To gain a greater understanding of fake news and post truth politics I've read Post Truth: the new war on truth and how to fight back by Matthew D'Ancona. Throughout this book D'Ancona discusses multiple topic within post truth politics such as why fake news is so prevalent to why we believe it so easily. Interestingly D'Ancona discusses how post truth has been able to spread through its appeal to emotion 'post-truth feeds upon alienation, dislocation and stultified silence'. He also discusses ways to counter fake news by stating its not as simple as telling people fake news exists 'it is not enough to issue a press release, appear on a news channel or tweet a correction. The means of correction have to match the prevailing culture. A viral podcast, a demonstration or an online petition may do more to banish falsehood than a straightforward assertion of fact'. This is interesting as it showcases the prevalence of post -truth as its not a simple as stating the facts in order to get people to believed your facts you need to phrase them in a way that speaks to their emotions as more and more people are choosing the facts they want to believe.
Interesting points throughout the book:
- 75% of americans believe fake news headlines
- in relation to the presidential election, 56% of Clinton supports believed headlines whereas 87% of Trump supporters believed headlines
- 69% of Donald Trumps public statements have been found to be false
- Support for global warming fell from 71% - 57% between 2008-2010 as people after 'Climategate', the disclosure of thousands of emails and files, after reporters used select phrases to imply an academic cover-up surrounding climate change
- Obama birth certificate:
- 45% of american citizens had concerns about Obamas birthplace
- Once his full birth certificate was released this figure fell to 33% however then rose again to 41% in 2012.
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