum. Thus, the production of truth is undertaken by society, at least on the level of concrete actions. This situation becomes more complicated if we consider modern complex society. The increasing globalization of economies and societies has made the world more complex than it has ever before been.

Audience Engagement in a Post-Truth Age

In any discussion about a “post-truth age,” the audience is both part of the problem and part of the solution. The authority of journalism is called into question if everyone can participate in generating and spreading verified and unverified, relevant and irrelevant “news.” At the same time, journalism can integrate the audience into the editorial process and dialogue in an unprecedented variety of ways, thereby disclosing the way journalism works and raising awareness for the difference between journalism and any form of mis- and disinformation. Thus “Audience Engagement” is becoming a key factor for journalism in a post-truth era. This article analyses dimensions of audience engagement in a holistic sense. Key findings were gathered through interviews with practitioners within the innovative training format “Learning Lab Audience Engagement.” Factors for a successful audience engagement comprise a paradigm shift away from a “lecturing” towards a “dialogue” approach. This approach changes not only journalism, media and newsroom cultures: Educational institutions have to change their attitude accordingly. The experience of the participants suggests that a broad understanding of media and training organisations alike as “engaging organisations” brings with it several challenges and limitations but can help to raise trust.

The Information Politics of Journalism in a Post-Truth Age

In the so-called post-truth age, criticism challenging the representational accuracy and political orientation of journalists has become an indelible part of the realm of political contestation. Although “post-truth” is riddled with conceptual shortcomings, its usage to describe the contemporary epistemic moment directs attention to the underlying issues it encompasses. This is particularly the case for journalism in the United States where antagonism toward journalists has already been a regular feature of political discourse, and has been magnified through the rhetoric of Donald Trump. Journalists face increasing challenges in their attempt to occupy the symbolic communicative center of democratic society while remaining outside of governing power. Contemporary information politics are marked by a power struggle among competing groups to not merely contest claims within journalistic content but to contest the journalists making the claims. Given this context, this article argues that the epistemic context of contemporary journalism demands that journalists do more to develop arguments legitimating their claims to render valid judgments. This metacommunication includes a more vigorous and public articulation of the social value journalists offer, a self-critical stance through which they can address their weaknesses and limitations, and a defense against self-interested criticism directed at them by political actors.

The discursive construction of journalistic authority in a post-truth age

This study, using a discursive institutionalism lens, examines how US journalists have assessed and constructed journalistic institutional authority from 2000 through 2016. The findings provide a set of pivot points around which journalistic discourse has orbited, showing how journalists renegotiated their authority in the face of challenges to journalism’s material, professional role, and social impact bases. While discourse comes back to authority rooted in journalism’s democratic function, journalists also appear uncertain about the basis of their authority in a seeming post-truth age.

Digital forensics in a post-truth age

Digital forensics in a post-truth age