"Concerns about disinformation have witnessed extraordinary growth since the mid-2010s, despite the spread of false and distorted messages in the public arena not being a new phenomenon. In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary declared 'post-truth' as its word ofthe year, highlighting a historical and political time in which disinformation strategies reached new heights, fueled by the hybridization of the communicative ecosystem (Chadwick 2013) in a context of increasing polarization and populism. The election of Donald Trump in 2016 or the Brexit referendum the same year were milestones in the awareness of the role manipulative messages play and their effects on political decisions, particularly in times of crisis (Spence, Lachlan, Edwards, and Edwards 2016). Disinformation strategies take advantage of social networks to go viral quickly, and benefit from another of these networks' inherent characteristics: their ability to discriminate and stratify the public according to the most diverse criteria (Wagner and Boczkowski 2019). Any person or company with a sufficiently large and specialized database can now distribute content among the public according to multiple criteria, allowing much more to be known about their tastes, hobbies, opinions, etc. than in the past. In fact, public participation data on social networks (who they follow, in which groups they participate, what content they share, etc.) is one of the main elements that helps increase the effectiveness of the messages sent to the public. The snowball of disinformation can, in fact, feed itself and improve its effectiveness in each wave (Tucker et al. 2018)"--
Discover a comprehensive exploration of the underlying theories of disinformation, and their impact, from leading voices in the field
Politics of Disinformation delivers a thorough discussion of the overwhelming problem of modern fake news in the political arena. The book reviews fundamental theoretical concepts of disinformation and analyzes the impact of new techniques of misinformation and the dissemination of false information in the public space. The distinguished authors rely on case studies throughout the text to illustrate the effect of disinformation in places all around the world; including, but not limited to Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
The chapters include examination of topics such as the rise of populism, the increasing political impact of social networks and the use of fact checking to combat fake news and echo chambers. Comparative analyses of how disinformation affects conservatives and liberals, and women and men, are also conducted. A final case study examines all of these factors as they relate to the recent Spanish election of 2019 and how they affected the results. This book also includes:
- A thorough introduction to the politics of disinformation and the relationship between disinformation and populism
- An exploration of the democratic implications of networked persona construction and the likely reaction to disinformation by future journalists
- Discussions of the third person effect and fake news in Spain, as well as perceptions, views, and definitions of fake news among Israeli conservatives and liberals
- A treatment of disinformation in campaigns in France, Brazil, and Spain
Perfect for use as a reference book for students and scholars of political communication and political science, Politics of Disinformation will also earn a place in the libraries of practicing journalists and students of journalism and media studies, as well as those studying or working in communications.
