Theoretical and Empirical Outlines of Understanding Fake News and Disinformation

**3**

over the last two or maybe three decades.

**Chapter 1**

'Infodemic'

**1. Introduction**

*Ján Višňovský and Jana Radošinská*

Introductory Chapter: Journalism

The 21st century once used to be seen as an era when journalism would have to face many new challenges related to digital communication environments; for example, decrease in readership and circulation of the 'traditional press', or digitalisation that would be both user-friendly and progressive. Nevertheless, the third Millennium was also supposed to build a brave new world filled with knowledge, unlimited opportunities and novel, previously unimaginable ways of processing information. As we believe, these anticipations, however accurate and realistic they seemed to appear two decades ago, now need to confront reality. It does not mean that we are hesitant to acknowledge that journalism has, indeed, progressed; we only underline the fact that this confrontation may be important and exciting in terms of academic inquiry, but not entirely pleasant to experience in practice. While talking about what is new in journalism and how we are supposed to reflect on it, a few years ago we used to discuss a plethora of important topics. Most of these issues are still relevant and anything but resolved. Today, mediadisseminated news and opinions outline how we perceive public authorities and international organisations more than ever [1]. There is also so much left to say about how media outlets and individual journalists cover serious social problems such as racial disparities, manifestations of intolerance, or causes of social misrecognition [2]. Technological aspects are equally important as well, since we are not far from the moment when automatised software will be able to replace at least some people working as journalists. The issue of robot journalism is thus becoming increasingly important to address [3, 4]. Moreover, value-based conflicts between different civilisation frameworks have only grown stronger. As noted by Lipovetsky, we are now able to be informed about anything; even the most remote parts of the world may be a part of the global scene. This "airport cosmopolitism" outlines the everyday experience of the globalised world, which is shaped by ecological threats, swift spread of infectious diseases, market mechanisms, spiralling financial crises, migration waves, acts of international terrorism, world events that ignore any boundaries between nation states and continents, and so on [5]. Let us remind ourselves that Lipovetsky wrote this in 2010, i.e., more than a decade ago. Since then, we have learned to accept these phenomena or, at least, we have acknowledged their existence and seriousness. What has made all the difference is the worldwide spread of the highly infectious disease known as COVID-19 (or the novel coronavirus). Our introductory chapter thus aims to explore the new contexts brought by the pandemic, but without forgetting about the problems journalism has been facing

Facing Both Pandemic and

#### **Chapter 1**

## Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic'

*Ján Višňovský and Jana Radošinská*

#### **1. Introduction**

The 21st century once used to be seen as an era when journalism would have to face many new challenges related to digital communication environments; for example, decrease in readership and circulation of the 'traditional press', or digitalisation that would be both user-friendly and progressive. Nevertheless, the third Millennium was also supposed to build a brave new world filled with knowledge, unlimited opportunities and novel, previously unimaginable ways of processing information. As we believe, these anticipations, however accurate and realistic they seemed to appear two decades ago, now need to confront reality. It does not mean that we are hesitant to acknowledge that journalism has, indeed, progressed; we only underline the fact that this confrontation may be important and exciting in terms of academic inquiry, but not entirely pleasant to experience in practice.

While talking about what is new in journalism and how we are supposed to reflect on it, a few years ago we used to discuss a plethora of important topics. Most of these issues are still relevant and anything but resolved. Today, mediadisseminated news and opinions outline how we perceive public authorities and international organisations more than ever [1]. There is also so much left to say about how media outlets and individual journalists cover serious social problems such as racial disparities, manifestations of intolerance, or causes of social misrecognition [2]. Technological aspects are equally important as well, since we are not far from the moment when automatised software will be able to replace at least some people working as journalists. The issue of robot journalism is thus becoming increasingly important to address [3, 4]. Moreover, value-based conflicts between different civilisation frameworks have only grown stronger. As noted by Lipovetsky, we are now able to be informed about anything; even the most remote parts of the world may be a part of the global scene. This "airport cosmopolitism" outlines the everyday experience of the globalised world, which is shaped by ecological threats, swift spread of infectious diseases, market mechanisms, spiralling financial crises, migration waves, acts of international terrorism, world events that ignore any boundaries between nation states and continents, and so on [5]. Let us remind ourselves that Lipovetsky wrote this in 2010, i.e., more than a decade ago. Since then, we have learned to accept these phenomena or, at least, we have acknowledged their existence and seriousness. What has made all the difference is the worldwide spread of the highly infectious disease known as COVID-19 (or the novel coronavirus). Our introductory chapter thus aims to explore the new contexts brought by the pandemic, but without forgetting about the problems journalism has been facing over the last two or maybe three decades.

As 'traditional' journalistic expressions are largely preferred and accessed by middle-aged people and older generations of readers, today's journalism will have to find out how to attract young recipients and, what is even more important, how to fulfil their particular expectations [6]. We may say that anything the media inform us about can be seen as a story. In other words, all pieces of news and opinions are, more or less, driven by their narrative qualities. This is how media audiences establish their parasocial relationships with fictitious or 'everyday' heroes; and this is why we consider media stories to be so attractive and worthy of our attention. However, the moment when the COVID-19 pandemic became a global problem can be seen as a breaking point – suddenly, journalists and other media professionals realised it was necessary to seek new heroes and create new types of stories; all that while trying to process what was happening in a comprehensible manner. Of course, their not-so-professional counterparts, while still making their profit by spreading fake news and disinformation, started to explore the quickly worsening situation in accordance with their own agendas. As a result, a COVID-19 'infodemic' was born.

#### **2. Journalism meeting COVID-19**

If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us clearly that there is a fragile and very blurry boundary between what is systematic and sensible, and what is chaotic, socially pathological and nourished by human fear. Thus, the related 'infodemic' is, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), "too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak. It causes confusion and risk-taking behaviors that can harm health. It also leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response. An infodemic can intensify or lengthen outbreaks when people are unsure about what they need to do to protect their health and the health of people around them". As further noted by WHO, there are no other ways to eliminate this 'infodemic' but four key activities – listening to community concerns and questions; promoting understanding of risk and health expert advice; building resilience to misinformation; and engaging and empowering communities to take positive action [7]. In other words, what we need is to explore new ways to foster participatory culture [8, 9].

Besides taking lives and throwing our public authorities into turmoil, which is deepened by delayed reactions, repeated lockdowns and contradictory decisions, the pandemic has shown that it is not only our bodies and health systems that are vulnerable. Our minds and the values we stand for are in danger as well. Moreover, 'infodemic', this invisible threat, that infects our minds and leaves us both confused and stricken by panic, is often spread across the essential communication space we turn to when we are not exactly sure what is happening around us and how we are supposed to react – the sphere of journalism. Our communication system has been 'infected' by fake news, hoaxes and disinformation, which stand in our way, effectively disabling any attempts to return journalism to where it truly belongs – to the information exchanges saturated by relevant issues, essential public discussions and the idea of progress. Nowadays, it is not rare to encounter harmful social actors such as social media bots, hostile secret services and their intelligence officers, paid trolls, websites spreading fake news that is absolutely convincing and elaborated to the smallest detail, or conspiracy theorists, who intentionally distort other people's worldviews and challenge or openly contradict scientific knowledge. Feeding fake news to people, who may be, in their nature, very suspicious and cautious, and yet so inclined to believe various absurdities, these actors (ab)use online social media

**5**

*Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic'*

specious pieces of news on the COVID-19 global pandemic.

that infects millions of people around the world" [12].

It is only natural that the moment the world was struck by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, social and media discourses started to acknowledge that this unprecedented pandemic walks hand-in-hand with the 'infodemic' built upon disinformation, hoaxes, dangerous half-truths and propaganda. At present, there can be no doubt that the pandemic caused by the coronavirus is the first large media pandemic of the 21st century, which has been, to a large extent, determined by the media themselves. As outlined by Deuze, "it is perhaps also not surprising, from this point of view, that most of the debates and discussions about the pandemic do not just concern the virus and its impact, but focus especially on the roles of expert information provision, news coverage, government communications, and social media. It is clear that the coronavirus pandemic is a mediatized event as much as it is a virus

As expected, one of the first inauthentic pieces of news on COVID-19 was spread via social networking sites. The message claimed that wearing personal protection equipment, such as masks and respirators, slows down our reflexes and cripples our senses due to constantly inhaling one's own exhaled carbon dioxide. Another case can be classified as a conspiracy theory, since the information claimed that the novel coronavirus had been created artificially and purposefully, in Chinese laboratories. Reacting to this rapidly spreading allegation, the United States of America blamed China for creating COVID-19, while, in turn, Russians and Iranians blamed the U.S. Moreover, a number of hoaxes could be identified – for instance, those saying that COVID-19 is spread via 5G networks and can be 'eliminated' by drinking alcoholic beverages; or those claiming that testing for COVID, also called swabbing, as the sample is collected by inserting a swab into a person's nasopharyngeal cavity, is, in fact, a hidden method of infecting (in another version, damaging) the tested person's brain; or those insisting that coronavirus does not exist at all [13]. There are hundreds of different pieces of disinformation and hoaxes related to COVID-19. Their influence is quite obvious if we consider how many people question the ways,

services, once believed to be the greatest achievement in human communication, to actually rob journalism off the most precious, absolutely irreplaceable feature it

In 2017, when Collins English Dictionary picked the term "fake news" as the word of the year, its editors primarily referred to public speeches and social media postings of the (now former) American President Donald Trump, who used this expression excessively, mainly to discredit or otherwise eliminate his political opponents and critics of his administration. Even though "fake news" was nothing new back then, Trump's tendency to label any critical or unfavourable reactions to his tweets as "fake news" certainly made its mark. The phrase started to resonate across all media industries and communication spheres. According to Collins English Dictionary, in 2017, the use of the phrase "fake news" in the media increased by more than 365% – compared to 2016 [10]. However, the situation has escalated since then. The processes of labelling news as 'fake' or, vice versa, insisting that fake news is actually up-to-date and genuine, have become inherent parts of the mainstream media discourse. It does not help that today's media culture is saturated by resourceful (real and fictitious alike) stories about corruption, medical misconducts and arrogance expressed by the rich and powerful. Narratives, which depict various forms of the end of the world and destruction of humanity, or anti-utopic visions of the future, have been excessively popular as well. The formal attributes of creating and presenting these stories are so realistic that media audiences sometimes see them as 'more real' than any objective facts [11]. It may be presumed that the given disorientation and anxiety of media recipients have only become more intense since spring 2020, when the media started to massively disseminate real as well as

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

possesses – people's trust.

#### *Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic' DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

As 'traditional' journalistic expressions are largely preferred and accessed by middle-aged people and older generations of readers, today's journalism will have to find out how to attract young recipients and, what is even more important, how to fulfil their particular expectations [6]. We may say that anything the media inform us about can be seen as a story. In other words, all pieces of news and opinions are, more or less, driven by their narrative qualities. This is how media audiences establish their parasocial relationships with fictitious or 'everyday' heroes; and this is why we consider media stories to be so attractive and worthy of our attention. However, the moment when the COVID-19 pandemic became a global problem can be seen as a breaking point – suddenly, journalists and other media professionals realised it was necessary to seek new heroes and create new types of stories; all that while trying to process what was happening in a comprehensible manner. Of course, their not-so-professional counterparts, while still making their profit by spreading fake news and disinformation, started to explore the quickly worsening situation in accordance with their own agendas. As a result, a COVID-19 'infodemic'

If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us clearly that there is a fragile and very blurry boundary between what is systematic and sensible, and what is chaotic, socially pathological and nourished by human fear. Thus, the related 'infodemic' is, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), "too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak. It causes confusion and risk-taking behaviors that can harm health. It also leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response. An infodemic can intensify or lengthen outbreaks when people are unsure about what they need to do to protect their health and the health of people around them". As further noted by WHO, there are no other ways to eliminate this 'infodemic' but four key activities – listening to community concerns and questions; promoting understanding of risk and health expert advice; building resilience to misinformation; and engaging and empowering communities to take positive action [7]. In other words, what we need is to explore new ways to foster participatory

Besides taking lives and throwing our public authorities into turmoil, which is deepened by delayed reactions, repeated lockdowns and contradictory decisions, the pandemic has shown that it is not only our bodies and health systems that are vulnerable. Our minds and the values we stand for are in danger as well. Moreover, 'infodemic', this invisible threat, that infects our minds and leaves us both confused and stricken by panic, is often spread across the essential communication space we turn to when we are not exactly sure what is happening around us and how we are supposed to react – the sphere of journalism. Our communication system has been 'infected' by fake news, hoaxes and disinformation, which stand in our way, effectively disabling any attempts to return journalism to where it truly belongs – to the information exchanges saturated by relevant issues, essential public discussions and the idea of progress. Nowadays, it is not rare to encounter harmful social actors such as social media bots, hostile secret services and their intelligence officers, paid trolls, websites spreading fake news that is absolutely convincing and elaborated to the smallest detail, or conspiracy theorists, who intentionally distort other people's worldviews and challenge or openly contradict scientific knowledge. Feeding fake news to people, who may be, in their nature, very suspicious and cautious, and yet so inclined to believe various absurdities, these actors (ab)use online social media

**4**

was born.

culture [8, 9].

**2. Journalism meeting COVID-19**

services, once believed to be the greatest achievement in human communication, to actually rob journalism off the most precious, absolutely irreplaceable feature it possesses – people's trust.

In 2017, when Collins English Dictionary picked the term "fake news" as the word of the year, its editors primarily referred to public speeches and social media postings of the (now former) American President Donald Trump, who used this expression excessively, mainly to discredit or otherwise eliminate his political opponents and critics of his administration. Even though "fake news" was nothing new back then, Trump's tendency to label any critical or unfavourable reactions to his tweets as "fake news" certainly made its mark. The phrase started to resonate across all media industries and communication spheres. According to Collins English Dictionary, in 2017, the use of the phrase "fake news" in the media increased by more than 365% – compared to 2016 [10]. However, the situation has escalated since then. The processes of labelling news as 'fake' or, vice versa, insisting that fake news is actually up-to-date and genuine, have become inherent parts of the mainstream media discourse. It does not help that today's media culture is saturated by resourceful (real and fictitious alike) stories about corruption, medical misconducts and arrogance expressed by the rich and powerful. Narratives, which depict various forms of the end of the world and destruction of humanity, or anti-utopic visions of the future, have been excessively popular as well. The formal attributes of creating and presenting these stories are so realistic that media audiences sometimes see them as 'more real' than any objective facts [11]. It may be presumed that the given disorientation and anxiety of media recipients have only become more intense since spring 2020, when the media started to massively disseminate real as well as specious pieces of news on the COVID-19 global pandemic.

It is only natural that the moment the world was struck by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, social and media discourses started to acknowledge that this unprecedented pandemic walks hand-in-hand with the 'infodemic' built upon disinformation, hoaxes, dangerous half-truths and propaganda. At present, there can be no doubt that the pandemic caused by the coronavirus is the first large media pandemic of the 21st century, which has been, to a large extent, determined by the media themselves. As outlined by Deuze, "it is perhaps also not surprising, from this point of view, that most of the debates and discussions about the pandemic do not just concern the virus and its impact, but focus especially on the roles of expert information provision, news coverage, government communications, and social media. It is clear that the coronavirus pandemic is a mediatized event as much as it is a virus that infects millions of people around the world" [12].

As expected, one of the first inauthentic pieces of news on COVID-19 was spread via social networking sites. The message claimed that wearing personal protection equipment, such as masks and respirators, slows down our reflexes and cripples our senses due to constantly inhaling one's own exhaled carbon dioxide. Another case can be classified as a conspiracy theory, since the information claimed that the novel coronavirus had been created artificially and purposefully, in Chinese laboratories. Reacting to this rapidly spreading allegation, the United States of America blamed China for creating COVID-19, while, in turn, Russians and Iranians blamed the U.S. Moreover, a number of hoaxes could be identified – for instance, those saying that COVID-19 is spread via 5G networks and can be 'eliminated' by drinking alcoholic beverages; or those claiming that testing for COVID, also called swabbing, as the sample is collected by inserting a swab into a person's nasopharyngeal cavity, is, in fact, a hidden method of infecting (in another version, damaging) the tested person's brain; or those insisting that coronavirus does not exist at all [13]. There are hundreds of different pieces of disinformation and hoaxes related to COVID-19. Their influence is quite obvious if we consider how many people question the ways,

in which vaccines preventing the disease were created, tested and/or approved for emergency use. In Slovakia, the Ministry of Health established its informationbased portal *www.slovenskoproticovidu.sk* very late, in January 2021. The portal's main purpose is to inform the general public about vaccination, its benefits and also possible side effects. The website also introduces publicly known personalities who have decided to participate in Slovakian information campaign related to vaccination, which is titled 'Vaccine Is Freedom' [14]. The presence of various celebrities with good personal reputation, as well as Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, is starting to strengthen the campaign's initially low reach.

Social media, especially social networking sites, are not only exceptionally efficient tools for spreading disinformation and hoaxes, but also the necessary precondition of their further dissemination across all aspects of social life [15]. Generally, the level of critical thinking and the willingness to verify information from multiple sources are relatively low, making the recipient inclined to trust and disseminate disinformation and conspiracies – whether consciously or unconsciously [16]. According to the survey *Globsec Voices of Central and Eastern Europe* conducted in June 2020, 56% of Slovak citizens believe that disinformation and conspiracy theories are, in fact, genuine news. Slovakia thus reached the worst percentage of all surveyed countries, taking the last place after Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary [17]. During the pandemic, people's interest in online and television news has increased significantly; on the other hand, weaknesses of media organisations have been revealed concurrently. These include incompetence and unprofessionalism in relation to informing about medical topics due to the absence of qualified reporters that would be interested specifically in this area. Moreover, many 'mainstream' media outlets have decided to take the easiest and least demanding route towards increasing their readership; by publishing disinformation and hoaxes, which is now reflected in the above-mentioned decline in the credibility of news as such. According to Digital News Report 2020, published by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, only 28% of respondents living in Slovakia deem news trustworthy, while the trust level fell by 5% compared to 2019 [18]. And this trend was not visible only in case of Slovakia, but also in other European countries.

#### **3. Fighting disinformation and hoaxes**

The first step we need to take in order to eliminate disinformation and other kinds of distorted or fraudulent images of reality is acknowledging that this is a systemic problem. That is why the related issues are addressed by multiple international organisations. The European Commission and its executive bodies, as well as the Member States, are obviously aware of the need to combat disinformation and hoaxes. The European Commission stated that "the coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by a massive wave of false and misleading information, attempts by foreign actors to influence domestic debates in the EU, breeding on the fertile ground of people's most basic anxieties and the rapidly changing news cycle. Misleading healthcare information, dangerous hoaxes with false claims conspiracy theories and consumer fraud endanger public health" [19]. In recent years, the European Union institutions have developed several strategic documents that have defined the basic outlines of anti-disinformation activities at the European level, including the documents 'Tackling Online Disinformation: A European Approach' and 'Action Plan against Disinformation'. These are framework documents that have identified specific steps that need to be taken to preserve democratic values in Europe. At the same time, they serve as a starting point for the subsequent creation of strategic documents that would specify how to deal with disinformation, in

**7**

ies of media production and journalistic profession.

more easily [21].

*Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic'*

particular 'The European Democracy Action Plan' and 'The Digital Services Act' [19]. In its joint statement presented on 26th March 2020, The Council of the European Union claimed that "the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an unprecedented challenge for Europe and the whole world. It requires urgent, decisive, and comprehensive action at the EU, national, regional and local levels. We will do everything that is necessary to protect our citizens and overcome the crisis, while preserving our European values and way of life". The declaration contains 22 different statements. The fourth statement declares: "We will resolutely counter disinformation with transparent, timely and fact-based communication on what we are doing and thus reinforce the resilience of our societies" [20]. Considering the facts mentioned above, we may confirm that the European Union has taken the outlined problems quite seriously. However, finding solutions to the identified issues is a

long-term process that will be very hard to go through with successfully.

There is no doubt that modern technologies, which are able to help us with debunking disinformation shared across the Internet, are amongst the most efficient tools for progressive elimination of fake news and disinformation. The European Research Council (ERC) and the Horizon 2020 research strategy recognise several actions, which are supposed to lead us towards better understanding of disinformation circulating online. However, the most difficult challenge to tackle is to develop new, more efficient tools for content verification. The ERC projects Comprop and Botfind thus aim to find out how automated systems for spreading and targeting propaganda impact public discourse in Europe. Another ERC project, Debunker, reflects on the problem of misperceptions around societal issues within the European population and possible strategies to reduce their impact. Moreover, the Horizon 2020 project Invid focuses on developing tools to verify audio-visual content. As it seems, these tools are essential, considering that technologies able to tamper with video and create deepfakes are increasingly easy to access and use. Another Horizon 2020 project, Fandango, seeks solutions that should help 'traditional' media to detect false narratives, that are spread online,

In case of Slovak Republic, a few months ago the government pushed 'The Security Strategy of the Slovak Republic', according to which Slovakia's strategic security interests need to include the readiness of the state and society to respond to hybrid threats (such as disinformation) effectively and in a coordinated manner. Maintaining a functioning cybernetic, information and communication security system is a priority. The strategy thus responds to the general need to address global as well as local security challenges and threats. We may identify a growing number and wider scope of subversive and coercive activities of various actors using disinformation and propaganda in order to disrupt or manipulate decision-making mechanisms within the state, influence public opinion in their favour and destabilise the political situation. The document also acknowledges that the general public is exposed to an increasing amount of disinformation and conspiracy theories that can and will endanger human health, disrupt the cohesion of society or provoke public violence and social unrest. Probably the most significant hybrid activity is manifested by the targeted dissemination of propaganda and disinformation attacking the country's democratic establishment and Slovakia's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the EU. That is why it is absolutely necessary to cope with early identification and evaluation of disinformation, and then respond to it by implementing systemic measures. There is no other way to do so than through the development of critical thinking [22]. Given the used terminology and the manner, in which the document reflects on possible risks emerging within the global communication system, this field of interest reaches far beyond the boundar-

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

#### *Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic' DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

starting to strengthen the campaign's initially low reach.

only in case of Slovakia, but also in other European countries.

