The Disinformation Age: Politics, Technology, and Disruptive Communication in the United States

by W. Lance Bennett (editor), Steven Livingston (Editor)

The intentional spread of falsehoods – and attendant attacks on minorities, press freedoms, and the rule of law – challenge the basic norms and values upon which institutional legitimacy and political stability depend. How did we get here? The Disinformation Age assembles a remarkable group of historians, political scientists, and communication scholars to examine the historical and political origins of the post-fact information era, focusing on the United States but with lessons for other democracies. Bennett and Livingston frame the book by examining decades-long efforts by political and business interests to undermine authoritative institutions, including parties, elections, public agencies, science, independent journalism, and civil society groups. The other distinguished scholars explore the historical origins and workings of disinformation, along with policy challenges and the role of the legacy press in improving public communication. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Genres: Politics, Technology

322 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2020

Reviews

[Sami Eerola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection of text that trace the origins of the erogion of democracy, the rise of disinformation and far-right populism to the Neoliberal policies of the 1960-80´s and how to combat it.

The only problem in this book is that it is a little bit repetitive, but that could be because the writters did not know that they where writing about the same problems and its origins. The biggest problem that i found was that one author described the German far-right party AFD as "Neo-Nazi" and it is not. It is a classic radical right party, nothing to do with National Socialism, even if it is racist and authoritarian.