Media Manipulation in the 21st Century. Fact-Checking and ‘Not-Tags’ in the Current Conjuncture (eBook)

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2021 in the subject Communications - Media Economics, Media Management, grade: A, University of Nairobi, course: Business Management, language: English, abstract: While reviewing the literature pertaining to the infamous fake news, many would out of necessity make a distinction between the domineering work concerned with the kind of campaigning and the apparent computational propaganda online, compounded by the current offshoots for its consumers, plus, some few findings, usually journalistic found on the web and in social media. Nonetheless, while much focus has been on the influence of Russia on the campaigning in the United States, and the absence or presence thereof during elections in France, Germany, Sweden, Dutch and elsewhere, the fact remains that the influence of campaigning within political spaces online, together with the question of manipulation or persuasion is irrefutable.

Indeed, journalism is currently engulfed in a state of substantial flux, with novel digital platforms unleashing innovative journalistic practices, which allow new communication forms and vast global reach. However, hoaxes and disinformation, commonly referred to as ‘fake news’ are on a high acceleration, subsequently influencing the way people interpret daily developments and their way of life as a whole.

Driven by foreign elements, citizen journalism, along with the proliferation of cable news and talk radio, myriad information systems have now become more contentious and polarized, not to mention that there has been a swift decline on public trust as regards traditional journalism. Correspondingly, this conception may be seen as the cradle for the term ‘post-truth,’ which was defined in 2016 as relating to or referring to the circumstances within which objective facts are usually less influential when it comes to shaping public opinion compared to appeals to personal belief and emotion(s).

In particular, the 2016 Brexit vote in the UK, and the tumultuous US presidential election depicted the way the digital era has influenced news along with cultural narratives. Indeed, the notion of post-truth, especially fact-checking, risks turning into more than just a catchphrase, taking into account that the epistemic, political, social and cultural issues at hand behind the current controversy on post-truth are so diverse, differentiated and disheveled. In fact, though fact-checkers core intent is to get closer to the truth, their biases may shroud the real truth they are looking for; a phenomenon that was evinced in the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaigns and election.