The first step we need to take in order to eliminate disinformation and other kinds of distorted or fraudulent images of reality is acknowledging that this is a systemic problem. That is why the related issues are addressed by multiple international organisations. The European Commission and its executive bodies, as well as the Member States, are obviously aware of the need to combat disinformation and hoaxes. The European Commission stated that "the coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by a massive wave of false and misleading information, attempts by foreign actors to influence domestic debates in the EU, breeding on the fertile ground of people's most basic anxieties and the rapidly changing news cycle. Misleading healthcare information, dangerous hoaxes with false claims conspiracy theories and consumer fraud endanger public health" [19]. In recent years, the European Union institutions have developed several strategic documents that have defined the basic outlines of anti-disinformation activities at the European level, including the documents 'Tackling Online Disinformation: A European Approach' and 'Action Plan against Disinformation'. These are framework documents that have identified specific steps that need to be taken to preserve democratic values in Europe. At the same time, they serve as a starting point for the subsequent creation of strategic documents that would specify how to deal with disinformation, in

**3. Fighting disinformation and hoaxes**

in which vaccines preventing the disease were created, tested and/or approved for emergency use. In Slovakia, the Ministry of Health established its informationbased portal *www.slovenskoproticovidu.sk* very late, in January 2021. The portal's main purpose is to inform the general public about vaccination, its benefits and also possible side effects. The website also introduces publicly known personalities who have decided to participate in Slovakian information campaign related to vaccination, which is titled 'Vaccine Is Freedom' [14]. The presence of various celebrities with good personal reputation, as well as Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, is

Social media, especially social networking sites, are not only exceptionally efficient tools for spreading disinformation and hoaxes, but also the necessary precondition of their further dissemination across all aspects of social life [15]. Generally, the level of critical thinking and the willingness to verify information from multiple sources are relatively low, making the recipient inclined to trust and disseminate disinformation and conspiracies – whether consciously or unconsciously [16]. According to the survey *Globsec Voices of Central and Eastern Europe* conducted in June 2020, 56% of Slovak citizens believe that disinformation and conspiracy theories are, in fact, genuine news. Slovakia thus reached the worst percentage of all surveyed countries, taking the last place after Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary [17]. During the pandemic, people's interest in online and television news has increased significantly; on the other hand, weaknesses of media organisations have been revealed concurrently. These include incompetence and unprofessionalism in relation to informing about medical topics due to the absence of qualified reporters that would be interested specifically in this area. Moreover, many 'mainstream' media outlets have decided to take the easiest and least demanding route towards increasing their readership; by publishing disinformation and hoaxes, which is now reflected in the above-mentioned decline in the credibility of news as such. According to Digital News Report 2020, published by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, only 28% of respondents living in Slovakia deem news trustworthy, while the trust level fell by 5% compared to 2019 [18]. And this trend was not visible

**6**

particular 'The European Democracy Action Plan' and 'The Digital Services Act' [19]. In its joint statement presented on 26th March 2020, The Council of the European Union claimed that "the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an unprecedented challenge for Europe and the whole world. It requires urgent, decisive, and comprehensive action at the EU, national, regional and local levels. We will do everything that is necessary to protect our citizens and overcome the crisis, while preserving our European values and way of life". The declaration contains 22 different statements. The fourth statement declares: "We will resolutely counter disinformation with transparent, timely and fact-based communication on what we are doing and thus reinforce the resilience of our societies" [20]. Considering the facts mentioned above, we may confirm that the European Union has taken the outlined problems quite seriously. However, finding solutions to the identified issues is a long-term process that will be very hard to go through with successfully.

There is no doubt that modern technologies, which are able to help us with debunking disinformation shared across the Internet, are amongst the most efficient tools for progressive elimination of fake news and disinformation. The European Research Council (ERC) and the Horizon 2020 research strategy recognise several actions, which are supposed to lead us towards better understanding of disinformation circulating online. However, the most difficult challenge to tackle is to develop new, more efficient tools for content verification. The ERC projects Comprop and Botfind thus aim to find out how automated systems for spreading and targeting propaganda impact public discourse in Europe. Another ERC project, Debunker, reflects on the problem of misperceptions around societal issues within the European population and possible strategies to reduce their impact. Moreover, the Horizon 2020 project Invid focuses on developing tools to verify audio-visual content. As it seems, these tools are essential, considering that technologies able to tamper with video and create deepfakes are increasingly easy to access and use. Another Horizon 2020 project, Fandango, seeks solutions that should help 'traditional' media to detect false narratives, that are spread online, more easily [21].

In case of Slovak Republic, a few months ago the government pushed 'The Security Strategy of the Slovak Republic', according to which Slovakia's strategic security interests need to include the readiness of the state and society to respond to hybrid threats (such as disinformation) effectively and in a coordinated manner. Maintaining a functioning cybernetic, information and communication security system is a priority. The strategy thus responds to the general need to address global as well as local security challenges and threats. We may identify a growing number and wider scope of subversive and coercive activities of various actors using disinformation and propaganda in order to disrupt or manipulate decision-making mechanisms within the state, influence public opinion in their favour and destabilise the political situation. The document also acknowledges that the general public is exposed to an increasing amount of disinformation and conspiracy theories that can and will endanger human health, disrupt the cohesion of society or provoke public violence and social unrest. Probably the most significant hybrid activity is manifested by the targeted dissemination of propaganda and disinformation attacking the country's democratic establishment and Slovakia's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the EU. That is why it is absolutely necessary to cope with early identification and evaluation of disinformation, and then respond to it by implementing systemic measures. There is no other way to do so than through the development of critical thinking [22]. Given the used terminology and the manner, in which the document reflects on possible risks emerging within the global communication system, this field of interest reaches far beyond the boundaries of media production and journalistic profession.

In April 2020, the analytical department of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic published an analysis titled 'Infodemic. Disinformation and COVID-19'. The analysis openly admits the information space of the Slovak Republic is prone to the spread of disinformation, conspiracies and fake news [23]. Most of these pathological communication phenomena aim to question the Euro-Atlantic orientation of Slovakia, challenge the European Union's ability to function at all levels and portray various countries, that are ideologically and politically incompatible with the U.S. and its allies, as 'victims' of the evil West. These communication processes are driven by so-called alternative media as well as by some politicians.

#### **4. Conclusion: rebuilding trust in journalism**

Even though our notes on 'infodemic journalism' born in the time of the pandemic are by no means comprehensive and absolute, we believe that we have outlined what needs to change, and why. As remarked by Martinisi and Lugo-Ocando, we might even assert that this 'infodemic' has quickly developed into what they call 'datademic'. Struck by the pandemic, countries all around the world are competing with each other, in an unhealthy manner, on "who has the lower number of deaths and whose ideological and power model is the best to face such a pandemic" [24]. Moreover, today's journalism often depresses people instead of enriching their lives. This loss of trust in the media is further stimulated and deepened by the recipients' perceptions of media bias and the opinion and value polarisation of society. Most audience members tend to relate only to media organisations that disseminate information consistent with their own beliefs; other sources of information providing different views of the same problems are automatically ignored. According to Bell, it is therefore a shocking paradox that the Internet, once considered a miraculous technological tool that can break down the barriers between people, that is able to carry an unprecedented amount of information accessible in a few seconds, does not actually connect people. Instead, digital media drive us to our own corners. In Bell's words which, in the context of the above-mentioned statements, do not seem to be exaggerated at all, one of the most fundamental problems of journalism is its current internal organisation in relation to the recipients: "We have a broken media industry because we have broken the confidence of our audience." [25]. To put it differently, it feels unpleasant to admit that media outlets, both online and offline, unknowingly or willingly, adopt the practices perfected by conspiracy media just because it is economically convenient; just because that is what some of their audiences expect.

The outlined parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 'infodemic' tell us that the only true 'cure' is, in both cases, a systemic, long-term strategic plan that would be easy enough to follow and, what is even more important, accepted by media professionals and their audiences alike. This may sound like a *cliché*, but we need to be careful and patient. These problems are so complex, so deeply rooted, that we are simply unable to cover them (let alone, *solve* them) by populist measures, guerrilla marketing strategies or easy action plans. The good news is that the current political situation suggests the pandemic does not 'suit' populists, who have emerged and risen to power in good times, thanks to catchy phrases, strategically flawless online campaigns or the ability to 'ride on the waves' of common people's emotions.

Despite everything, journalism still preserves its capability of being more than just a watchdog of societal progress, more than just a mirror of the late modern society, in which we can clearly see our cynicism, value emptiness and little to no

**9**

**Author details**

Trnava, Slovak Republic

**Acknowledgements**

Political Economy of Media'.

Ján Višňovský\* and Jana Radošinská

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: jan.visnovsky@ucm.sk

Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

The introductory chapter was elaborated within a national research project supported by the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences (VEGA) No. 1/0283/20, titled 'Synergy of the Media Industry Segments in the Context of Critical

*Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic'*

empathy, lack of solidarity with the weakest and the most vulnerable. Journalism needs to rebuild its position of a socially and culturally progressive driving force that offers objective and complex information, competent opinions and comprehensible, yet professionally processed analyses. All these pillars need to withstand the pressure of diverse external factors. One of them is the cacophony of critical voices. They mostly belong to media audiences, who are familiar with all technical and technological principles of multiplatform communication, but rarely interested in reconsidering their rigid worldviews. Nevertheless, we believe now is the right time to seek a new way to confront the relentless economic imperatives of the media industry, the pressures of various interest groups, and the essential need to offer quality, adequately processed information and opinions. Based on what we already know about the pandemic and its tragic consequences, perhaps it is not too bold to claim that what journalists publish, and how it is processed, may change much of what we will experience in the near future. The last years have shown that multiplatform journalism might be as progressive as it gets, technologically superior and easy to access, but also vulnerable when it comes to wider social controversies that mistake politics for popularity contests, science for a matter of individual opinion,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

or truth for something to deny, refuse or distort.

*Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic' DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

empathy, lack of solidarity with the weakest and the most vulnerable. Journalism needs to rebuild its position of a socially and culturally progressive driving force that offers objective and complex information, competent opinions and comprehensible, yet professionally processed analyses. All these pillars need to withstand the pressure of diverse external factors. One of them is the cacophony of critical voices. They mostly belong to media audiences, who are familiar with all technical and technological principles of multiplatform communication, but rarely interested in reconsidering their rigid worldviews. Nevertheless, we believe now is the right time to seek a new way to confront the relentless economic imperatives of the media industry, the pressures of various interest groups, and the essential need to offer quality, adequately processed information and opinions. Based on what we already know about the pandemic and its tragic consequences, perhaps it is not too bold to claim that what journalists publish, and how it is processed, may change much of what we will experience in the near future. The last years have shown that multiplatform journalism might be as progressive as it gets, technologically superior and easy to access, but also vulnerable when it comes to wider social controversies that mistake politics for popularity contests, science for a matter of individual opinion, or truth for something to deny, refuse or distort.

#### **Acknowledgements**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

**4. Conclusion: rebuilding trust in journalism**

In April 2020, the analytical department of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic published an analysis titled 'Infodemic. Disinformation and COVID-19'. The analysis openly admits the information space of the Slovak

Republic is prone to the spread of disinformation, conspiracies and fake news [23]. Most of these pathological communication phenomena aim to question the Euro-Atlantic orientation of Slovakia, challenge the European Union's ability to function at all levels and portray various countries, that are ideologically and politically incompatible with the U.S. and its allies, as 'victims' of the evil West. These communication processes are driven by so-called alternative media as well as by some

Even though our notes on 'infodemic journalism' born in the time of the pandemic are by no means comprehensive and absolute, we believe that we have outlined what needs to change, and why. As remarked by Martinisi and Lugo-Ocando, we might even assert that this 'infodemic' has quickly developed into what they call 'datademic'. Struck by the pandemic, countries all around the world are competing with each other, in an unhealthy manner, on "who has the lower number of deaths and whose ideological and power model is the best to face such a pandemic" [24]. Moreover, today's journalism often depresses people instead of enriching their lives. This loss of trust in the media is further stimulated and deepened by the recipients' perceptions of media bias and the opinion and value polarisation of society. Most audience members tend to relate only to media organisations that disseminate information consistent with their own beliefs; other sources of information providing different views of the same problems are automatically ignored. According to Bell, it is therefore a shocking paradox that the Internet, once considered a miraculous technological tool that can break down the barriers between people, that is able to carry an unprecedented amount of information accessible in a few seconds, does not actually connect people. Instead, digital media drive us to our own corners. In Bell's words which, in the context of the above-mentioned statements, do not seem to be exaggerated at all, one of the most fundamental problems of journalism is its current internal organisation in relation to the recipients: "We have a broken media industry because we have broken the confidence of our audience." [25]. To put it differently, it feels unpleasant to admit that media outlets, both online and offline, unknowingly or willingly, adopt the practices perfected by conspiracy media just because it is economically convenient; just because that is what some of their audi-

The outlined parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 'infodemic' tell us that the only true 'cure' is, in both cases, a systemic, long-term strategic plan that would be easy enough to follow and, what is even more important, accepted by media professionals and their audiences alike. This may sound like a *cliché*, but we need to be careful and patient. These problems are so complex, so deeply rooted, that we are simply unable to cover them (let alone, *solve* them) by populist measures, guerrilla marketing strategies or easy action plans. The good news is that the current political situation suggests the pandemic does not 'suit' populists, who have emerged and risen to power in good times, thanks to catchy phrases, strategically flawless online campaigns or the ability to 'ride on the waves' of common people's

Despite everything, journalism still preserves its capability of being more than just a watchdog of societal progress, more than just a mirror of the late modern society, in which we can clearly see our cynicism, value emptiness and little to no

**8**

emotions.

ences expect.

politicians.

The introductory chapter was elaborated within a national research project supported by the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences (VEGA) No. 1/0283/20, titled 'Synergy of the Media Industry Segments in the Context of Critical Political Economy of Media'.

#### **Author details**

Ján Višňovský\* and Jana Radošinská Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovak Republic

\*Address all correspondence to: jan.visnovsky@ucm.sk

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

### **References**

[1] Greguš Ľ, Kačincová Predmerská A. The foreign news and media image of the European Union in current television news production. Communication Today. 2020;**11**(2): 84-102. s1338-130X

[2] Solík M, Mináriková J. Sociálne uznanie v globálnom priestore: možnosti a limity mediálnej reflexie. Communication Today. 2014;**5**(2):21-31. s1338-130X

[3] Višňovský J, Kubíková, K. Robotická žurnalistika ako výzva pre redakčnú prax. In: Sámelová A, Stanková M, Hacek J, editors. Fenomén 2019: Súčasná Profesionálna Žurnalistika a Jej Reflexie. Bratislava: Comenius University; 2019. pp. 15-22. ISBN: 9788022347556

[4] Moravec, V et al. The robotic reporter in the Czech News Agency: automated journalism and augmentation in the newsroom. Communication Today. 2020;**11**(1): 36-52. s1338-130X

[5] Lipovetsky, G. Vláda hyperkultury: kosmopolitismus a západní civilizace. In: Lipovetsky, G, Juvin, H, editors. Globalizovaný Západ. Polemika o Planetární Kultuře. 1st ed. Praha: Prostor; 2012. ISBN: 9788072602650. Chapter 1

[6] Švecová, M. Journalism on social media: how to tell stories and news to young people. AD ALTA: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research. 2017;**7**(2):216-218. s1804-7890

[7] Infodemic [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/healthtopics/infodemic#tab=tab\_1 [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[8] Jenkins H, Ito M, boyd d. Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: A Conversation on Youth, Learning, Commerce, and Politics. 1st Ed.

Cambridge/Malden: Polity Press; 2016. 160p. ISBN: 978-0-7456-6071-4

[9] Škripcová L. Participative culture in community media. European Journal of Media, Art & Photography. 2017;**5**(1):98-101. s1339-4940

[10] Flood A. Fake News Is 'Very Real' Word of the Year for 2017 [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://www. theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/02/ fake-news-is-very-real-word-of-theyear-for-2017 [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[11] Radošinská J, Višňovský J. Aktuálne Trendy v Mediálnej Kultúre. 1st ed. Trnava: Faculty of Mass Media Communication UCM; 2013. 154p. ISBN: 9788081055164

[12] Deuze M. The role of media and mass communication theory in the global pandemic. Communication Today. 2020;**11**(2):4-16. s1338-130X

[13] Kačincová Predmerská A. Koronahoaxy. In: Kvetanová Z, Graca M, editors. Megatrendy a Médiá 2020: On the Edge. 1st ed. Trnava: Faculty of Mass Media Communication UCM; 2020. pp. 46-55. ISBN: 9788057200635

[14] Slovensko proti COVIDU [Internet]. 2021. Available from: https://www. slovenskoproticovidu.sk/sk/ [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[15] Kapec M. The media manipulation initiative: it is helpful to clearly differentiate between fake news intended to be satire from hyperpartisan news sites. Media Literacy and Academic Research. 2018;**1**(2):80-82. s2585-8726

[16] Hossová M. Fake news and disinformation: phenomena of postfactual society. Media Literacy and Academic Research. 2018;**1**(2):27-35. s2585-8726

**11**

*Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic'*

[Internet]. 2017. Available from: http://

survey/2017/viewpoint-we-broke-thenews-2017/ [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

www.digitalnewsreport.org/

[25] Martinisi A, Lugo-Ocando J. Statistics and the Quest for Quality Journalism. 1st ed. London/New York: Anthem press; 2020. 206p. ISBN:

9781785275333

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

[17] Hajdu D, Klingová K. Voices of Central and Eastern Europe – Perceptions of Democracy & Governance in 10 EU Countries [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.globsec.org/publications/ voices-of-central-and-eastern-europe/

[18] Smith S. Digital news report 2020. Slovakia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.digitalnewsreport. org/survey/2020/slovakia-2020/ [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[19] Tackling coronavirus disinformation [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/ coronavirus-response/fightingdisinformation/tackling-coronavirusdisinformation\_en [Accessed: April

[20] Joint statement of the Members of the European Council [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.consilium. europa.eu/media/43076/26-vc-eucostatement-en.pdf [Accessed: April

[21] Action Plan against Disinformation [Internet]. 2018. Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/ eu-communication-disinformationeuco-05122018\_en.pdf [Accessed: April

[22] Bezpečnostná stratégia Slovenskej republiky [Internet]. 2021. Available from: https://www.mosr.sk/data/ files/4263\_210128-bezpecnostnastrategia-sr-2021.pdf [Accessed: April

Dezinformácie a COVID-19 [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www. mosr.sk/data/files/4005\_2020-k-01 infodemia-new.pdf [Accessed: April

[24] Bell M. Viewpoint: We Broke the News Media, How Can We Fix Them?

[23] Štepanovič D. Infodémia.

[Accessed: April 22, 2021]

22, 2021]

22, 2021]

22, 2021]

22, 2021]

22, 2021]

*Introductory Chapter: Journalism Facing Both Pandemic and 'Infodemic' DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98263*

[17] Hajdu D, Klingová K. Voices of Central and Eastern Europe – Perceptions of Democracy & Governance in 10 EU Countries [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.globsec.org/publications/ voices-of-central-and-eastern-europe/ [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[18] Smith S. Digital news report 2020. Slovakia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.digitalnewsreport. org/survey/2020/slovakia-2020/ [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[19] Tackling coronavirus disinformation [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/ coronavirus-response/fightingdisinformation/tackling-coronavirusdisinformation\_en [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[20] Joint statement of the Members of the European Council [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.consilium. europa.eu/media/43076/26-vc-eucostatement-en.pdf [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[21] Action Plan against Disinformation [Internet]. 2018. Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/ eu-communication-disinformationeuco-05122018\_en.pdf [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[22] Bezpečnostná stratégia Slovenskej republiky [Internet]. 2021. Available from: https://www.mosr.sk/data/ files/4263\_210128-bezpecnostnastrategia-sr-2021.pdf [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[23] Štepanovič D. Infodémia. Dezinformácie a COVID-19 [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www. mosr.sk/data/files/4005\_2020-k-01 infodemia-new.pdf [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[24] Bell M. Viewpoint: We Broke the News Media, How Can We Fix Them? [Internet]. 2017. Available from: http:// www.digitalnewsreport.org/ survey/2017/viewpoint-we-broke-thenews-2017/ [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[25] Martinisi A, Lugo-Ocando J. Statistics and the Quest for Quality Journalism. 1st ed. London/New York: Anthem press; 2020. 206p. ISBN: 9781785275333

**10**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

Cambridge/Malden: Polity Press; 2016.

[9] Škripcová L. Participative culture in community media. European Journal of

[10] Flood A. Fake News Is 'Very Real' Word of the Year for 2017 [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://www. theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/02/ fake-news-is-very-real-word-of-theyear-for-2017 [Accessed: April 22, 2021]

[11] Radošinská J, Višňovský J. Aktuálne Trendy v Mediálnej Kultúre. 1st ed. Trnava: Faculty of Mass Media Communication UCM; 2013. 154p.

[12] Deuze M. The role of media and mass communication theory in the global pandemic. Communication Today. 2020;**11**(2):4-16. s1338-130X

Koronahoaxy. In: Kvetanová Z, Graca M, editors. Megatrendy a Médiá 2020: On the Edge. 1st ed. Trnava: Faculty of Mass Media Communication UCM; 2020. pp.

[14] Slovensko proti COVIDU [Internet]. 2021. Available from: https://www. slovenskoproticovidu.sk/sk/ [Accessed:

[15] Kapec M. The media manipulation initiative: it is helpful to clearly differentiate between fake news intended to be satire from hyperpartisan news sites. Media Literacy and Academic Research. 2018;**1**(2):80-82.

[16] Hossová M. Fake news and disinformation: phenomena of postfactual society. Media Literacy and Academic Research. 2018;**1**(2):27-35.

[13] Kačincová Predmerská A.

46-55. ISBN: 9788057200635

April 22, 2021]

s2585-8726

s2585-8726

160p. ISBN: 978-0-7456-6071-4

Media, Art & Photography. 2017;**5**(1):98-101. s1339-4940

ISBN: 9788081055164

[1] Greguš Ľ, Kačincová Predmerská A. The foreign news and media image of the European Union in current television news production. Communication Today. 2020;**11**(2):

[2] Solík M, Mináriková J. Sociálne uznanie v globálnom priestore: možnosti a limity mediálnej reflexie. Communication Today. 2014;**5**(2):21-31.

[3] Višňovský J, Kubíková, K. Robotická žurnalistika ako výzva pre redakčnú prax. In: Sámelová A, Stanková M, Hacek J, editors. Fenomén 2019: Súčasná Profesionálna Žurnalistika a Jej Reflexie. Bratislava: Comenius University; 2019. pp. 15-22. ISBN: 9788022347556

[4] Moravec, V et al. The robotic reporter in the Czech News Agency:

[5] Lipovetsky, G. Vláda hyperkultury: kosmopolitismus a západní civilizace. In: Lipovetsky, G, Juvin, H, editors. Globalizovaný Západ. Polemika o Planetární Kultuře. 1st ed. Praha: Prostor; 2012. ISBN: 9788072602650.

[6] Švecová, M. Journalism on social media: how to tell stories and news to young people. AD ALTA: Journal of

[7] Infodemic [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/healthtopics/infodemic#tab=tab\_1 [Accessed:

Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: A Conversation on Youth, Learning,

Interdisciplinary Research. 2017;**7**(2):216-218. s1804-7890

[8] Jenkins H, Ito M, boyd d.

Commerce, and Politics. 1st Ed.

automated journalism and augmentation in the newsroom. Communication Today. 2020;**11**(1):

36-52. s1338-130X

Chapter 1

April 22, 2021]

84-102. s1338-130X

**References**

s1338-130X

**13**

**Chapter 2**

**Abstract**

*Thomas J. Froehlich*

A Disinformation-Misinformation

Ecology: The Case of Trump

This paper lays out many of the factors that make disinformation or misinformation campaigns of Trump successful. By all rational standards, he is unfit for office, a compulsive liar, incompetent, arrogant, ignorant, mean, petty, and narcissistic. Yet his approval rating tends to remain at 40%. Why do rational assessments of his presidency fail to have any traction? This paper looks at the conflation of knowledge and beliefs in partisan minds, how beliefs lead to self-deception and social self-deception and how they reinforce one another. It then looks at psychological factors, conscious and unconscious, that predispose partisans to pursue partisan sources of information and reject non-partisan sources. It then explains how these factors sustain the variety and motivations of Trump supporters' commitment to Trump. The role of cognitive authorities like *Fox News* and right-wing social media sites are examined to show how the power of these media sources escalates and reinforces partisan views and the rejection of other cognitive authorities. These cognitive authorities also use emotional triggers to inflame Trump supporters, keeping them addicted by feeding their anger, resentment, or self-righteousness. The paper concludes by discussing the dynamics of the Trump disinformation-

misinformation ecology, creating an Age of Inflamed Grievances.

media, self-deception, social self-deception

continuation in office, and promote his reelection.

**1. Introduction**

**Keywords:** Trumpism, disinformation, cognitive authority, *Fox News*, social media, propaganda, inflamed grievances, psychology of disinformation, Donald Trump,

This paper investigates how disinformation-misinformation campaigns, particularly in the political arena, succeed and why they are so hard to challenge, defeat, or deflect. In order to address this topic, the research here draws on many fields: information studies, psychology, philosophy, communication studies, and media studies, among others. The examples studied here are the disinformation campaigns that made Donald Trump the United States president, sustain his

Disinformation occurs when the originator of the information intends to deceive. Misinformation need not involve intent; it is merely false. The problem is that in many cases it is not clear whether it is one or the other because of an ambiguous context or questions as to whether misinformation is being used in the service of disinformation (e.g., fake cures for the coronavirus). The use of the hyphenated terms underscores their interaction for this paper. By any measure, much of the rhetoric supporting Donald Trump is disinformation. By any moral

#### **Chapter 2**

## A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump

*Thomas J. Froehlich*

#### **Abstract**

This paper lays out many of the factors that make disinformation or misinformation campaigns of Trump successful. By all rational standards, he is unfit for office, a compulsive liar, incompetent, arrogant, ignorant, mean, petty, and narcissistic. Yet his approval rating tends to remain at 40%. Why do rational assessments of his presidency fail to have any traction? This paper looks at the conflation of knowledge and beliefs in partisan minds, how beliefs lead to self-deception and social self-deception and how they reinforce one another. It then looks at psychological factors, conscious and unconscious, that predispose partisans to pursue partisan sources of information and reject non-partisan sources. It then explains how these factors sustain the variety and motivations of Trump supporters' commitment to Trump. The role of cognitive authorities like *Fox News* and right-wing social media sites are examined to show how the power of these media sources escalates and reinforces partisan views and the rejection of other cognitive authorities. These cognitive authorities also use emotional triggers to inflame Trump supporters, keeping them addicted by feeding their anger, resentment, or self-righteousness. The paper concludes by discussing the dynamics of the Trump disinformationmisinformation ecology, creating an Age of Inflamed Grievances.

**Keywords:** Trumpism, disinformation, cognitive authority, *Fox News*, social media, propaganda, inflamed grievances, psychology of disinformation, Donald Trump, media, self-deception, social self-deception

#### **1. Introduction**

This paper investigates how disinformation-misinformation campaigns, particularly in the political arena, succeed and why they are so hard to challenge, defeat, or deflect. In order to address this topic, the research here draws on many fields: information studies, psychology, philosophy, communication studies, and media studies, among others. The examples studied here are the disinformation campaigns that made Donald Trump the United States president, sustain his continuation in office, and promote his reelection.

Disinformation occurs when the originator of the information intends to deceive. Misinformation need not involve intent; it is merely false. The problem is that in many cases it is not clear whether it is one or the other because of an ambiguous context or questions as to whether misinformation is being used in the service of disinformation (e.g., fake cures for the coronavirus). The use of the hyphenated terms underscores their interaction for this paper. By any measure, much of the rhetoric supporting Donald Trump is disinformation. By any moral

or political standard, he is unfit for office, a compulsive liar, incompetent, arrogant, corrupt, ignorant, criminal, mean, petty, and narcissistic. Trump and his enablers, the Republican Party, his administration, his news channels and media, and his supporters are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans due to incompetent management of the coronavirus pandemic, the collapse of American democratic norms and the rule of law, and the cruel treatment of immigrants, just to name some of the most prominent failures. In an academic paper, the author is typically enjoined from making such an assessment, but rational people, scientists, political leaders, psychologists, and experts of many shades (many from the president's own party) concur with this evaluation. Trustworthy, evidence-based sources establish broad consensus among all but Republican officials and the president's electoral base. For example, there are articles that discuss Trump's character and authoritarian tendencies [1, 2], his continuous lying [3], his unaccomplished promises [4, 5], his impeachment (almost all Democrats and some Republicans believed that he was guilty), and his use of the Federal government to cover his crimes [6], to name a few.

The QAnon conspiracy theory is perhaps the most extreme disinformation campaign supporting Donald Trump's reelection. The theory claims that Democrats, all of Hollywood, and other liberal elites are involved in the sex-trafficking of children and murder of children to extend the life of the elites, who have found a way to brew the fountain of youth from the blood of innocents. Trump is the Messiah who fights the so-called "deep state" (a clandestine network entrenched inside the government, bureaucracy, intelligence agencies, and other governmental entities, who secretly manipulate government and government policy). He alone can be trusted. All of his opponents, Democrats and Republicans, are complicit in years of wrongdoing. Redemption will come with a military takeover and mass arrests of the guilty parties. According to the theory, Donald Trump is defending the country from these elites and non-Christians (America is a Christian nation) from this deepstate conspiracy. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is a deep state plant, and hydroxychloroquine, which the president hyped as a treatment and preventative of COVID-19, a claim that scientists have debunked, is the key to addressing the pandemic [7]. When Trump made an error in one of his tweets, by typing 'covfefe' instead of 'coverage,' his fans thought it was a secret Arabic message [8]. One researcher believes that the codes that QAnon sees in Trump's tweets are just random typing [9]. Anyone capable of critical thought would realize that such notions are riddled with inconsistencies and unrealistic and impossible goals. Yet a Republican candidate for Congress, Margorie Greene, who espouses the conspiracy theories, won her primary and, given the gerrymandering of her district, is likely to become a member of Congress [10]. There is evidence that adherents of QAnon theory are rapidly increasing around the world [11].

How did we arrive at this state of affairs, where the most outrageous notions are not only entertained but flaunted in the public sphere? Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" [12], 514a-520d, (and "Metaphor of the Line" [12], 509d-511e) come to mind. In it, Socrates describes prisoners who have lived in a dark cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. They are physically constrained in such a way that they cannot look to either side or behind them. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a low wall. Various objects are lifted into the air, manipulated by another group of people who are out of sight behind the wall. The fire casts shadows of the objects across the wall facing the prisoners. The prisoners watch the sequences that the shadows play out and play games predicting the sequences and sounds that reverberate in the cave. When they refer to one of the shadows as a "cup, "for example, they do not actually see a cup, but rather the shadow of a cup, confusing its shadowy

**15**

sources?

Trump's America [13–15].

knows about the issue at hand.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

where perception reflects the actual sensible world.

**2. Knowledge, beliefs and second-hand knowledge**

appearance with actual reality. The prisoners are coached (by someone like a Socrates) to leave the cave because they believe that their imaginary reality is true reality, and any alternate reality must be false. Trump's supporters seem to reside in a cave of disinformation, and even if they are challenged to move to the outside (by someone like a Socrates), they want to return and mock those who left, insisting that their fake world is the only true one. Their cognitive state is that of imagining (in Greek, eikasia), a state in which what they believe is reality, and contrary views are "fake news." In Plato's view, this state is inferior to that of belief or opinion

Why do we have such willing contemporary cave-dwellers? Why are disinformation campaigns successful? The evidence against them is available at our fingertips on the internet, if we search to find reliable resources. Yet just as accessible is the content for defenders, rationalizers, and promoters of lies. How can people not only swallow an outrageous version of reality but also endorse it, propagate it, and refuse to acknowledge any intervening evidence, no matter its source, its credibility, or wide acceptance, and find evidence for their claims in the most tenuous of biased

In order to develop a complete picture of this disinformation-misinformation ecology, the next sections review previous research and publications that will provide a foundation for this paper's exploration of the success of disinformation in

Any discussion of disinformation must acknowledge the distinction between knowledge and beliefs, between what we can know for sure, either based on direct experience or solid research, and beliefs, which may be turned into truth, shown to be false, or are matters of individual preferences [16]. Because we do not and cannot have knowledge about everything, we often rely on secondhand knowledge that we acquire from others to help us navigate life, such as advice from parents, teachers, and experienced persons about what sources to use to solve a problem or how to sort out political opinions. This secondhand knowledge is derived from persons that we come to regard as cognitive authorities. A cognitive authority is a person, organization, media source, group, or leader whose information one takes as secondhand knowledge based on that entity's credibility, trustworthiness, and expertise. Persons and news institutions can act as cognitive authorities. The opinions cognitive authorities espouse can be true, false, or a matter of taste: true, if verifiable; false, if falsifiable or unverifiable; or a matter of taste, if based on one's tastes or preferences, being neither true nor false. Secondhand knowledge that is derived from cognitive authority, thus, for the advice seekers, is an opinion, and certainty varies based on the degree to which they trust their cognitive authorities. This trust grows as the secondhand knowledge is confirmed. It converts from pure opinion to knowledge as the holder gains experience with the topic and with the trustworthiness of the cognitive authority. One can have high certainty about their cognitive authorities, and yet it may be misplaced if the "knowledge" they pass on is not founded on reason, evidence, logic, or facts, or does not cohere with what one

Consumers of information sources may tend to assume that their opinions are knowledge when they are, at best, secondhand knowledge or, at worst, false opinion(s). For example, consumers of partisan news coverage may believe the claimed authority of the source indicates they have received knowledge and may thus act or talk in such a way that purports what they hear or see is deemed

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

or political standard, he is unfit for office, a compulsive liar, incompetent, arrogant, corrupt, ignorant, criminal, mean, petty, and narcissistic. Trump and his enablers, the Republican Party, his administration, his news channels and media, and his supporters are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans due to incompetent management of the coronavirus pandemic, the collapse of American democratic norms and the rule of law, and the cruel treatment of immigrants, just to name some of the most prominent failures. In an academic paper, the author is typically enjoined from making such an assessment, but rational people, scientists, political leaders, psychologists, and experts of many shades (many from the president's own party) concur with this evaluation. Trustworthy, evidence-based sources establish broad consensus among all but Republican officials and the president's electoral base. For example, there are articles that discuss Trump's character and authoritarian tendencies [1, 2], his continuous lying [3], his unaccomplished promises [4, 5], his impeachment (almost all Democrats and some Republicans believed that he was guilty), and his use of the Federal government to cover his crimes [6], to

The QAnon conspiracy theory is perhaps the most extreme disinformation campaign supporting Donald Trump's reelection. The theory claims that Democrats, all of Hollywood, and other liberal elites are involved in the sex-trafficking of children and murder of children to extend the life of the elites, who have found a way to brew the fountain of youth from the blood of innocents. Trump is the Messiah who fights the so-called "deep state" (a clandestine network entrenched inside the government, bureaucracy, intelligence agencies, and other governmental entities, who secretly manipulate government and government policy). He alone can be trusted. All of his opponents, Democrats and Republicans, are complicit in years of wrongdoing. Redemption will come with a military takeover and mass arrests of the guilty parties. According to the theory, Donald Trump is defending the country from these elites and non-Christians (America is a Christian nation) from this deepstate conspiracy. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is a deep state plant, and hydroxychloroquine, which the president hyped as a treatment and preventative of COVID-19, a claim that scientists have debunked, is the key to addressing the pandemic [7]. When Trump made an error in one of his tweets, by typing 'covfefe' instead of 'coverage,' his fans thought it was a secret Arabic message [8]. One researcher believes that the codes that QAnon sees in Trump's tweets are just random typing [9]. Anyone capable of critical thought would realize that such notions are riddled with inconsistencies and unrealistic and impossible goals. Yet a Republican candidate for Congress, Margorie Greene, who espouses the conspiracy theories, won her primary and, given the gerrymandering of her district, is likely to become a member of Congress [10]. There is evidence that adherents of QAnon theory are rapidly increasing around the

How did we arrive at this state of affairs, where the most outrageous notions are not only entertained but flaunted in the public sphere? Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" [12], 514a-520d, (and "Metaphor of the Line" [12], 509d-511e) come to mind. In it, Socrates describes prisoners who have lived in a dark cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. They are physically constrained in such a way that they cannot look to either side or behind them. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a low wall. Various objects are lifted into the air, manipulated by another group of people who are out of sight behind the wall. The fire casts shadows of the objects across the wall facing the prisoners. The prisoners watch the sequences that the shadows play out and play games predicting the sequences and sounds that reverberate in the cave. When they refer to one of the shadows as a "cup, "for example, they do not actually see a cup, but rather the shadow of a cup, confusing its shadowy

**14**

world [11].

name a few.

appearance with actual reality. The prisoners are coached (by someone like a Socrates) to leave the cave because they believe that their imaginary reality is true reality, and any alternate reality must be false. Trump's supporters seem to reside in a cave of disinformation, and even if they are challenged to move to the outside (by someone like a Socrates), they want to return and mock those who left, insisting that their fake world is the only true one. Their cognitive state is that of imagining (in Greek, eikasia), a state in which what they believe is reality, and contrary views are "fake news." In Plato's view, this state is inferior to that of belief or opinion where perception reflects the actual sensible world.

Why do we have such willing contemporary cave-dwellers? Why are disinformation campaigns successful? The evidence against them is available at our fingertips on the internet, if we search to find reliable resources. Yet just as accessible is the content for defenders, rationalizers, and promoters of lies. How can people not only swallow an outrageous version of reality but also endorse it, propagate it, and refuse to acknowledge any intervening evidence, no matter its source, its credibility, or wide acceptance, and find evidence for their claims in the most tenuous of biased sources?

In order to develop a complete picture of this disinformation-misinformation ecology, the next sections review previous research and publications that will provide a foundation for this paper's exploration of the success of disinformation in Trump's America [13–15].

#### **2. Knowledge, beliefs and second-hand knowledge**

Any discussion of disinformation must acknowledge the distinction between knowledge and beliefs, between what we can know for sure, either based on direct experience or solid research, and beliefs, which may be turned into truth, shown to be false, or are matters of individual preferences [16]. Because we do not and cannot have knowledge about everything, we often rely on secondhand knowledge that we acquire from others to help us navigate life, such as advice from parents, teachers, and experienced persons about what sources to use to solve a problem or how to sort out political opinions. This secondhand knowledge is derived from persons that we come to regard as cognitive authorities. A cognitive authority is a person, organization, media source, group, or leader whose information one takes as secondhand knowledge based on that entity's credibility, trustworthiness, and expertise. Persons and news institutions can act as cognitive authorities. The opinions cognitive authorities espouse can be true, false, or a matter of taste: true, if verifiable; false, if falsifiable or unverifiable; or a matter of taste, if based on one's tastes or preferences, being neither true nor false. Secondhand knowledge that is derived from cognitive authority, thus, for the advice seekers, is an opinion, and certainty varies based on the degree to which they trust their cognitive authorities. This trust grows as the secondhand knowledge is confirmed. It converts from pure opinion to knowledge as the holder gains experience with the topic and with the trustworthiness of the cognitive authority. One can have high certainty about their cognitive authorities, and yet it may be misplaced if the "knowledge" they pass on is not founded on reason, evidence, logic, or facts, or does not cohere with what one knows about the issue at hand.

Consumers of information sources may tend to assume that their opinions are knowledge when they are, at best, secondhand knowledge or, at worst, false opinion(s). For example, consumers of partisan news coverage may believe the claimed authority of the source indicates they have received knowledge and may thus act or talk in such a way that purports what they hear or see is deemed knowledge. Unfortunately, such "knowledge" is unstable if the consumers cannot provide a rationale for what they believe. Many people are mistaken about whether they have knowledge at all and may believe that opinion or disinformation is knowledge. Sources the hearer takes for cognitive authorities can be mistaken or deceitful. At the same time, life would be impossible if we could not act on information we were unable to verify. We proceed in our lives with lots of secondhand knowledge, relying on others, whose advice most often is justified but sometimes is not. To make this difficult issue more manageable, we trust in cognitive authorities.

Deception by cognitive authorities can take various forms. Drawing on Chisholm and Feehan's "The Intent to Deceive" [17] (1977, pp. 144–145), Don Fallis's "The Varieties of Disinformation" (2014) [18] describes four major types. The first two are achieved by positive deception (causing a false belief). They include (1) creating a new false belief (e.g., Trump claims that absentee balloting is prone to electoral fraud) and (2) maintaining an existing false belief (e.g., if Joe Biden becomes president, he would take away all guns from citizens). The other two use negative deception. They are (1) causing the loss of a true belief (e.g., that mail-in or absentee ballot voting is a reliable way to vote) and (2) preventing the acquisition of a true belief (e.g., preventing accurate information about the COVID-19 pandemic; ([18], p. 140). (For a more detailed explanation, see [13–15].)

#### **3. Self-deception, social self-deception and collective self-deception**

Deception is most effective when it fosters self-deception. Sartre observed that bad faith is believing what you do not believe: holding or living a contradiction at one and the same time [16]. He describes a mode of living inauthentically, where people may deceive themselves into thinking that they do not have the freedom to make choices for fear of their potential consequences, e.g., that they would have to be responsible for themselves. The psychological position of "willful ignorance" may be related to this condition, knowing something to be true but consciously choosing ignorance, e.g., choosing to believe that the Confederate statues are not symbols of racism.

Self-deception may be a way to embrace forms of ignorance or false information, including lies, paltering, fake news, or doxing. Self-deception makes it possible to maintain our beliefs in the face of contravening evidence. Von Hippel and Trivers [19] describes five varieties of self-deception: (a) biased information search (i.e., only consulting sources that validate our biases or a priori beliefs); (b) biased interpretation (i.e., ignoring parts of a story that do not fit our views); (c) misremembering (e.g., as some Trump supporters who voted for and approved of Barack Obama have come to rationalize Trump's depiction of him as incompetent); (d) rationalization (i.e., making our arguments fit our biases, such as accepting that immigrants are largely criminals because Trump says so); and (e) convincing oneself that a lie is true (e.g., that Barack Obama had spied on the Trump campaign in 2016).

Self-deception is a socializing and socialized strategy. We convince ourselves of our false beliefs in the process of persuading others, and if and when they are convinced it confirms and sustains our false beliefs. Roy Dings [20], pp. 17–18, points out that this social self-deception may be "situating" or "persuasive." The first, "situating," includes the positive, in which we seek likeminded people with whom to associate, and the second is the negative, in which we avoid people who disagree with our views. The second, "persuasive," includes the positive, trying to convince people to adopt our views, and negative, withholding information that would deter a person from such adoptions [20], pp. 17–18. These strategies are common

**17**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

among political supporters of various stripes, but appear to be particularly common among Trump supporters, who reject any talking points except those in their disinformation ecosystem. Social, or reciprocal, self-deception leads to collective self-deception where a whole group feeds and is fed self-deception. The individual, the group, and the collective dialectically reinforce each other. For example, Trump supporters who are not necessarily homogeneous in how or why they arrived in support of Trump (as we will see later) embrace the common end—that Trumps represents their anger, resentments, a source of power, economic advantage, selfrighteousness, or their cause, whatever it may be. (For a more detailed explanation,

There are psychological factors and motivations that set and enforce selfdeception [16]. The elements may be conscious or unconscious. Conscious selfdeception strategies include willful ignorance mentioned above or the avoidance of information. Willful ignorance is different from self-deception because willful ignorance is always intentional, whereas self-deception is not: the willfully ignorant can recognize that they are ignorant, whereas the self-deceived are typically not fully aware that they are self-deceived [21], p. 521. Willful ignorance (being more conscious) is, therefore, more culpable than self-deception. Information avoidance is not thought to be the same as willful ignorance and may not be the same as self-deception. According to Lynch [22], information avoidance is "any behavior intended to prevent or delay the acquisition of available but potentially unwanted information" [22], p. 341. Reasons for information avoidance include the information may demand a change in one's beliefs, an undesired action, or the information itself, or the decision to learn information may cause unpleasant emotions or diminish pleasant emotions [22], p. 342. Information avoidance can be a strategy for abiding and remaining in a disinformation or misinformation

Part of the problem of dealing with persons imbued with espousing or promoting fake news is that if one tries to approach them rationally with evidence, facts, and logic, one will fail (though there are many cases, as we will note later, in which what they may count as evidence, facts, or logic do not fit orthodox norms). In addition to the relatively conscious factors listed above, there are unconscious ones as well. There are many psychological factors at play that enable the success of vari-

We may be prone to think that what we pay attention to is neutral, as if no bias dictates how we bestow our attention. We are predisposed to hear, see, absorb, and interpret particular things that fit with our biases. In phenomenological terms, our unconscious biases might be understood as a "pre-understanding." Key concepts

J.P. Forgas and R.F. Baumeister [23] summarize the growing literature on the social psychology of gullibility, going back as far as 1947. They define gullibility as "a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action" [23], p. 2. Gullibility occurs when "an individual's beliefs are manifestly inconsistent with facts and reality, or [they] are at variance with social norms about reality" [23], p. 2. The psychological foundation of gullibility "appears to be the universal human capacity for trust – to accept second-hand information we receive from others as a proxy for reality" [23], p. 5. They identify six psychological mechanisms of gullibility: (1) The search for patterns and meaning: because human beings want to make sense of reality, they

ous forms of self-deception, where rational arguments do not work.

that flesh out this notion are gullibility and cognitive bias.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

**4. Psychological dimensions**

see [16]).

ecology.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

among political supporters of various stripes, but appear to be particularly common among Trump supporters, who reject any talking points except those in their disinformation ecosystem. Social, or reciprocal, self-deception leads to collective self-deception where a whole group feeds and is fed self-deception. The individual, the group, and the collective dialectically reinforce each other. For example, Trump supporters who are not necessarily homogeneous in how or why they arrived in support of Trump (as we will see later) embrace the common end—that Trumps represents their anger, resentments, a source of power, economic advantage, selfrighteousness, or their cause, whatever it may be. (For a more detailed explanation, see [16]).

#### **4. Psychological dimensions**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

knowledge. Unfortunately, such "knowledge" is unstable if the consumers cannot provide a rationale for what they believe. Many people are mistaken about whether they have knowledge at all and may believe that opinion or disinformation is knowledge. Sources the hearer takes for cognitive authorities can be mistaken or deceitful. At the same time, life would be impossible if we could not act on information we were unable to verify. We proceed in our lives with lots of secondhand knowledge, relying on others, whose advice most often is justified but sometimes is not. To make this difficult issue more manageable, we trust in cognitive authorities.

Deception by cognitive authorities can take various forms. Drawing on Chisholm

and Feehan's "The Intent to Deceive" [17] (1977, pp. 144–145), Don Fallis's "The Varieties of Disinformation" (2014) [18] describes four major types. The first two are achieved by positive deception (causing a false belief). They include (1) creating a new false belief (e.g., Trump claims that absentee balloting is prone to electoral fraud) and (2) maintaining an existing false belief (e.g., if Joe Biden becomes president, he would take away all guns from citizens). The other two use negative deception. They are (1) causing the loss of a true belief (e.g., that mail-in or absentee ballot voting is a reliable way to vote) and (2) preventing the acquisition of a true belief (e.g., preventing accurate information about the COVID-19 pandemic;

**3. Self-deception, social self-deception and collective self-deception**

Deception is most effective when it fosters self-deception. Sartre observed that bad faith is believing what you do not believe: holding or living a contradiction at one and the same time [16]. He describes a mode of living inauthentically, where people may deceive themselves into thinking that they do not have the freedom to make choices for fear of their potential consequences, e.g., that they would have to be responsible for themselves. The psychological position of "willful ignorance" may be related to this condition, knowing something to be true but consciously choosing ignorance, e.g., choosing to believe that the Confederate statues are not

Self-deception may be a way to embrace forms of ignorance or false information, including lies, paltering, fake news, or doxing. Self-deception makes it possible to maintain our beliefs in the face of contravening evidence. Von Hippel and Trivers [19] describes five varieties of self-deception: (a) biased information search (i.e., only consulting sources that validate our biases or a priori beliefs); (b) biased interpretation (i.e., ignoring parts of a story that do not fit our views); (c) misremembering (e.g., as some Trump supporters who voted for and approved of Barack Obama have come to rationalize Trump's depiction of him as incompetent); (d) rationalization (i.e., making our arguments fit our biases, such as accepting that immigrants are largely criminals because Trump says so); and (e) convincing oneself that a lie is true (e.g., that Barack Obama had spied on the

Self-deception is a socializing and socialized strategy. We convince ourselves of our false beliefs in the process of persuading others, and if and when they are convinced it confirms and sustains our false beliefs. Roy Dings [20], pp. 17–18, points out that this social self-deception may be "situating" or "persuasive." The first, "situating," includes the positive, in which we seek likeminded people with whom to associate, and the second is the negative, in which we avoid people who disagree with our views. The second, "persuasive," includes the positive, trying to convince people to adopt our views, and negative, withholding information that would deter a person from such adoptions [20], pp. 17–18. These strategies are common

([18], p. 140). (For a more detailed explanation, see [13–15].)

**16**

symbols of racism.

Trump campaign in 2016).

There are psychological factors and motivations that set and enforce selfdeception [16]. The elements may be conscious or unconscious. Conscious selfdeception strategies include willful ignorance mentioned above or the avoidance of information. Willful ignorance is different from self-deception because willful ignorance is always intentional, whereas self-deception is not: the willfully ignorant can recognize that they are ignorant, whereas the self-deceived are typically not fully aware that they are self-deceived [21], p. 521. Willful ignorance (being more conscious) is, therefore, more culpable than self-deception. Information avoidance is not thought to be the same as willful ignorance and may not be the same as self-deception. According to Lynch [22], information avoidance is "any behavior intended to prevent or delay the acquisition of available but potentially unwanted information" [22], p. 341. Reasons for information avoidance include the information may demand a change in one's beliefs, an undesired action, or the information itself, or the decision to learn information may cause unpleasant emotions or diminish pleasant emotions [22], p. 342. Information avoidance can be a strategy for abiding and remaining in a disinformation or misinformation ecology.

Part of the problem of dealing with persons imbued with espousing or promoting fake news is that if one tries to approach them rationally with evidence, facts, and logic, one will fail (though there are many cases, as we will note later, in which what they may count as evidence, facts, or logic do not fit orthodox norms). In addition to the relatively conscious factors listed above, there are unconscious ones as well. There are many psychological factors at play that enable the success of various forms of self-deception, where rational arguments do not work.

We may be prone to think that what we pay attention to is neutral, as if no bias dictates how we bestow our attention. We are predisposed to hear, see, absorb, and interpret particular things that fit with our biases. In phenomenological terms, our unconscious biases might be understood as a "pre-understanding." Key concepts that flesh out this notion are gullibility and cognitive bias.

J.P. Forgas and R.F. Baumeister [23] summarize the growing literature on the social psychology of gullibility, going back as far as 1947. They define gullibility as "a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action" [23], p. 2. Gullibility occurs when "an individual's beliefs are manifestly inconsistent with facts and reality, or [they] are at variance with social norms about reality" [23], p. 2. The psychological foundation of gullibility "appears to be the universal human capacity for trust – to accept second-hand information we receive from others as a proxy for reality" [23], p. 5.

They identify six psychological mechanisms of gullibility: (1) The search for patterns and meaning: because human beings want to make sense of reality, they often find patterns and causation where there is none. This may partially explain how conspiracy theories emerge [23], p. 8. (2) Acceptance bias: "the near-universal tendency for human beings to accept rather than reject information" [23], p. 9. (3) The power of heuristics: "Human beings are more prone to believe interesting, captivating stories and narratives that are salient and easy to imagine" [23], p. 9. The narrative that Trump was a successful businessman may be compelling in this manner. (4) Overbelief in the self: we are prone to "self-serving biases and distortions" [23], p. 10. Thus Trump voters may have difficulty believing they made a mistake about his leadership. (5) Social mechanisms of gullibility: "all symbolic knowledge is socially constructed and shared. Comparing our views and ideas with the views and ideas of others is the way all symbolic reality is constructed" [23], p. 10. It is easy to see how Trump supporters, their personal relationships, their media (cable news and social media), their political and social groups and associations, their party, and their congressional representatives construct a narrative of Trump's leadership and effectiveness that dialogically reinforces each aspect through their disinformation ecosystem. (6) Epistemological failures to monitor and correct. Human beings fail to monitor and evaluate incoming information correctly in terms of their logical merits [23], p. 11. Because Trump's supporters are bathed in emotions such as anger and resentment, any logical analysis fails or critical selfreflection fails. If there is any reasoning at all, it is a "motivated reasoning" built on pregiven conclusions, a rationalization to serve one's biases. We will look the issue of motivated reasoning in more detail later. Cognitive biases are another important psychological dimension of human beings, but our focus will be that of the predispositions of Trump supporters.

Cherry [24] defines cognitive bias as "a systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them." The vast research on cognitive bias has identified several aspects that foster disinformation campaigns, some of which are particularly salient in the political domain. When people exhibit cognitive bias, they take particular, flawed mental shortcuts regularly. Wikipedia lists more than 200 types of cognitive bias, many with variant names [25]. In order to make such a large list manageable, Benson [26] proposes four clusters of biases based on whether they involve (1) too much information, (2) not enough meaning, (3) the need to act fast, or (4) confusion about what we should remember. Given the cacophony of available information streams in contemporary society, the first cluster has a high incidence. In the face of too much information, people typically allow their cognitive biases to dictate their thinking, opinions, and actions when they must make quick assessments. Obviously, this strategy is true of all people, anywhere on the political spectrum from left to right, but the focus of the research here are those who lean to the ultra-right. Other factors that invoke cognitive biases include a person's emotions or motivations, the limits on the mind's ability to process information, and social pressures [24]. All of these causes seem to be relevant to such groups as Trump supporters, who make errors in judgment about actual facts, who often are engaged in anger and resentment about current events, who are seduced by the social pressures coming from their ingroup (social self-deception and collective self-deception), and who have less flexibility in processing information than Democrats. Among Trump's voters, age may also be a factor, as in the 2016 election older voters heavily broke for Trump because aging can increase cognitive bias due to lost cognitive flexibility [24].

Thirteen pertinent cognitive biases have particular relevance for disinformation adherents: (1) the availability heuristic, (2) attentional bias, (3) illusory truth, (4) affect bias, (5) negativity bias, (6) anchoring, (7) confirmation bias, (8) the bandwagon effect, (9) stereotyping, (10) ingroup bias, (11) projection bias, (12)

**19**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

that all persons, of any political stripe, are vulnerable to them.

the Dunning-Kruger effect, and (13) the self-serving bias. The explanation of these factors with examples from the Trump administration should not obscure the fact

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples

Second, attentional bias refers to how the direction of attention affects a person's perception. Engaging this bias, one pays attention to some things while simultaneously ignoring others. For example, a Trump supporter might focus on Trump's deployment of federal troops to quell "riots," giving no attention to the fact that so-called riots are mostly peaceful protests against police brutality, and thus believe his claim to be the law-and-order president. Trump often invokes this bias through ad hominem attacks: "sleepy Joe," "crooked Hillary," or characterizations of attacks on him, "witch hunt" or "hoax," so that his listeners revert to the stories he invents

The illusory truth effect is a bias that occurs when repetition creates bias. This bias mimics the positive feeling we get when we hear information that we know is true in the service of information that may be false but that we have heard before. The Republican party has long been a master of repetition in the sense that it creates discipline such that all Republican officials repeat variants of the same message, such as that trickle-down economics lessen poverty. When Trump reports that he has managed an excellent response to the coronavirus, Republicans as well as *Fox News*, white evangelicals, and like-minded leaders are prepared to repeat the message that hundreds of thousands of deaths represent a good outcome because it

Fourth, the affect heuristic, reflects the tendency to rely on emotions in our initial decisions regarding some action, event, or information. Rather than reflecting on the long-term consequences of a decision, we rely on our emotional state. Business ethics expert, Chris MacDonald, attributes Trump's 2016 election victory

*The net result of this built-in human mental trait is that rather than letting our beliefs about the world tell us how to feel, we tend to let our emotions tell us what to believe. Afraid of crime? Then you'll tend to see the world as violent (even if violent crime is at its lowest point in a generation or more). Worried about your job? Then you'll believe that unemployment is up (even if it's at a 10-year low). Trump capitalized on this by telling Americans things they felt were true. And feeling is much more compelling than listening to eggheads spout statistics on television [29].*

that come to the mind of a person when assessing a particular topic, idea, or decision. It relies on placing greater value on information that comes to mind quickly, based on the assumption that it must be important and more trustworthy than countervailing information. A person's judgments weigh their assessments based on more recent information, meaning new opinions rely on the latest news [27]. A senior writer at *Wired*, Emily Dreyfuss [28], claims that Trump is a master facilitator of the availability heuristic. He starts with the straw man fallacy, a logical fallacy in which one exaggerates the position of one's opponent and then attacks it. A classic example is Ronald Reagan's use of the notion of a "welfare queen," a Black woman who exploits the welfare system. Linda Taylor who, in fact, did exploit the welfare system, became the straw man for Reagan, and her story exploited the availability heuristic because it was memorable. However, her case was extremely uncommon, and abuse of the welfare system was and remains rare. Trump's story of Mexican rapists reflects the same strategy with the same impact on his supporters, who come to believe that immigrants have a high level of criminality in spite of strong evidence to the contrary. Salient images stick in the minds of his supporters

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

and come to mind readily.

to apply such memes.

could have been worse.

primarily to affect bias:

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

often find patterns and causation where there is none. This may partially explain how conspiracy theories emerge [23], p. 8. (2) Acceptance bias: "the near-universal tendency for human beings to accept rather than reject information" [23], p. 9. (3) The power of heuristics: "Human beings are more prone to believe interesting, captivating stories and narratives that are salient and easy to imagine" [23], p. 9. The narrative that Trump was a successful businessman may be compelling in this manner. (4) Overbelief in the self: we are prone to "self-serving biases and distortions" [23], p. 10. Thus Trump voters may have difficulty believing they made a mistake about his leadership. (5) Social mechanisms of gullibility: "all symbolic knowledge is socially constructed and shared. Comparing our views and ideas with the views and ideas of others is the way all symbolic reality is constructed" [23], p. 10. It is easy to see how Trump supporters, their personal relationships, their media (cable news and social media), their political and social groups and associations, their party, and their congressional representatives construct a narrative of Trump's leadership and effectiveness that dialogically reinforces each aspect through their disinformation ecosystem. (6) Epistemological failures to monitor and correct. Human beings fail to monitor and evaluate incoming information correctly in terms of their logical merits [23], p. 11. Because Trump's supporters are bathed in emotions such as anger and resentment, any logical analysis fails or critical selfreflection fails. If there is any reasoning at all, it is a "motivated reasoning" built on pregiven conclusions, a rationalization to serve one's biases. We will look the issue of motivated reasoning in more detail later. Cognitive biases are another important psychological dimension of human beings, but our focus will be that of the predis-

Cherry [24] defines cognitive bias as "a systematic error in thinking that occurs

Thirteen pertinent cognitive biases have particular relevance for disinformation

adherents: (1) the availability heuristic, (2) attentional bias, (3) illusory truth, (4) affect bias, (5) negativity bias, (6) anchoring, (7) confirmation bias, (8) the bandwagon effect, (9) stereotyping, (10) ingroup bias, (11) projection bias, (12)

when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them." The vast research on cognitive bias has identified several aspects that foster disinformation campaigns, some of which are particularly salient in the political domain. When people exhibit cognitive bias, they take particular, flawed mental shortcuts regularly. Wikipedia lists more than 200 types of cognitive bias, many with variant names [25]. In order to make such a large list manageable, Benson [26] proposes four clusters of biases based on whether they involve (1) too much information, (2) not enough meaning, (3) the need to act fast, or (4) confusion about what we should remember. Given the cacophony of available information streams in contemporary society, the first cluster has a high incidence. In the face of too much information, people typically allow their cognitive biases to dictate their thinking, opinions, and actions when they must make quick assessments. Obviously, this strategy is true of all people, anywhere on the political spectrum from left to right, but the focus of the research here are those who lean to the ultra-right. Other factors that invoke cognitive biases include a person's emotions or motivations, the limits on the mind's ability to process information, and social pressures [24]. All of these causes seem to be relevant to such groups as Trump supporters, who make errors in judgment about actual facts, who often are engaged in anger and resentment about current events, who are seduced by the social pressures coming from their ingroup (social self-deception and collective self-deception), and who have less flexibility in processing information than Democrats. Among Trump's voters, age may also be a factor, as in the 2016 election older voters heavily broke for Trump because aging can increase cognitive bias due to lost cognitive

**18**

flexibility [24].

positions of Trump supporters.

the Dunning-Kruger effect, and (13) the self-serving bias. The explanation of these factors with examples from the Trump administration should not obscure the fact that all persons, of any political stripe, are vulnerable to them.

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to the mind of a person when assessing a particular topic, idea, or decision. It relies on placing greater value on information that comes to mind quickly, based on the assumption that it must be important and more trustworthy than countervailing information. A person's judgments weigh their assessments based on more recent information, meaning new opinions rely on the latest news [27]. A senior writer at *Wired*, Emily Dreyfuss [28], claims that Trump is a master facilitator of the availability heuristic. He starts with the straw man fallacy, a logical fallacy in which one exaggerates the position of one's opponent and then attacks it. A classic example is Ronald Reagan's use of the notion of a "welfare queen," a Black woman who exploits the welfare system. Linda Taylor who, in fact, did exploit the welfare system, became the straw man for Reagan, and her story exploited the availability heuristic because it was memorable. However, her case was extremely uncommon, and abuse of the welfare system was and remains rare. Trump's story of Mexican rapists reflects the same strategy with the same impact on his supporters, who come to believe that immigrants have a high level of criminality in spite of strong evidence to the contrary. Salient images stick in the minds of his supporters and come to mind readily.

Second, attentional bias refers to how the direction of attention affects a person's perception. Engaging this bias, one pays attention to some things while simultaneously ignoring others. For example, a Trump supporter might focus on Trump's deployment of federal troops to quell "riots," giving no attention to the fact that so-called riots are mostly peaceful protests against police brutality, and thus believe his claim to be the law-and-order president. Trump often invokes this bias through ad hominem attacks: "sleepy Joe," "crooked Hillary," or characterizations of attacks on him, "witch hunt" or "hoax," so that his listeners revert to the stories he invents to apply such memes.

The illusory truth effect is a bias that occurs when repetition creates bias. This bias mimics the positive feeling we get when we hear information that we know is true in the service of information that may be false but that we have heard before. The Republican party has long been a master of repetition in the sense that it creates discipline such that all Republican officials repeat variants of the same message, such as that trickle-down economics lessen poverty. When Trump reports that he has managed an excellent response to the coronavirus, Republicans as well as *Fox News*, white evangelicals, and like-minded leaders are prepared to repeat the message that hundreds of thousands of deaths represent a good outcome because it could have been worse.

Fourth, the affect heuristic, reflects the tendency to rely on emotions in our initial decisions regarding some action, event, or information. Rather than reflecting on the long-term consequences of a decision, we rely on our emotional state. Business ethics expert, Chris MacDonald, attributes Trump's 2016 election victory primarily to affect bias:

*The net result of this built-in human mental trait is that rather than letting our beliefs about the world tell us how to feel, we tend to let our emotions tell us what to believe. Afraid of crime? Then you'll tend to see the world as violent (even if violent crime is at its lowest point in a generation or more). Worried about your job? Then you'll believe that unemployment is up (even if it's at a 10-year low). Trump capitalized on this by telling Americans things they felt were true. And feeling is much more compelling than listening to eggheads spout statistics on television [29].*

As he faces another election, Trump claims that he promotes law and order even as racial strife and police brutality erupt, and he speaks approvingly of murderous vigilantes. He inflames emotions such as anger, resentment, and racial hatred to justify the falsehood.

Negativity bias occurs when persons have a greater recall of unpleasant memories than pleasant ones. Even when adverse events and positive events are of the same scale, we feel the negative ones more strongly. Trump and GOP members used this during his first presidential campaign by focusing on Hillary Clinton's involvement with Benghazi. In his reelection attempt, he hoped fearing crime and the destruction of property would outweigh the memory of watching George Floyd die at the hands of police.

Anchoring is the bias in which one relies heavily on one trait or characteristic (the anchor), usually the first piece of information one hears on a particular topic. When the coronavirus began in earnest, Trump asserted that it was not a serious problem and that it was not more dangerous than the common flu. That initial piece of advice stuck in people's minds and made them doubt the seriousness of the pandemic and to continue to court the idea it was a hoax.

Confirmation bias involves interpreting information that supports our existing beliefs, even when presented with conflicting evidence. Trump supporters hold all sorts of improbable beliefs because they concord with their preexisting beliefs: e.g., that Trump is a great president; was successful in curbing the coronavirus, its infection, and death rate; cares about poor people; is draining the Washington swamp; is a great businessman; that his tax cuts helped all Americans; and that he has a great plan for healthcare, all of which are false.

The bandwagon effect is the bias in which we support opinions as and when they become popular. We tend to adopt certain behaviors or beliefs because many other people do the same. Trump's constant use of rallies throughout his presidency exploits this effect. Social media can have the same effect, as seen in the popularization of QAnon theories.

Stereotyping is the bias when we expect a member of a group to have certain beliefs or characteristics because of their group membership. Trump relies on racist stereotypes by calling Black Americans dirty and lacking in intelligence and by suggesting women of color in Congress go back to their countries.

Ingroup bias is the tendency for a person to give preferential treatment to those they perceive as members of their own group. Thus if Trump supporters see Trump as good for the working class, they may support him even if they recognize his harms to people of color. Political scientist Jeffrey Friedman argues that Trump's harsh policies on immigration stem more from nationalism (ingroup favoritism) rather than xenophobia [30]. Trump supporters tend to make the claim that he always has their backs, although the actuality may something else, e.g. attacking Obamacare and Social Security.

Projection bias occurs when we believe that our current preferences and values will remain the same in the future, which can lead to short-sighted errors. Many Trump supporters, especially poor ones, believe that the current values will remain the same in the future, failing to remember when they had the same view when they voted Obama into office. Many members of minorities voted for Trump, and they projected that their feelings about him would have remained the same throughout his presidency. One suspects that Trump's actions during his first term may have dissuaded many of those who originally voted for him, illustrating their original projection bias.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is the tendency to overestimate one's abilities. Trump himself clearly suffers from this effect, given his confidence that he "alone" can solve all the nation's problems. Many of Trump supporters suffer from this same effect. They overestimate their capabilities in assessing his character and

**21**

authoritarianism.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

achievements. They are uncritical of their being uncritical and lack the skills and acumen to make a realistic assessment of their own abilities, let alone that of the

The final bias, self-serving bias, occurs when one claims responsibility for one's successes while blaming failures on external factors. Trump seems to have made a lifestyle from this bias. His rewards are due to his "very stable genius," but his bankruptcies were due to others' failures. Any promise he has not kept is due to the Democrats' resistance, Congress's unwillingness to do his bidding, or unfortunate circumstances (e.g., the coronavirus coming to the U.S. during his presidency),

We shall see shortly how these biases play into how disinformation campaigns succeed. To see how they play in Trump supporters, we can look at the psychological

When reviewing their psychological aspects, it is clear that there is an overlap among studies on willful ignorance, information avoidance, gullibility, and cognitive bias, and that these definitions are approaches to the same issues from different perspectives [16]. To provide details, there are specific studies of Trump supporters. In his paper, "Social Psychological Perspectives on Trump Supporters," psychologist Thomas Pettigrew [31] identifies factors reflecting five major social psychological phenomena that account for the bulk of Trump supporters' devotion: tolerance for authoritarianism, a preference for associating with socially dominant groups (social dominance orientation, SDO), prejudice, low intergroup contact (i.e., little familiarity with groups other than themselves), and relative deprivation (i.e., feeling that others are much better off than they are). While acknowledging political factors may be at work as well as other psychological factors, he argues that these five

Pettigrew finds that many Trump supporters are attracted to authoritarian figures. Authoritarianism is characterized by such traits as "deference to authority, aggression toward outgroups, a rigidly hierarchical view of the world, and resistance to new experience" [31], p. 108. Authoritarians see the world as dangerous, and fear guides their response to it. While social psychologists debate whether authoritarianism is a personality construct or a political ideology, Pettigrew argues that "there is no necessary conflict between these two perspectives." That is, it usually starts as a personality orientation, which then leads to an engagement with right-wing political ideology. Trump's rhetoric stokes fear, which leads his supporters to consider him to be an authority on matters of American security, leading them to support him in his efforts to secure the borders against outgroups, including through family separation policy and a border wall between the United States and Mexico. His deployment of federal troops on peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon, and tear gassing of protesters in Washington, DC, reflects his

In a related study of right-wing politicians who are high on the authoritarian scale, psychologists Alyssa H. Sinclair, Matthew L. Stanley, and Paul Seli found that they fail to update their belief system when confronted with new information and they are motivated to preserve their entrenched beliefs. They concluded high rightwing authoritarians have "a relatively closed-minded cognitive style that negatively influences belief updating" [32]. Donald Trump's self-deception seems to clearly

Returning to Pettigrew, he defines SDO as "an individual's preference for the societal hierarchy of groups and domination over lower-status groups" [31], p. 108.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

studies specifically devoted to them.

dimensions are particularly relevant.

conform to that of other authoritarian leaders.

**4.1 Psychological studies of Trump supporters**

president.

and so on.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

justify the falsehood.

at the hands of police.

tion of QAnon theories.

Obamacare and Social Security.

As he faces another election, Trump claims that he promotes law and order even as racial strife and police brutality erupt, and he speaks approvingly of murderous vigilantes. He inflames emotions such as anger, resentment, and racial hatred to

Negativity bias occurs when persons have a greater recall of unpleasant memories than pleasant ones. Even when adverse events and positive events are of the same scale, we feel the negative ones more strongly. Trump and GOP members used this during his first presidential campaign by focusing on Hillary Clinton's involvement with Benghazi. In his reelection attempt, he hoped fearing crime and the destruction of property would outweigh the memory of watching George Floyd die

Anchoring is the bias in which one relies heavily on one trait or characteristic (the anchor), usually the first piece of information one hears on a particular topic. When the coronavirus began in earnest, Trump asserted that it was not a serious problem and that it was not more dangerous than the common flu. That initial piece of advice stuck in people's minds and made them doubt the seriousness of the

Confirmation bias involves interpreting information that supports our existing beliefs, even when presented with conflicting evidence. Trump supporters hold all sorts of improbable beliefs because they concord with their preexisting beliefs: e.g., that Trump is a great president; was successful in curbing the coronavirus, its infection, and death rate; cares about poor people; is draining the Washington swamp; is a great businessman; that his tax cuts helped all Americans; and that he has a great

The bandwagon effect is the bias in which we support opinions as and when they become popular. We tend to adopt certain behaviors or beliefs because many other people do the same. Trump's constant use of rallies throughout his presidency exploits this effect. Social media can have the same effect, as seen in the populariza-

Stereotyping is the bias when we expect a member of a group to have certain beliefs or characteristics because of their group membership. Trump relies on racist stereotypes by calling Black Americans dirty and lacking in intelligence and by

Ingroup bias is the tendency for a person to give preferential treatment to those they perceive as members of their own group. Thus if Trump supporters see Trump as good for the working class, they may support him even if they recognize his harms to people of color. Political scientist Jeffrey Friedman argues that Trump's harsh policies on immigration stem more from nationalism (ingroup favoritism) rather than xenophobia [30]. Trump supporters tend to make the claim that he always has their backs, although the actuality may something else, e.g. attacking

Projection bias occurs when we believe that our current preferences and values will remain the same in the future, which can lead to short-sighted errors. Many Trump supporters, especially poor ones, believe that the current values will remain the same in the future, failing to remember when they had the same view when they voted Obama into office. Many members of minorities voted for Trump, and they projected that their feelings about him would have remained the same throughout his presidency. One suspects that Trump's actions during his first term may have dissuaded many of those who originally voted for him, illustrating their original projection bias. The Dunning-Kruger effect is the tendency to overestimate one's abilities. Trump himself clearly suffers from this effect, given his confidence that he "alone" can solve all the nation's problems. Many of Trump supporters suffer from this same effect. They overestimate their capabilities in assessing his character and

suggesting women of color in Congress go back to their countries.

pandemic and to continue to court the idea it was a hoax.

plan for healthcare, all of which are false.

**20**

achievements. They are uncritical of their being uncritical and lack the skills and acumen to make a realistic assessment of their own abilities, let alone that of the president.

The final bias, self-serving bias, occurs when one claims responsibility for one's successes while blaming failures on external factors. Trump seems to have made a lifestyle from this bias. His rewards are due to his "very stable genius," but his bankruptcies were due to others' failures. Any promise he has not kept is due to the Democrats' resistance, Congress's unwillingness to do his bidding, or unfortunate circumstances (e.g., the coronavirus coming to the U.S. during his presidency), and so on.

We shall see shortly how these biases play into how disinformation campaigns succeed. To see how they play in Trump supporters, we can look at the psychological studies specifically devoted to them.

#### **4.1 Psychological studies of Trump supporters**

When reviewing their psychological aspects, it is clear that there is an overlap among studies on willful ignorance, information avoidance, gullibility, and cognitive bias, and that these definitions are approaches to the same issues from different perspectives [16]. To provide details, there are specific studies of Trump supporters. In his paper, "Social Psychological Perspectives on Trump Supporters," psychologist Thomas Pettigrew [31] identifies factors reflecting five major social psychological phenomena that account for the bulk of Trump supporters' devotion: tolerance for authoritarianism, a preference for associating with socially dominant groups (social dominance orientation, SDO), prejudice, low intergroup contact (i.e., little familiarity with groups other than themselves), and relative deprivation (i.e., feeling that others are much better off than they are). While acknowledging political factors may be at work as well as other psychological factors, he argues that these five dimensions are particularly relevant.

Pettigrew finds that many Trump supporters are attracted to authoritarian figures. Authoritarianism is characterized by such traits as "deference to authority, aggression toward outgroups, a rigidly hierarchical view of the world, and resistance to new experience" [31], p. 108. Authoritarians see the world as dangerous, and fear guides their response to it. While social psychologists debate whether authoritarianism is a personality construct or a political ideology, Pettigrew argues that "there is no necessary conflict between these two perspectives." That is, it usually starts as a personality orientation, which then leads to an engagement with right-wing political ideology. Trump's rhetoric stokes fear, which leads his supporters to consider him to be an authority on matters of American security, leading them to support him in his efforts to secure the borders against outgroups, including through family separation policy and a border wall between the United States and Mexico. His deployment of federal troops on peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon, and tear gassing of protesters in Washington, DC, reflects his authoritarianism.

In a related study of right-wing politicians who are high on the authoritarian scale, psychologists Alyssa H. Sinclair, Matthew L. Stanley, and Paul Seli found that they fail to update their belief system when confronted with new information and they are motivated to preserve their entrenched beliefs. They concluded high rightwing authoritarians have "a relatively closed-minded cognitive style that negatively influences belief updating" [32]. Donald Trump's self-deception seems to clearly conform to that of other authoritarian leaders.

Returning to Pettigrew, he defines SDO as "an individual's preference for the societal hierarchy of groups and domination over lower-status groups" [31], p. 108. People who want to maintain the current social hierarchy have an SDO. They believe members of other groups are inferior to members of their own. People with strong SDO are "typically dominant, driven, tough-minded, disagreeable, and relatively uncaring seekers of power" [31], p. 108. Trump's assertions that he alone can solve the nation's problems and that those who oppose him are "losers" (including media critical of him as well as Democratic officials) reflects a belief that they are inferior to members of his group, which include *Fox News* and loyal Republicans. Trump's claim that some white nationalists are "very fine people" because they support his presidency reflects lauding of the ingroup. Trump's supporters embrace of authoritarianism and SDO also make them more likely to accept outright lying by commission or omission or by paltering a part of the morally acceptable behavior of politicians [33]. For most rational persons, Trump's excessive and blatant lying is enough to disqualify him from a repeat term in the White House, but his behavior does not matter to his supporters. According to the Washington Post, which has kept track of his lies and misleading statements, he exceeded the 20,000 mark as of July 3, 2020 (440 days in office), averaging 45 per day [3].

Pettigrew's third factor points out that Trump supporters are anti-outgroup, which is manifest in their support for anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy. In the 2016 election, Trump launched rhetorical attacks on immigrants, Mexicans, and Muslims. His actions in office have reinforced that stance: bans on entrants to the country from certain Muslim countries, harsh restrictions for asylum seekers, and the separation of children from their parents at the border as a measure to discourage immigration. Support for Trump correlates positively with a standard scale of modern racism, which Trump has fully articulated in his attacks on Democrats of color in Congress and by having his supporters at his rallies chant "send her back" about Congresswomen Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, making references to their ethnic origins [34]. Calling COVID-19 "kung-flu" and the "China virus" reflect the same tendencies [35].

Pettigrew [31], p. 108, also observes that there is growing evidence that Trump's white supporters have little contact with groups other than their own. They have less experience with minorities such as Muslims, Mexicans, or even Black Americans, than other Americans. Low intergroup contact makes it easier to dismiss members of other groups as foreign, un-American, and/or inferior. Ignorance of others allows one to self-enforce negative stereotypes, as in Trump's references to immigrants as "animals" [36]. It also supports the tolerance of brutal methods of quelling protests that seek to dismantle racism as well as callousness about the impact of unrest on people in cities, as Trump supporters are disproportionately rural.

Pettigrew's fifth factor, relative deprivation, may be the most powerful and troubling problem to enable Trump's rise. While Trump's supporters are not disproportionately economically disadvantaged—they are disproportionately employed full time and unlikely to live in districts that depend on manufacturing—they perceive themselves as deprived. Trump supporters felt that other members of society were better off than they were and that their expectation of where they would be in life had been severely limited. They were heavily motivated by a sense of loss of status through a sense that American global dominance is in decline and that white people were losing status and dominance domestically [37].

Hours of *Fox News* and right-wing social media sites denigrating "welfare queens" and welfare programs, the more frequent appearance of minorities and mixed and gay marriages in the media, and the media's depiction of what an ordinary American home is supposed to be like strengthen the sense of deprivation. Trump offered supporters an opportunity to reverse the trend. They feel that they are victims of the forces of politics, corporations, education, and

**23**

Christian nation.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

distinctive or related motivations for supporting Trump:

demographic shifts, and the president's focus on those themes makes them feel

Creating an ad hoc taxonomy, we can establish four different groups reflect

wing ideology, they make nearly 2 billion dollars a year [39], p. 20.

2.White evangelical Christians, Christian Dominionists, and other religious supporters. These people believe or have come to believe through their religious leaders and problematic interpretations of the Bible or religious traditions that Trump's ascendancy is a direct consequence of God's will. Their objective is to overturn the legal grounds for abortion, to have conservative judges appointed in the courts, to have "religious freedom," and to make the United States a

In the 2016 election, 81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump, in spite of his record of adultery, divorces, bizarre work ethic ("deals" and bankruptcies), broken promises, lies, racism, and allegations of sexual assault [40]. Many evangelicals rationalize their behavior by likening Trump to Persia's King Cyrus II (the Great) from the Book of Isaiah, who lived between 590 and 529 B.C.E. Though not a Jew, Cyrus was seen as an instrument appointed by God, a heroic pagan ruler who freed the Jews from captivity in Babylonia. Though pagan, he was ethical and allowed his conquered lands to retain their traditions, including those of the Jews, and he led the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple

1.Economic and power profiteers or exploiters. These are senators, House members, cabinet members, other politicians, and friends and associates of Trump, who are driven by an appetite for power and for profit. The appetite for power usually includes the promotion of right-wing political ideology to retain governing power. Initially, many Republicans deplored both the character and the nomination of Trump to the presidency, but after he amassed power and popularity, they changed their orientation to loyalists. Many Republican officials have shown more loyalty to Trump than to traditional conservative values, such as limited government and constraining the national debt; they also have ignored their duty to represent all of their constituents, by refusing to hold town halls with their constituents and voting as a block on party lines. As Michael Tanner [38] of the libertarian thinktank Cato Institute wrote, Trump is the "profligate president," yet they continue to support him. Trump's ability to rally his base against a Republican who fails to support him, making a candidate vulnerable to a primary challenge from the right, incentivizes such support. Likewise, some of Trump's supporters may fear exposure (e.g., for illegal or immoral activities), given rampant corruption in the Trump organization. As well, Trump has delivered on many conservative agenda items, such as appointing federal judges and crippling government agencies and public goods (like the post office). *Fox News* has profited from supporting Trump. Not only do they support and gain power from supporting a right-

Emotion, not critical thought, drives the behavior of Trump supporters. The disinformation campaigns that support Trump appear to be based on cognitive biases, as is evidenced by many Trump supporters screaming at any opposition to him as "fake news," or calling police for imagined intrusions on their rights by Black people. Anti-Trumpers are called "lib-tards" (combining 'liberal' with the slur "retard").

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

**5. Types of Trump supporters**

empowered.

demographic shifts, and the president's focus on those themes makes them feel empowered.

Emotion, not critical thought, drives the behavior of Trump supporters. The disinformation campaigns that support Trump appear to be based on cognitive biases, as is evidenced by many Trump supporters screaming at any opposition to him as "fake news," or calling police for imagined intrusions on their rights by Black people. Anti-Trumpers are called "lib-tards" (combining 'liberal' with the slur "retard").

### **5. Types of Trump supporters**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

July 3, 2020 (440 days in office), averaging 45 per day [3].

"kung-flu" and the "China virus" reflect the same tendencies [35].

people in cities, as Trump supporters are disproportionately rural.

were losing status and dominance domestically [37].

People who want to maintain the current social hierarchy have an SDO. They believe members of other groups are inferior to members of their own. People with strong SDO are "typically dominant, driven, tough-minded, disagreeable, and relatively uncaring seekers of power" [31], p. 108. Trump's assertions that he alone can solve the nation's problems and that those who oppose him are "losers" (including media critical of him as well as Democratic officials) reflects a belief that they are inferior to members of his group, which include *Fox News* and loyal Republicans. Trump's claim that some white nationalists are "very fine people" because they support his presidency reflects lauding of the ingroup. Trump's supporters embrace of authoritarianism and SDO also make them more likely to accept outright lying by commission or omission or by paltering a part of the morally acceptable behavior of politicians [33]. For most rational persons, Trump's excessive and blatant lying is enough to disqualify him from a repeat term in the White House, but his behavior does not matter to his supporters. According to the Washington Post, which has kept track of his lies and misleading statements, he exceeded the 20,000 mark as of

Pettigrew's third factor points out that Trump supporters are anti-outgroup, which is manifest in their support for anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy. In the 2016 election, Trump launched rhetorical attacks on immigrants, Mexicans, and Muslims. His actions in office have reinforced that stance: bans on entrants to the country from certain Muslim countries, harsh restrictions for asylum seekers, and the separation of children from their parents at the border as a measure to discourage immigration. Support for Trump correlates positively with a standard scale of modern racism, which Trump has fully articulated in his attacks on Democrats of color in Congress and by having his supporters at his rallies chant "send her back" about Congresswomen Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, making references to their ethnic origins [34]. Calling COVID-19

Pettigrew [31], p. 108, also observes that there is growing evidence that Trump's white supporters have little contact with groups other than their own. They have less experience with minorities such as Muslims, Mexicans, or even Black Americans, than other Americans. Low intergroup contact makes it easier to dismiss members of other groups as foreign, un-American, and/or inferior. Ignorance of others allows one to self-enforce negative stereotypes, as in Trump's references to immigrants as "animals" [36]. It also supports the tolerance of brutal methods of quelling protests that seek to dismantle racism as well as callousness about the impact of unrest on

Pettigrew's fifth factor, relative deprivation, may be the most powerful and troubling problem to enable Trump's rise. While Trump's supporters are not disproportionately economically disadvantaged—they are disproportionately employed full time and unlikely to live in districts that depend on manufacturing—they perceive themselves as deprived. Trump supporters felt that other members of society were better off than they were and that their expectation of where they would be in life had been severely limited. They were heavily motivated by a sense of loss of status through a sense that American global dominance is in decline and that white people

Hours of *Fox News* and right-wing social media sites denigrating "welfare queens" and welfare programs, the more frequent appearance of minorities and mixed and gay marriages in the media, and the media's depiction of what an ordinary American home is supposed to be like strengthen the sense of deprivation. Trump offered supporters an opportunity to reverse the trend. They feel that they are victims of the forces of politics, corporations, education, and

**22**

Creating an ad hoc taxonomy, we can establish four different groups reflect distinctive or related motivations for supporting Trump:


In the 2016 election, 81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump, in spite of his record of adultery, divorces, bizarre work ethic ("deals" and bankruptcies), broken promises, lies, racism, and allegations of sexual assault [40]. Many evangelicals rationalize their behavior by likening Trump to Persia's King Cyrus II (the Great) from the Book of Isaiah, who lived between 590 and 529 B.C.E. Though not a Jew, Cyrus was seen as an instrument appointed by God, a heroic pagan ruler who freed the Jews from captivity in Babylonia. Though pagan, he was ethical and allowed his conquered lands to retain their traditions, including those of the Jews, and he led the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple

and restore the city. His religious supporters argue that Trump, like Cyrus, is a powerful figure who is not a believer yet is an instrument being used by God to serve God's master plan, a strong leader fighting on the side of the righteous. However, Isaiah's depiction shows Cyrus as an ethical leader who did not foster divisiveness, hatred, false accounts, or challenges to civil authorities or institutions to maintain his authority. These religious supporters exercise "motivated reasoning," a rationalization of their dubious interpretation of a Bible story in relating it to Trump, feeding their individual, social, and collective selfdeception, which reinforces each other and are sustained and promoted by their religious leadership. The effect is undermining American democracy [41].

Dominionism is centered on the removal of the idea of the separation of church and state from the Constitution. There is a hard version, which advocates that the Constitution and current form of government must be overthrown and must be replaced by a government based on Biblical law as articulated in the five books of Moses (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), ironically in the same way they fear that Sharia law will dominate the land should Muslims come to power in the United States. While this version has few adherents, many Christian fundamentalist denominations embrace a softer version, which calls for merging the church and the state, restoring to Christians control over all political and cultural institutions, such that the United States will be an overtly Christian government [42]. The viewpoint is promoted, based on the idea that Christians are currently being persecuted for their beliefs, particularly in the attacks on their refusal to provide goods and services for LGBTQ+ people in the marketplace, which they claim violates their "freedom of religion." They interpret freedom of religion to mean the ability of merchandisers in the public sphere to discriminate against persons or institutions that run contrary to their religious beliefs. It also is invoked when children in public schools are said not to be allowed to pray, by which they typically mean Christian prayer. In fact, they are allowed to pray as long they do not disrupt others and initiate the prayers themselves.

There is even a strain of conservative Catholics who support Trump, as evidenced in the book The Catholic Case for Trump by Austin Ruse [43]. Ruse's argument largely relies on claims that Trump is pro-life, but it conveniently ignores what he has actually done, such as putting children in cages, attacking environmental rights, attacking LGBTQ+ protections, and engaging in the most corrupt practices in government. Even Pope Francis has called Trump out on his anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, and his hypocritical pro-life stance [44]. The only area where Trump supports the Catholic viewpoint is his appointment of anti-abortion judges.

3.Media supporters such as *Fox News*, One America News (OAN), Sinclair Broadcasting (193 local broadcasting stations who all promote pro-Trump messages and anti-other-media messages). These organizations are essentially propaganda media for Trump [39]. Their motivation is power, greed, pro-right ideology, and the need to retain power. In most cases, this group's membership insects with the first category, profiteers and power-driven ideologues. But because of their distinctive and major role in the disinformation-misinformation ecology, they deserve their own category. We have not only broadcast and cable media but right-wing social media as well, such as Breitbart, Truthfeed, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, and Zero Hedge. These are abetted by foreign governments, such as Russia, Iran, and China, who see the Trump presidency as good for their countries' power on the world stage. Clickbait entrepreneurs, who also belong in the category of profiteers, see profit alone, but they do it

**25**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

through social media. NBC News documented a case in which a Macedonian teenager earned \$60,000 in six months through clicks from Trump supporters

Cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian [50] summarizes four factors that support true belief in what he calls the "unwavering" support of Trump. The first is the Dunning Kruger effect (the cognitive bias mentioned above): it implies that Trump's supporters are misinformed but also lack the capabilities to become aware that they are misinformed. The second is hypersensitivity to threat, which is common among conservatives. As Azarian [50] writes, "As long as Trump continues his fear mongering by constantly portraying Muslims and Mexican immigrants as imminent dangers, many conservative brains will involuntarily light up like light bulbs being controlled by a switch. Fear keeps his followers energized and focused on safety." That threat was the major threat before his election. Right before the 2020 election, it has shifted to create fear against protestors retaliating against police brutality of Black Americans in major cities. The third factor, terror management theory, suggests that reminders of one's own death stoke incite a strong defense of the ingroup and aggression toward others. Azarian writes, "By constantly emphasizing existential threat, Trump creates a psychological condition that makes the brain respond positively rather than negatively to bigoted statements and divisive rhetoric." The fourth is high attentional engagement. Azarian cites a study [51] of participants engaged in political ads that shows that Trump keeps viewers engaged more and for longer periods and that they were more emotionally aroused than those watching Hillary Clinton ads. This pattern held for both Clinton and Trump voters. Azarian attributes this to Trump's experience as a reality TV star:

*Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America's addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it does not matter what Trump actually says because he's so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, some Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained [50].*

Azarian observes: "As a cognitive neuroscientist, it grieves me to say that there may be nothing we can do. The overwhelming majority of these people may be beyond reach, at least in the short term. The best we can do is to motivate everyone else to get out to the voting booths" [50]. This observation holds

As a consequence of their loyalty, one of the sad aspects of the Trump presidency is that he enabled his supporters to unleash their anger, rage, and explicit

[45]. Conservatives are more susceptible to clickbait than liberals [46].

4.The true believers, sometimes called "the cult of personality," colloquially referred to as Trump's base. Their motivations include resentment, greed, prejudice or racism, feelings of relative deprivation (that they fall short of what others have accrued in life), anger, vindictiveness, self-righteousness, and negative polarization. In negative polarization, voters side with a given candidate primarily from a distaste for the candidate's opponent [47, 48]. In a study of both Trump and Hillary Clinton supporters, K. Jasko et al. [49] found that one's individual sense of personal significance predicts hostility to the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

preferred candidate's opponents.

true for the 2020 election as well.

prejudice by echoing his.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

long they do not disrupt others and initiate the prayers themselves.

3.Media supporters such as *Fox News*, One America News (OAN), Sinclair Broadcasting (193 local broadcasting stations who all promote pro-Trump messages and anti-other-media messages). These organizations are essentially propaganda media for Trump [39]. Their motivation is power, greed, pro-right ideology, and the need to retain power. In most cases, this group's membership insects with the first category, profiteers and power-driven ideologues. But because of their distinctive and major role in the disinformation-misinformation ecology, they deserve their own category. We have not only broadcast and cable media but right-wing social media as well, such as Breitbart, Truthfeed, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, and Zero Hedge. These are abetted by foreign governments, such as Russia, Iran, and China, who see the Trump presidency as good for their countries' power on the world stage. Clickbait entrepreneurs, who also belong in the category of profiteers, see profit alone, but they do it

appointment of anti-abortion judges.

There is even a strain of conservative Catholics who support Trump, as evidenced in the book The Catholic Case for Trump by Austin Ruse [43]. Ruse's argument largely relies on claims that Trump is pro-life, but it conveniently ignores what he has actually done, such as putting children in cages, attacking environmental rights, attacking LGBTQ+ protections, and engaging in the most corrupt practices in government. Even Pope Francis has called Trump out on his anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, and his hypocritical pro-life stance [44]. The only area where Trump supports the Catholic viewpoint is his

and restore the city. His religious supporters argue that Trump, like Cyrus, is a powerful figure who is not a believer yet is an instrument being used by God to serve God's master plan, a strong leader fighting on the side of the righteous. However, Isaiah's depiction shows Cyrus as an ethical leader who did not foster divisiveness, hatred, false accounts, or challenges to civil authorities or institutions to maintain his authority. These religious supporters exercise "motivated reasoning," a rationalization of their dubious interpretation of a Bible story in relating it to Trump, feeding their individual, social, and collective selfdeception, which reinforces each other and are sustained and promoted by their religious leadership. The effect is undermining American democracy [41]. Dominionism is centered on the removal of the idea of the separation of church and state from the Constitution. There is a hard version, which advocates that the Constitution and current form of government must be overthrown and must be replaced by a government based on Biblical law as articulated in the five books of Moses (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), ironically in the same way they fear that Sharia law will dominate the land should Muslims come to power in the United States. While this version has few adherents, many Christian fundamentalist denominations embrace a softer version, which calls for merging the church and the state, restoring to Christians control over all political and cultural institutions, such that the United States will be an overtly Christian government [42]. The viewpoint is promoted, based on the idea that Christians are currently being persecuted for their beliefs, particularly in the attacks on their refusal to provide goods and services for LGBTQ+ people in the marketplace, which they claim violates their "freedom of religion." They interpret freedom of religion to mean the ability of merchandisers in the public sphere to discriminate against persons or institutions that run contrary to their religious beliefs. It also is invoked when children in public schools are said not to be allowed to pray, by which they typically mean Christian prayer. In fact, they are allowed to pray as

**24**

through social media. NBC News documented a case in which a Macedonian teenager earned \$60,000 in six months through clicks from Trump supporters [45]. Conservatives are more susceptible to clickbait than liberals [46].

4.The true believers, sometimes called "the cult of personality," colloquially referred to as Trump's base. Their motivations include resentment, greed, prejudice or racism, feelings of relative deprivation (that they fall short of what others have accrued in life), anger, vindictiveness, self-righteousness, and negative polarization. In negative polarization, voters side with a given candidate primarily from a distaste for the candidate's opponent [47, 48]. In a study of both Trump and Hillary Clinton supporters, K. Jasko et al. [49] found that one's individual sense of personal significance predicts hostility to the preferred candidate's opponents.

Cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian [50] summarizes four factors that support true belief in what he calls the "unwavering" support of Trump. The first is the Dunning Kruger effect (the cognitive bias mentioned above): it implies that Trump's supporters are misinformed but also lack the capabilities to become aware that they are misinformed. The second is hypersensitivity to threat, which is common among conservatives. As Azarian [50] writes, "As long as Trump continues his fear mongering by constantly portraying Muslims and Mexican immigrants as imminent dangers, many conservative brains will involuntarily light up like light bulbs being controlled by a switch. Fear keeps his followers energized and focused on safety." That threat was the major threat before his election. Right before the 2020 election, it has shifted to create fear against protestors retaliating against police brutality of Black Americans in major cities. The third factor, terror management theory, suggests that reminders of one's own death stoke incite a strong defense of the ingroup and aggression toward others. Azarian writes, "By constantly emphasizing existential threat, Trump creates a psychological condition that makes the brain respond positively rather than negatively to bigoted statements and divisive rhetoric." The fourth is high attentional engagement. Azarian cites a study [51] of participants engaged in political ads that shows that Trump keeps viewers engaged more and for longer periods and that they were more emotionally aroused than those watching Hillary Clinton ads. This pattern held for both Clinton and Trump voters. Azarian attributes this to Trump's experience as a reality TV star:

*Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America's addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it does not matter what Trump actually says because he's so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, some Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained [50].*

Azarian observes: "As a cognitive neuroscientist, it grieves me to say that there may be nothing we can do. The overwhelming majority of these people may be beyond reach, at least in the short term. The best we can do is to motivate everyone else to get out to the voting booths" [50]. This observation holds true for the 2020 election as well.

As a consequence of their loyalty, one of the sad aspects of the Trump presidency is that he enabled his supporters to unleash their anger, rage, and explicit prejudice by echoing his.

#### **6. Trump supporters and conservatism**

Trump supporters tend to label themselves as conservative, but they are not referring to things like fiscal responsibility. Under the Trump administration, the deficit soared, even before the economic demands of the pandemic. Government is somewhat limited, and badly executed under Trump, supporting a long-standing Republican belief that government is corrupt and wasteful by being corrupt and wasteful [52], except for the following instances (not all due to Trump but often the result of a conservative agenda) of intrusion: (1) into hiring or providing medical treatments of military transgender individuals (Trump instituted a ban on transgender individuals in the military in 2019) or other forms of discrimination against LGQBT+ individuals; (2) into the right to have an abortion (in their defense, antiabortionists claim that fetuses are individuals and have the right to life); (3) into the protection of companies with a particular religious viewpoint from having to serve all customers in the public sphere (e.g., the right of a cake baker to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission); and (4) into exemptions to the Affordable Care Act (In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. Hobby Lobby Stores argued that because its store was founded on specific religious principles, it should be excluded from the demands of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that companies provide access to contraception and the morning-after pill). While the latter two can be seen as an attempt for less government intrusion, they invite government intrusion to enforce them. Typically hostile to foreign powers' intrusion into American politics, conservatives have turned a blind eye when Trump cozies up to dictators like Putin, ignores the concerns of U.S. intelligence agencies about Russian intrusion into U.S. elections, and takes no action against Russia for its bounties for the deaths of American soldiers in Afghanistan. According to Wikipedia, conservatism in the United States

*is a political and social philosophy characterized by respect for American traditions, republicanism, support for Christian values, moral universalism, pro-business, opposition to trade unions, strong national defense, free trade, anticommunism, pro-individualism, advocacy of American exceptionalism, and a defense of Western culture from the perceived threats posed by communism, socialism, and moral relativism [53].*

Current challenges to that vision from Trump and the GOP include: respect for American traditions has enshrined racism and white privilege; support for Christian values has come to mean a certain problematic version of Christianity (e.g., one that sees no problem with putting children in cages), and hostility to such genuine Christian values, such as helping the poor and needy, or hostility to the values of other religions, humanism, or atheism; moral universalism tends to reject the cultural differences of a pluralistic society; republicanism is devoted to oligarchy and moving to fascism, a non-representative form of government run by a single branch of government (the executive). The Republican party and the Justice Department have failed to implement any checks and balances on Trump and his administration. The supposedly pro-business policies promote a capitalist ideology on all institutions in civil society, which by its nature ignores or exploits the poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised (e.g., providing farm-labor immigrants with poor wages and work conditions). Much to the chagrin of many American farmers, Republicans have soured on free trade [54]. Instead of anti-communism (granted that Russia is strictly not communist anymore but totalitarian, but still an enemy of the United States in the traditional conservative view), Trump welcomes Putin and wants to put him in the G7, and Republican Senators Johnson and Grassley have become conduits of

**27**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

Russian propaganda for the reelection of Trump [55]. According to a Gallup poll, having a favorable view of Putin has more than doubled, from 12–32%, between 2015 and 2017 among Republicans [54]; in 2014, only 9% of Republicans though that Russia was a friend or ally, but in 2018, 23% did [54]. The party is no longer pro-individualism for anyone but primarily white, able-bodied, straight males. Public goods are derided, e.g., healthcare coverage for all or wearing a mask during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has twisted American exceptionalism such that, instead of seeking to be a moral leader in the world, America depends on its military dominance. As for the defense of Western culture from the perceived threats by communism, socialism, and moral relativism, Trump proclaimed in his reelection campaign that the election of his opposition will lead to all three, but he ignores the worst threat to America, whose source is him and his administration: creeping fascism, corruption, and the failure to adhere to the Constitution and the rule of law. Looking at the evolution or dissolution of conservatism, is there much left to conserve? Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute, the conservative thinktank, asserted that

Trump's presidency is marred with failure in conservative matters [5].

If Trump and his supporters do not listen to bonafide authorities in conservative circles, what authorities do they heed? [16]. We must understand something of the character of cognitive authorities to see what enables their emotional response to Trump. If disinformation and misinformation depend on self-deception, social self-deception, and collective self-deception; if adherents engage in psychological methods to facilitate that self-deception by making themselves willfully ignorant or avoiding information contrary to their beliefs; if they are gullible, and fall prey to various cognitive biases that enforce their beliefs, cognitive authorities are a major factor in allowing all of these mechanisms to come together. A cognitive authority is a source one turns to when one lacks experience, education, knowledge, time, or inclination to acquire direct information. A cognitive authority is a person, organization, media source, group, or leader whose information one takes as secondhand knowledge based on that entity's credibility, trustworthiness, and reliability. In his book on the subject, *Second-hand knowledge: An inquiry into cognitive authority*, information specialist Patrick Wilson [56] argues that cognitive authority is related to credibility, competence, and trustworthiness. In her article on the subject, Rieh [57] points out that trustworthiness is not equivalent to credibility because exper-

*Rather than having one clear definition, credibility has been defined along with dozens of other related concepts such as believability, trustworthiness, fairness, accuracy, trustfulness, factuality, completeness, precision, freedom from bias, objectivity, depth, and informativeness. Most credibility researchers agree that credibility assessment results from simultaneously evaluating multiple dimensions. Among these, two key dimensions are identified: trustworthiness and expertise. Trustworthiness is a core dimension in credibility assessment that captures the perceived goodness and morality of the source. The perception that a source is fair, unbiased, and truthful contributes to the trustworthiness of information. Trustworthiness is, however, not a synonym for credibility because people also must* 

*recognize expertise in order to deem information credible [57], p. 1337.*

"captures the perceived goodness and morality of the source." Rieh adds that

Credibility involves both trustworthiness and expertise. And trustworthiness

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

**7. Cognitive authorities**

tise is also required.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

Russian propaganda for the reelection of Trump [55]. According to a Gallup poll, having a favorable view of Putin has more than doubled, from 12–32%, between 2015 and 2017 among Republicans [54]; in 2014, only 9% of Republicans though that Russia was a friend or ally, but in 2018, 23% did [54]. The party is no longer pro-individualism for anyone but primarily white, able-bodied, straight males. Public goods are derided, e.g., healthcare coverage for all or wearing a mask during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has twisted American exceptionalism such that, instead of seeking to be a moral leader in the world, America depends on its military dominance. As for the defense of Western culture from the perceived threats by communism, socialism, and moral relativism, Trump proclaimed in his reelection campaign that the election of his opposition will lead to all three, but he ignores the worst threat to America, whose source is him and his administration: creeping fascism, corruption, and the failure to adhere to the Constitution and the rule of law. Looking at the evolution or dissolution of conservatism, is there much left to conserve? Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute, the conservative thinktank, asserted that Trump's presidency is marred with failure in conservative matters [5].

#### **7. Cognitive authorities**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

Trump supporters tend to label themselves as conservative, but they are not referring to things like fiscal responsibility. Under the Trump administration, the deficit soared, even before the economic demands of the pandemic. Government is somewhat limited, and badly executed under Trump, supporting a long-standing Republican belief that government is corrupt and wasteful by being corrupt and wasteful [52], except for the following instances (not all due to Trump but often the result of a conservative agenda) of intrusion: (1) into hiring or providing medical treatments of military transgender individuals (Trump instituted a ban on transgender individuals in the military in 2019) or other forms of discrimination against LGQBT+ individuals; (2) into the right to have an abortion (in their defense, antiabortionists claim that fetuses are individuals and have the right to life); (3) into the protection of companies with a particular religious viewpoint from having to serve all customers in the public sphere (e.g., the right of a cake baker to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission); and (4) into exemptions to the Affordable Care Act (In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. Hobby Lobby Stores argued that because its store was founded on specific religious principles, it should be excluded from the demands of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that companies provide access to contraception and the morning-after pill). While the latter two can be seen as an attempt for less government intrusion, they invite government intrusion to enforce them. Typically hostile to foreign powers' intrusion into American politics, conservatives have turned a blind eye when Trump cozies up to dictators like Putin, ignores the concerns of U.S. intelligence agencies about Russian intrusion into U.S. elections, and takes no action against Russia for its bounties for the deaths of American soldiers in Afghanistan. According to Wikipedia, conservatism in the United States

*is a political and social philosophy characterized by respect for American traditions, republicanism, support for Christian values, moral universalism, pro-business, opposition to trade unions, strong national defense, free trade, anticommunism, pro-individualism, advocacy of American exceptionalism, and a defense of Western culture from the perceived threats posed by communism,* 

Current challenges to that vision from Trump and the GOP include: respect for American traditions has enshrined racism and white privilege; support for Christian values has come to mean a certain problematic version of Christianity (e.g., one that sees no problem with putting children in cages), and hostility to such genuine Christian values, such as helping the poor and needy, or hostility to the values of other religions, humanism, or atheism; moral universalism tends to reject the cultural differences of a pluralistic society; republicanism is devoted to oligarchy and moving to fascism, a non-representative form of government run by a single branch of government (the executive). The Republican party and the Justice Department have failed to implement any checks and balances on Trump and his administration. The supposedly pro-business policies promote a capitalist ideology on all institutions in civil society, which by its nature ignores or exploits the poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised (e.g., providing farm-labor immigrants with poor wages and work conditions). Much to the chagrin of many American farmers, Republicans have soured on free trade [54]. Instead of anti-communism (granted that Russia is strictly not communist anymore but totalitarian, but still an enemy of the United States in the traditional conservative view), Trump welcomes Putin and wants to put him in the G7, and Republican Senators Johnson and Grassley have become conduits of

*socialism, and moral relativism [53].*

**6. Trump supporters and conservatism**

**26**

If Trump and his supporters do not listen to bonafide authorities in conservative circles, what authorities do they heed? [16]. We must understand something of the character of cognitive authorities to see what enables their emotional response to Trump. If disinformation and misinformation depend on self-deception, social self-deception, and collective self-deception; if adherents engage in psychological methods to facilitate that self-deception by making themselves willfully ignorant or avoiding information contrary to their beliefs; if they are gullible, and fall prey to various cognitive biases that enforce their beliefs, cognitive authorities are a major factor in allowing all of these mechanisms to come together. A cognitive authority is a source one turns to when one lacks experience, education, knowledge, time, or inclination to acquire direct information. A cognitive authority is a person, organization, media source, group, or leader whose information one takes as secondhand knowledge based on that entity's credibility, trustworthiness, and reliability. In his book on the subject, *Second-hand knowledge: An inquiry into cognitive authority*, information specialist Patrick Wilson [56] argues that cognitive authority is related to credibility, competence, and trustworthiness. In her article on the subject, Rieh [57] points out that trustworthiness is not equivalent to credibility because expertise is also required.

*Rather than having one clear definition, credibility has been defined along with dozens of other related concepts such as believability, trustworthiness, fairness, accuracy, trustfulness, factuality, completeness, precision, freedom from bias, objectivity, depth, and informativeness. Most credibility researchers agree that credibility assessment results from simultaneously evaluating multiple dimensions. Among these, two key dimensions are identified: trustworthiness and expertise. Trustworthiness is a core dimension in credibility assessment that captures the perceived goodness and morality of the source. The perception that a source is fair, unbiased, and truthful contributes to the trustworthiness of information. Trustworthiness is, however, not a synonym for credibility because people also must recognize expertise in order to deem information credible [57], p. 1337.*

Credibility involves both trustworthiness and expertise. And trustworthiness "captures the perceived goodness and morality of the source." Rieh adds that

"expertise is likewise an important factor given its close relationship to people's perceptions of a source's ability to provide information that is both accurate and valid" [57], p. 1337–1338. While the *Washington Post* and the *New York Times* are generally considered to have center-left bias, they are thought to be credible: they are trustworthy because they check their facts, try to be complete as possible in their reporting, and publish corrections when they make a mistake. They have expertise in newspaper reporting, and their reporters are clear and consistent in their assessments. Opinions are appropriately flagged as such. Readers generally believe in the "perceived goodness and morality of " these sources because of their long history of accurate and fair reporting, following good journalistic norms and practices.

#### **8.** *Fox News*

Viewers of *Fox News* also believe that their source is credible; that is, its reporters and commentators are trustworthy and have expertise. They believe that the news reported is trustworthy, fair, objective (lacking in liberal bias), accurate, factual, complete, precise, in-depth, and informative. They assume that views articulated on *Fox News* are good and moral. *Fox News* claims that other national media are biased, and their viewers agree that they are the only genuine cognitive authorities [39, 58] (along with some other media, among which *Fox News* plays a dominant role). All others produce "fake news."

In reality, *Fox News* is a false cognitive authority. It produces almost exclusively misinformation and disinformation on a daily basis [59]. While they like to claim that their programming during the day is exclusively unbiased news, they omit facts that do not fit their preconceived narrative. For example, during the coronavirus epidemic they have been consistently omitting references to Trump's failures, his lack of a national plan, and his disregard of the pandemic preparation that existed under the Obama administration. All information that comes from newswires (e.g., Reuters, Associated Press [AP], and selected adverse content), scientists, experts, opposition politicians, and other national news networks that provide a contrary narrative are ignored, omitted, rejected, or challenged. One of their core techniques is paltering, taking parts of a story and making it a complete narrative. For example, when President Trump's tax records were revealed, showing that he paid only \$750 each in the first two years of his presidency and none for the previous ten years because he claimed losses in his businesses. By rational standards it portrays what a poor businessman he is [60], and yet *Fox News* focused on how clever he was because he paid so little in taxes.

It would be helpful to understand the relationship of news consumers and their loyalty to sources because one can argue that source loyalty is a measure of its cognitive authority, that what they are reporting is a source of secondhand "knowledge" for them. The Pew Research Center did a survey on "The Modern News Consumer" in 2016 [61]. They found that, despite digital advances, most Americans still share news by word of mouth. Older Americans tend to use the same sources for news, and they prefer TV to other sources, such as print sources. Younger people are less enthusiastic about news, and most get their news online. Democrats are more trusting of national news media than Republicans. Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans are more likely to get one-sided news from family and friends than news sources. Conservative Republicans are more likely than liberal Democrats to say that they are content to get one-sided news from family and friends [61].

Loyalty to a news source is a measure of consumers' sense of credibility and trustworthiness. The fact that Republicans are comfortable getting one-sided news

**29**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

outlets [Such as Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones.]

more likely to be white than U.S. adults overall.

President Donald Trump [62].

*Fox News* to influence its consumers.

and the fact that most news consumers still share news by word of mouth features reinforce certain aspects of the disinformation ecology that *Fox News* generates, sustains, and inflames. Just as other news consumers spread the word to relatives and friends, so too do *Fox News* consumers, but it may be tinged with more emo-

A study Pew undertook in the fall of 2019 gives a more up-to-date understand-

1.Around four-in-ten Americans trust *Fox News*. Nearly the same share distrust it.

2.Republicans [(2/3) and Republican-leaning independents (65%)] trust *Fox News* more than any other outlet. Democrats distrust it more than any other

3.On an ideological scale, the average *Fox News* consumer is to the right of the average U.S. adult, but not as far to the right as the audiences of some other

4.People who cite *Fox News* as their main source of political news are older and

b.Around nine-in-ten who turn to *Fox News* (87%) identify their race and ethnicity as non-Hispanic white, compared with 65% of all adults.

5.Those who name *Fox News* as their main source of political news stand out from the general public in their views on key issues and people, including

The survey also indicated that on a scale of warmth, just a quarter of U.S. adults gave Trump a rating between 76 and 100 (100 being the warmest). So, despite his general apparent lack of warmth, he still receives high approval ratings [62]. On the other hand, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a very cold rating (between 0 and 24)

People who get their news from outlets other than *Fox News* generally said, even as early as March 2020, that Trump was not responding to the COVID-19 pandemic well, but 63% of *Fox News* viewers said that Trump was doing an "excellent job" responding to the outbreak [62]. *Fox News* viewership was more predictive than party affiliation; as Pew noted, "*Fox News* regulars were considerably more likely than Republicans overall to describe Trump's handling of the outbreak as excellent (63% vs. 47%)" [62]. These observations serve to show the extent of the power of

Their viewers rejection of every other major news source, pandemic experts, medical institutions, scientists, and critical thinking individuals is remarkable. *Fox News* viewers see it as a cognitive authority with all the apparent trappings of such an authority: credibility, trustworthiness, expertise, and so on. Yet PolitiFact (https://www.politifact.com/), which is devoted to evaluating the truth value of political utterances, estimates that of the statements "made on air by Fox, *Fox News* and Fox Business personalities and their pundit guests: 10% are true, 12% mostly true, 19% half-true, 21% mostly false, 29% false and 9% pants-on-fire false" [63]. In other words, 78% of the statements on the air

by those who used *Fox News* as their main source of political news [62].

a.Americans ages 65 and older account for around four-in-ten of those who say their main source is *Fox News* (37%), compared with 21% of all adults.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

ing of *Fox News* viewers. It concluded:

tional content.

outlet.

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

"expertise is likewise an important factor given its close relationship to people's perceptions of a source's ability to provide information that is both accurate and valid" [57], p. 1337–1338. While the *Washington Post* and the *New York Times* are generally considered to have center-left bias, they are thought to be credible: they are trustworthy because they check their facts, try to be complete as possible in their reporting, and publish corrections when they make a mistake. They have expertise in newspaper reporting, and their reporters are clear and consistent in their assessments. Opinions are appropriately flagged as such. Readers generally believe in the "perceived goodness and morality of " these sources because of their long history of accurate and fair reporting, following good journalistic norms and

Viewers of *Fox News* also believe that their source is credible; that is, its reporters and commentators are trustworthy and have expertise. They believe that the news reported is trustworthy, fair, objective (lacking in liberal bias), accurate, factual, complete, precise, in-depth, and informative. They assume that views articulated on *Fox News* are good and moral. *Fox News* claims that other national media are biased, and their viewers agree that they are the only genuine cognitive authorities [39, 58] (along with some other media, among which *Fox News* plays a dominant

In reality, *Fox News* is a false cognitive authority. It produces almost exclusively misinformation and disinformation on a daily basis [59]. While they like to claim that their programming during the day is exclusively unbiased news, they omit facts that do not fit their preconceived narrative. For example, during the coronavirus epidemic they have been consistently omitting references to Trump's failures, his lack of a national plan, and his disregard of the pandemic preparation that existed under the Obama administration. All information that comes from newswires (e.g., Reuters, Associated Press [AP], and selected adverse content), scientists, experts, opposition politicians, and other national news networks that provide a contrary narrative are ignored, omitted, rejected, or challenged. One of their core techniques is paltering, taking parts of a story and making it a complete narrative. For example, when President Trump's tax records were revealed, showing that he paid only \$750 each in the first two years of his presidency and none for the previous ten years because he claimed losses in his businesses. By rational standards it portrays what a poor businessman he is [60], and yet *Fox News* focused on how clever he was

It would be helpful to understand the relationship of news consumers and their loyalty to sources because one can argue that source loyalty is a measure of its cognitive authority, that what they are reporting is a source of secondhand "knowledge" for them. The Pew Research Center did a survey on "The Modern News Consumer" in 2016 [61]. They found that, despite digital advances, most Americans still share news by word of mouth. Older Americans tend to use the same sources for news, and they prefer TV to other sources, such as print sources. Younger people are less enthusiastic about news, and most get their news online. Democrats are more trusting of national news media than Republicans. Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans are more likely to get one-sided news from family and friends than news sources. Conservative Republicans are more likely than liberal Democrats to say that they are content to get one-sided news from family and friends [61]. Loyalty to a news source is a measure of consumers' sense of credibility and trustworthiness. The fact that Republicans are comfortable getting one-sided news

**28**

practices.

**8.** *Fox News*

role). All others produce "fake news."

because he paid so little in taxes.

and the fact that most news consumers still share news by word of mouth features reinforce certain aspects of the disinformation ecology that *Fox News* generates, sustains, and inflames. Just as other news consumers spread the word to relatives and friends, so too do *Fox News* consumers, but it may be tinged with more emotional content.

A study Pew undertook in the fall of 2019 gives a more up-to-date understanding of *Fox News* viewers. It concluded:

	- a.Americans ages 65 and older account for around four-in-ten of those who say their main source is *Fox News* (37%), compared with 21% of all adults.
	- b.Around nine-in-ten who turn to *Fox News* (87%) identify their race and ethnicity as non-Hispanic white, compared with 65% of all adults.

The survey also indicated that on a scale of warmth, just a quarter of U.S. adults gave Trump a rating between 76 and 100 (100 being the warmest). So, despite his general apparent lack of warmth, he still receives high approval ratings [62]. On the other hand, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a very cold rating (between 0 and 24) by those who used *Fox News* as their main source of political news [62].

People who get their news from outlets other than *Fox News* generally said, even as early as March 2020, that Trump was not responding to the COVID-19 pandemic well, but 63% of *Fox News* viewers said that Trump was doing an "excellent job" responding to the outbreak [62]. *Fox News* viewership was more predictive than party affiliation; as Pew noted, "*Fox News* regulars were considerably more likely than Republicans overall to describe Trump's handling of the outbreak as excellent (63% vs. 47%)" [62]. These observations serve to show the extent of the power of *Fox News* to influence its consumers.

Their viewers rejection of every other major news source, pandemic experts, medical institutions, scientists, and critical thinking individuals is remarkable. *Fox News* viewers see it as a cognitive authority with all the apparent trappings of such an authority: credibility, trustworthiness, expertise, and so on. Yet PolitiFact (https://www.politifact.com/), which is devoted to evaluating the truth value of political utterances, estimates that of the statements "made on air by Fox, *Fox News* and Fox Business personalities and their pundit guests: 10% are true, 12% mostly true, 19% half-true, 21% mostly false, 29% false and 9% pants-on-fire false" [63]. In other words, 78% of the statements on the air

are dubious at best. (A limitation of this assessment is that PolitiFact does not provide a time range for these data).

When we speak of *Fox News* as one entity, we must clarify what we mean by the collective notion of *Fox News* (an overall assessment that comes to mind when we think about *Fox News*). *Fox News* is composed of regular hosts like Steve Doocey and Brian Kilmeade and pundits like Sean Hannity, Jeanne Pirro, and Tucker Carlson, who are more overt in stoking the flames of grievances and resentments. While there are some rational observers in *Fox News*, like Chris Wallace, the overall policy is to defend Trump and praise an unrestrained capitalism and get-rich-entrepreneurs. While Steve Doocey does not fan the flames of grievance as does Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity, their silence on the many outrages of Trump reflect an overall view of biased support of the president and right-wing ideology.

*Fox News* is essentially an apologist for a right-wing ideology (with a belief in unrestrained capitalism and an evolving notion of conservatism noted above), the Republican party, and President Trump and his administration. *Fox News* almost never criticizes the president, his actions or that of his administration, and they put a positive spin on all of his actions, even his failure to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than exposing him as an incompetent leader with no national plan, they pretend that he did the best that he could with an unfortunate pandemic. They echo his misinformation and denigrate the experts whom he has disagreed. They joined him in regarding the pandemic as an economic crisis and a culture war rather than a public health emergency. They not only challenged sound medical advice but denigrated those who disagreed with them. Trump spends a lot of time watching *Fox News* (it constitutes a major part of his "Executive Time"; [39], p. 23). He listens to *Fox News* pundits such as Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, or Jeanine Pirro on their programs, does exclusive interviews with them, and talks to them privately and frequently takes advice from them. These pundits are so influential that he has made tweets, policy decisions, or taken other executive actions (e.g., pardons) based on his interactions with them. He threatened North Korea because a segment on *Fox News* addressed Kim Jong-Un's nuclear capability [39], p. 23. Many of his presidential pardons occurred because of *Fox News*, and many of the errors of fact in his tweets or briefings were directly due to poor or manufactured reporting on *Fox News* [39], p. 23–24. Other fictions that Fox New created and which Trump embraced, according to reporter Brian Stelter's book on the Trump Administration, *Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and The Dangerous Distortion of Truth* [39], included that a caravan of criminals and terrorists was marching north to invade America [39], p. 210; that a DNC staffer, Seth Rich, was murdered for leaking emails [39], p. 150; that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the election (originated on a Sean Hannity show, [39], p. 24, and that the coronavirus was only as dangerous as the seasonal flu [39] p. 295.

A survey of some of the narratives the Fox pundits have "reported" show how *Fox News* systematically has portrayed misleading or false narratives about the president and his success as a leader or has denigrated his opponents. Lou Dobbs headlined and effused in his praise of Trump's being nominated for a "Noble" (an error for "Nobel" in the *Fox News* chyron [64] that is indicative of common carelessness in *Fox News*' attention to details) Peace Prize. What Dobbs did not mention was that anyone can be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and that the nominator was a far-right Norwegian who frequently took anti-immigration and anti-Islamic positions [65]. It is another instance of paltering that is too common of *Fox News*. When 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two peaceful protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tucker Carlson defended his actions claiming that his "killings had to maintain order when no one else would." He neglected to explain the context of the murders, the background of the assailant (a high school dropout who identified

**31**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

that she be fired [73]. In this case, *Fox News* did not comply.

variety of their cognitive biases come into play.

with white supremacists), the posture of the police in ignoring his behavior when protestors shouted that he had killed two protestors, and that despite some property damage, 95% of the protesters are peaceful [66]. On July 21, 2020, Sean Hannity asserted, "The Trump administration has had 'zero unfulfilled equipment and supply requests from state governors.'" Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, referring to phone call he had with 48 governors, disputed the claim [67]. With regard to "the real COVID record," Laura Ingraham claimed on August 3, 2020, "The constant belittling of the administration's efforts, it's deeply unfair and it's almost entirely political." She further asserted that the "the biggest lie peddled by the left" was that the "the president doesn't take the pandemic seriously" [68]. Granted that she did not know at the time that Trump lied about his knowledge of the potential severity of the coronavirus [69], it is the consensus of medical experts, epidemiologists, and public health experts that his response was not only lacking, by providing no federal leadership, but incompetent and deceitful [70]. These are the kinds of stories that *Fox News* viewers are being told, day in and day out.

Beyond these examples, a report in the *Los Angeles Times* found that on the rare occasions when Trump gets upset with *Fox News*, he sometimes calls its right-wing competitor OAN during his briefings instead of Fox. Because of Trump's demand for absolute loyalty, it is a not-so-covert signal for Fox to realign their commitment [71]. When a *Fox News* security correspondent, Jennifer Griffin, supported *The Atlantic's report* [72] that Trump called soldiers "suckers" and "losers," he demanded

Contrary to good journalistic practice, *Fox News* is inconsistent. As Eric Zorn's report in the *Chicago Tribune*, "The Foolish Inconsistency of the *Fox News* Propaganda Machine" [74] notes, it is not unusual for *Fox News* to make a claim one day and make an opposite claim the next day, often echoing the conflicting views of Donald Trump. Good news sources like the *Washington Post* will admit errors and retract them when they occur. *Fox News* virtually never makes such acknowledgements. They seem to expect that their viewers will not remember any inconsistencies, and indeed all signs indicate they are right to expect it, especially because a

Apart from their need to be a major player in influencing Republican and conservative opinion, another of the major motives for *Fox News*'s propaganda machine is making money. *Fox News* makes nearly \$2 billion a year, and they can make high demands for advertising and fees. They enjoy making money from Trump's loyal supporters [39], p. 20. Inciting viewers to feed their biases keeps the money tree growing. Yet despite this huge benefit and despite the public appearance that *Fox News* is 100% behind Trump, not all staff and commentators support him. Behind his back, they make fun of him and acknowledge shock at the illegal suggestions of some of his tweets or comments (such as suggesting to his supporters to vote twice [75]). Stelter [39] says that one of the *Fox News* stars told him, "Trump is like Fox's Frankenstein. They helped make him and he's out of control" [39], p. 314. Sean Hannity, arguably the most influential commentator on *Fox News*, called Trump "batshit crazy" [39], p. 10, in private. Regardless of topic, *Fox News* commentators are supposed to stoke rage and push the emotional buttons of their viewers. Tobin Smith, a former *Fox News* commentator, suggests that their programming fosters an addictive and resentment-based process to:

1.Understand the elderly white conservative viewer's pre-tribal mindset, which is a compilation of their resentments, indignations, cultural values, religious values, political values, racial perspectives, regional outlooks, and worldviews.

2.Scare or outrage the crap out of viewers by boring down on a recently exposed tribal nerve like a psychic dentist with a drill, presenting hearsay or an innately

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

overall view of biased support of the president and right-wing ideology.

that the coronavirus was only as dangerous as the seasonal flu [39] p. 295.

A survey of some of the narratives the Fox pundits have "reported" show how *Fox News* systematically has portrayed misleading or false narratives about the president and his success as a leader or has denigrated his opponents. Lou Dobbs headlined and effused in his praise of Trump's being nominated for a "Noble" (an error for "Nobel" in the *Fox News* chyron [64] that is indicative of common carelessness in *Fox News*' attention to details) Peace Prize. What Dobbs did not mention was that anyone can be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and that the nominator was a far-right Norwegian who frequently took anti-immigration and anti-Islamic positions [65]. It is another instance of paltering that is too common of *Fox News*. When 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two peaceful protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tucker Carlson defended his actions claiming that his "killings had to maintain order when no one else would." He neglected to explain the context of the murders, the background of the assailant (a high school dropout who identified

*Fox News* is essentially an apologist for a right-wing ideology (with a belief in unrestrained capitalism and an evolving notion of conservatism noted above), the Republican party, and President Trump and his administration. *Fox News* almost never criticizes the president, his actions or that of his administration, and they put a positive spin on all of his actions, even his failure to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than exposing him as an incompetent leader with no national plan, they pretend that he did the best that he could with an unfortunate pandemic. They echo his misinformation and denigrate the experts whom he has disagreed. They joined him in regarding the pandemic as an economic crisis and a culture war rather than a public health emergency. They not only challenged sound medical advice but denigrated those who disagreed with them. Trump spends a lot of time watching *Fox News* (it constitutes a major part of his "Executive Time"; [39], p. 23). He listens to *Fox News* pundits such as Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, or Jeanine Pirro on their programs, does exclusive interviews with them, and talks to them privately and frequently takes advice from them. These pundits are so influential that he has made tweets, policy decisions, or taken other executive actions (e.g., pardons) based on his interactions with them. He threatened North Korea because a segment on *Fox News* addressed Kim Jong-Un's nuclear capability [39], p. 23. Many of his presidential pardons occurred because of *Fox News*, and many of the errors of fact in his tweets or briefings were directly due to poor or manufactured reporting on *Fox News* [39], p. 23–24. Other fictions that Fox New created and which Trump embraced, according to reporter Brian Stelter's book on the Trump Administration, *Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and The Dangerous Distortion of Truth* [39], included that a caravan of criminals and terrorists was marching north to invade America [39], p. 210; that a DNC staffer, Seth Rich, was murdered for leaking emails [39], p. 150; that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the election (originated on a Sean Hannity show, [39], p. 24, and

provide a time range for these data).

are dubious at best. (A limitation of this assessment is that PolitiFact does not

When we speak of *Fox News* as one entity, we must clarify what we mean by the collective notion of *Fox News* (an overall assessment that comes to mind when we think about *Fox News*). *Fox News* is composed of regular hosts like Steve Doocey and Brian Kilmeade and pundits like Sean Hannity, Jeanne Pirro, and Tucker Carlson, who are more overt in stoking the flames of grievances and resentments. While there are some rational observers in *Fox News*, like Chris Wallace, the overall policy is to defend Trump and praise an unrestrained capitalism and get-rich-entrepreneurs. While Steve Doocey does not fan the flames of grievance as does Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity, their silence on the many outrages of Trump reflect an

**30**

with white supremacists), the posture of the police in ignoring his behavior when protestors shouted that he had killed two protestors, and that despite some property damage, 95% of the protesters are peaceful [66]. On July 21, 2020, Sean Hannity asserted, "The Trump administration has had 'zero unfulfilled equipment and supply requests from state governors.'" Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, referring to phone call he had with 48 governors, disputed the claim [67]. With regard to "the real COVID record," Laura Ingraham claimed on August 3, 2020, "The constant belittling of the administration's efforts, it's deeply unfair and it's almost entirely political." She further asserted that the "the biggest lie peddled by the left" was that the "the president doesn't take the pandemic seriously" [68]. Granted that she did not know at the time that Trump lied about his knowledge of the potential severity of the coronavirus [69], it is the consensus of medical experts, epidemiologists, and public health experts that his response was not only lacking, by providing no federal leadership, but incompetent and deceitful [70]. These are the kinds of stories that *Fox News* viewers are being told, day in and day out.

Beyond these examples, a report in the *Los Angeles Times* found that on the rare occasions when Trump gets upset with *Fox News*, he sometimes calls its right-wing competitor OAN during his briefings instead of Fox. Because of Trump's demand for absolute loyalty, it is a not-so-covert signal for Fox to realign their commitment [71]. When a *Fox News* security correspondent, Jennifer Griffin, supported *The Atlantic's report* [72] that Trump called soldiers "suckers" and "losers," he demanded that she be fired [73]. In this case, *Fox News* did not comply.

Contrary to good journalistic practice, *Fox News* is inconsistent. As Eric Zorn's report in the *Chicago Tribune*, "The Foolish Inconsistency of the *Fox News* Propaganda Machine" [74] notes, it is not unusual for *Fox News* to make a claim one day and make an opposite claim the next day, often echoing the conflicting views of Donald Trump. Good news sources like the *Washington Post* will admit errors and retract them when they occur. *Fox News* virtually never makes such acknowledgements. They seem to expect that their viewers will not remember any inconsistencies, and indeed all signs indicate they are right to expect it, especially because a variety of their cognitive biases come into play.

Apart from their need to be a major player in influencing Republican and conservative opinion, another of the major motives for *Fox News*'s propaganda machine is making money. *Fox News* makes nearly \$2 billion a year, and they can make high demands for advertising and fees. They enjoy making money from Trump's loyal supporters [39], p. 20. Inciting viewers to feed their biases keeps the money tree growing. Yet despite this huge benefit and despite the public appearance that *Fox News* is 100% behind Trump, not all staff and commentators support him. Behind his back, they make fun of him and acknowledge shock at the illegal suggestions of some of his tweets or comments (such as suggesting to his supporters to vote twice [75]). Stelter [39] says that one of the *Fox News* stars told him, "Trump is like Fox's Frankenstein. They helped make him and he's out of control" [39], p. 314. Sean Hannity, arguably the most influential commentator on *Fox News*, called Trump "batshit crazy" [39], p. 10, in private.

Regardless of topic, *Fox News* commentators are supposed to stoke rage and push the emotional buttons of their viewers. Tobin Smith, a former *Fox News* commentator, suggests that their programming fosters an addictive and resentment-based process to:


scary image of non-white/non-Christian foreigners, immigrants, or terrorists doing horrible things.


In other words, Smith argues that *Fox News* programming fosters an addictive process, based in addictive anger and resentment, that is played and replayed over and over again, and validated by a chosen-in-bad-faith, restrictive environment (i.e., their filter bubble) in which *Fox News* viewers live and dwell (i.e., peers, friends, political associates, religious affiliates, social media sources, etc., that reinforce their confirmation biases). Undoubtedly, left-wing news adherents experience a similar addiction that is also based in anger and resentment. The source of their bias may be anger and a concern for the truth and a belief in professional standards for reporting in the political sphere, not to mention that their views may be sourced in and verifiable in evidence, facts, or long-standing Supreme Court rulings like Roe v. Wade. This is frequently not the case in *Fox News*: rather than offering and verifying facts they create genuine fake news to reinforce their narrative. According to Eric Wemple, the influence of *Fox News* cannot be underestimated:

*There's simply no outlet that dominates any other part of the political spectrum in the way Fox News dominates the right. With that dominance, Fox News has done great damage. It's not as if Fox News's influence extends to only however many millions may be viewing in prime time. There's what experts call a "media ecosystem" out there, where people take nonsense uttered on Fox News, then share it on Twitter, on Facebook, with their neighbor. Nonsense has a high pass around rate [76].*

The dominance of *Fox News* recalls the dominance of government-controlled news in authoritarian countries, from the Third Reich to modern-day Russia and China. In other countries control is through some government-run propaganda agency, but in Trump's world, the enslavement to one's biases is self-imposed by fostering addiction and inflating biases or resentments. *Fox News* viewers have no desire to escape it (nor right-wing social media sites), as its system of selfreinforcing self-deception—individual, social, and collective—is more robust than past generators of propaganda could ever conceive. Tobin Smith, refers to the consumption of *Fox News* as addiction to "tribal identity porn," based on cultural and political resentments that "trigger feelings of hate, anger and outrage—the addictive trifecta of tribal partisan pornography" [58], p. 459.

While we have been using an addiction metaphor, following Tobin Smith, Devon Price makes the point that *Fox News* viewers and embracers of other rightwing media are not being passively manipulated, but cooperate in their own transformations.

*The truth is, our Republican and right-leaning relatives are active parties in their own transformations. They chose to drink from the well of misinformation and hate on a regular basis. They decided to shut out critical discussion. They carried their viewpoints to the polls. They made our world a worse place. And we have a responsibility to take them to task for it [77].*

**33**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

In such a way, they are addicted but the source of their original addiction was a willingness to fall prey to their biases and self-deception, allowing it to be fostered into social and collective self-deception, which in turn reinforce their original

*Fox News* claims to base its stories on evidence and facts. At best, when they actually use facts, their interpretation of these facts is often distorted, manipulated, misleading, or missing. It claims to the trustworthy—it is only trustworthy in that it reinforces and stokes bias. It claims to have journalistic integrity. It is not journalistic integrity when you make the narrative about the facts or the omission of facts fit your political bias or when you originate a narrative based on a conspiracy theory of a radical right-wing social media site [78], p. 14. It claims to have expertise, but its expertise is sophistry, because they are interested in political power and influence and economic rewards. The repetition of Fox's messages through social media and other personal interactions reinforces and socializes the self-deception. Fox relies for its authority on a self-reinforcing dialectical process where each part reinforces the other and rejects discordant information. The result is Fox's robust approval rating at 43% and a steady 63% among Republicans and Republican leaning inde-

To summarize how *Fox News* becomes, maintains, perpetuates, and builds its

It starts with a maelstrom of grievances, resentments, a sense of invisibility or a lack of importance in its viewers, where the wider culture often challenges many of

*Fox News* then tells those viewers what they want to hear, consciously or unconsciously, which are claims that support and fulfill their biases and real, instilled, or professed ideology. For example, they may think of themselves as conservatives, without having much depth about its meaning. *Fox News* will then shape and enlarge that image with anti-liberal, anti-labor, pro-sham-patriotic, pro-business,

pro-average-joe narratives (as inconsistent as these narratives might be).

legion, not to say they are true, only that they work.

These messages are myths, tropes, and narratives often detailed during the shows of their various pundits. They include persistent myths about Antifa conspiracies, fast fixes, or lies about the coronavirus epidemic or the extraordinary leadership of Trump. They echo the view that God rewards those who work hard and other variations of the Protestant work ethic or prosperity gospel (and that social structure plays no role in economic stability or success, including the stigmatization of poverty). Jesus was white, capitalism is God's way, and Christians are being persecuted. At the same time, Fox claims that immigrants are taking jobs and jobs are being exported abroad. It presents white privilege as the natural way of things and racism as a thing of the past. Kneeling during the national anthem is an insult to the flag or the country. It satirizes the mass media as pushing values that are un-American. It claims Jews have assumed positions of power and money they do not deserve, and that restrictions on gun ownership are an assault on basic human rights and the Constitution. It mirrors and accentuates the lies on radical right-wing websites, such as Breitbart [78], p. 14. The emotional triggers that it fosters are

One engages in "motivated reasoning," especially when the topic at hand is something that we care about. It is the effect of emotions that we associate with a given topic at a primal level. It is not really reasoning but rationalization, making our arguments fit a pre-determined end. Not only does it involve a confirmation bias but also a "disconfirmation bias" "in which we expend disproportionate energy trying to debunk or refute views and arguments that we find uncongenial" [79]. When they grab onto what appears to be scientific evidence that supports their bias, they pounce on it. Mooney asserts: "Scientific evidence is highly susceptible to

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

self-deception.

pendents [62].

their core values.

reputation of a cognitive authority:

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

doing horrible things.

scary image of non-white/non-Christian foreigners, immigrants, or terrorists

3.Produce each seven-minute rigged outcome opinion-debate segment around the carefully selected partisan hearsay such that the "fair and balanced" debate

4.Deliver the climactic and righteous rhetorical victory for the partisan rightwing viewer to trigger the jolt of dopamine and serotonin that the addict

In other words, Smith argues that *Fox News* programming fosters an addictive process, based in addictive anger and resentment, that is played and replayed over and over again, and validated by a chosen-in-bad-faith, restrictive environment (i.e., their filter bubble) in which *Fox News* viewers live and dwell (i.e., peers, friends, political associates, religious affiliates, social media sources, etc., that reinforce their confirmation biases). Undoubtedly, left-wing news adherents experience a similar addiction that is also based in anger and resentment. The source of their bias may be anger and a concern for the truth and a belief in professional standards for reporting in the political sphere, not to mention that their views may be sourced in and verifiable in evidence, facts, or long-standing Supreme Court rulings like Roe v. Wade. This is frequently not the case in *Fox News*: rather than offering and verifying facts they create genuine fake news to reinforce their narrative. According

is massively rigged for the conservative pundits on the program to. . .

anticipated and knew was coming [58], pp. 485–486.

to Eric Wemple, the influence of *Fox News* cannot be underestimated:

addictive trifecta of tribal partisan pornography" [58], p. 459.

*responsibility to take them to task for it [77].*

*There's simply no outlet that dominates any other part of the political spectrum in the way Fox News dominates the right. With that dominance, Fox News has done great damage. It's not as if Fox News's influence extends to only however many millions may be viewing in prime time. There's what experts call a "media ecosystem" out there, where people take nonsense uttered on Fox News, then share it on Twitter, on Facebook, with their neighbor. Nonsense has a high pass around rate [76].*

The dominance of *Fox News* recalls the dominance of government-controlled news in authoritarian countries, from the Third Reich to modern-day Russia and China. In other countries control is through some government-run propaganda agency, but in Trump's world, the enslavement to one's biases is self-imposed by fostering addiction and inflating biases or resentments. *Fox News* viewers have no desire to escape it (nor right-wing social media sites), as its system of selfreinforcing self-deception—individual, social, and collective—is more robust than past generators of propaganda could ever conceive. Tobin Smith, refers to the consumption of *Fox News* as addiction to "tribal identity porn," based on cultural and political resentments that "trigger feelings of hate, anger and outrage—the

While we have been using an addiction metaphor, following Tobin Smith, Devon Price makes the point that *Fox News* viewers and embracers of other rightwing media are not being passively manipulated, but cooperate in their own

*The truth is, our Republican and right-leaning relatives are active parties in their own transformations. They chose to drink from the well of misinformation and hate on a regular basis. They decided to shut out critical discussion. They carried their viewpoints to the polls. They made our world a worse place. And we have a* 

**32**

transformations.

In such a way, they are addicted but the source of their original addiction was a willingness to fall prey to their biases and self-deception, allowing it to be fostered into social and collective self-deception, which in turn reinforce their original self-deception.

*Fox News* claims to base its stories on evidence and facts. At best, when they actually use facts, their interpretation of these facts is often distorted, manipulated, misleading, or missing. It claims to the trustworthy—it is only trustworthy in that it reinforces and stokes bias. It claims to have journalistic integrity. It is not journalistic integrity when you make the narrative about the facts or the omission of facts fit your political bias or when you originate a narrative based on a conspiracy theory of a radical right-wing social media site [78], p. 14. It claims to have expertise, but its expertise is sophistry, because they are interested in political power and influence and economic rewards. The repetition of Fox's messages through social media and other personal interactions reinforces and socializes the self-deception. Fox relies for its authority on a self-reinforcing dialectical process where each part reinforces the other and rejects discordant information. The result is Fox's robust approval rating at 43% and a steady 63% among Republicans and Republican leaning independents [62].

To summarize how *Fox News* becomes, maintains, perpetuates, and builds its reputation of a cognitive authority:

It starts with a maelstrom of grievances, resentments, a sense of invisibility or a lack of importance in its viewers, where the wider culture often challenges many of their core values.

*Fox News* then tells those viewers what they want to hear, consciously or unconsciously, which are claims that support and fulfill their biases and real, instilled, or professed ideology. For example, they may think of themselves as conservatives, without having much depth about its meaning. *Fox News* will then shape and enlarge that image with anti-liberal, anti-labor, pro-sham-patriotic, pro-business, pro-average-joe narratives (as inconsistent as these narratives might be).

These messages are myths, tropes, and narratives often detailed during the shows of their various pundits. They include persistent myths about Antifa conspiracies, fast fixes, or lies about the coronavirus epidemic or the extraordinary leadership of Trump. They echo the view that God rewards those who work hard and other variations of the Protestant work ethic or prosperity gospel (and that social structure plays no role in economic stability or success, including the stigmatization of poverty). Jesus was white, capitalism is God's way, and Christians are being persecuted. At the same time, Fox claims that immigrants are taking jobs and jobs are being exported abroad. It presents white privilege as the natural way of things and racism as a thing of the past. Kneeling during the national anthem is an insult to the flag or the country. It satirizes the mass media as pushing values that are un-American. It claims Jews have assumed positions of power and money they do not deserve, and that restrictions on gun ownership are an assault on basic human rights and the Constitution. It mirrors and accentuates the lies on radical right-wing websites, such as Breitbart [78], p. 14. The emotional triggers that it fosters are legion, not to say they are true, only that they work.

One engages in "motivated reasoning," especially when the topic at hand is something that we care about. It is the effect of emotions that we associate with a given topic at a primal level. It is not really reasoning but rationalization, making our arguments fit a pre-determined end. Not only does it involve a confirmation bias but also a "disconfirmation bias" "in which we expend disproportionate energy trying to debunk or refute views and arguments that we find uncongenial" [79]. When they grab onto what appears to be scientific evidence that supports their bias, they pounce on it. Mooney asserts: "Scientific evidence is highly susceptible to misinterpretation. Giving ideologues scientific data that's relevant to their beliefs is like unleashing them in the motivated reasoning equivalent of a candy store" [79]. Mooney anticipated much of the conflicting and inaccurate positions that Trump supporters took in dealing with the coronavirus. Such narratives support their selfdeception and their social self-deception.

These arguments from motivated reasoning or memes, myth, tropes, and narratives are reinforced and repeated throughout the disinformation-misinformation ecosystem to the point of addiction, where viewers' self-deception dialectically reinforces and is reinforced by the social and collective self-deception of others and selective events in the disinformation-misinformation ecosystem. This disinformation-misinformation ecosystem is a filter bubble or "propaganda feedback loop" [78], p. 33. Morrison [80] suggests that right-wing media keep over a quarter of Americans siloed in this "propaganda feedback loop."

Fox provokes fear, moral outrage, and self-righteousness. Megan Garber of *The Atlantic* observes:

*Fox has two pronouns, you and they, and one tone: indignation. (You are under attack; they are the attackers.) Its grammar is grievance. Its effect is totalizing. Over time, if you watch enough Fox & Friends or The Five or Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham, you will come to understand, as a matter of synaptic impulse, that immigrants are invading and the mob is coming and the news is lying and Trump alone can fix it. [81]*

Because of this relentless moral outrage, viewers are prone to believe irrational or unfounded claims or assertions, and to regard all other venues as fake news. This moral outrage is reflected in the actions of the viewers, which are then taken into the market place, such as the refusal to wear masks for the coronavirus pandemic or to call the police on any Black person they think is threatening them.

Misinformation and the authorization and propagation of misinformation causes mortal damage, including the thousands of deaths by the coronavirus. Public intellectual Eugene Jarecki's Trump Death Clock (https://trumpdeathclock.com/) in New York City's Times Square, calculates that Trump's incompetence, mismanagement, and misinformation has caused 60% of American deaths from COVID-19, some 115,419 as of September 13, 2020.

*Fox News* plays a major role as a cognitive authority in the disinformationmisinformation ecology. It is not that it is the only one—there is OAN, Sinclair Broadcasting, and radio programs (like InfoWars) that play the same role, but to a lesser degree. The focus of this paper is on right-wing sources and the powerful influence of *Fox News* and similar cognitive authorities. One might object that the same approach is characteristic of the left-wing media. But that claim is built on the idea of false equivalences, that the left-wing and right-wing have different opinions but that these opinions are of equal weight. This is not the case. Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts published *Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics*, which shows quite the opposite. By doing a rigorous analysis of online stories, tweets, and Facebook-shares data points, the authors conclude that "something very different was happening in right-wing media than in centrist, center-left and left-wing media" [78], p. 14. They observe that.

*the behavior of the right-wing media ecosystem represents a radicalization of roughly a third of the American media system. We use the term "radicalization" advisedly in two senses. First, to speak of "polarization" is to assume symmetry. No fact emerges more clearly from our analysis of how four million political* 

**35**

persuasive. This was not the case.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

*stories were linked, tweeted, and shared over a three-year period than that there is no symmetry in the architecture and dynamics of communications within the right-wing media ecosystem and outside of it. Second, throughout this period we have observed repeated public humiliation and vicious disinformation campaigns mounted by the leading sites in this sphere against individuals who were the core* 

While it seems exaggerated to say simply that liberals want facts and conservatives want their biases reinforced, and that liberals embrace journalism; while conservatives believe propaganda, Benkler et al. believe that the research they performed generally indicated that this was the case. With the more measured but still emphatic words, "the right-wing media ecosystem differs categorically from the rest of the media environment" and has been much more susceptible to "disinformation, lies and half-truths." As for *Fox News*'s role in this, "We found *Fox News* accrediting

Even in regular assessments such as who has scientific expertise, *Fox News* seems to help shape what kind of rational assessments are to be endorsed and which are not. Law School Professor Dan Kahan and colleagues did a study on "Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus" [82]. They looked at how an individual's deepseated moral values and their beliefs about how society should be ordered shaped how they assessed scientific expertise or what they thought was legitimate scientific consensus. Based on their cultural values, they divided the subjects into two pairs of categories: "individualists" and "communitarians," and "hierarchical" and "egalitarian." Hierarchical individualists are somewhat similar to conservative Republicans, and egalitarian communitarians are somewhat similar to liberal Democrats. Each subject was told that a close friend was undecided about the risks associated with "climate change, geologic isolation of nuclear waste and concealed weapon laws" [82], p.10. They were shown a picture of a fictional expert on each of the subjects at hand, and each expert had a Ph.D. in the pertinent field and now worked at a university other that the one from which they received their Ph.D. Each subject was given a passage from each author's book, "the position of which was on the risk in question—whether the risk was high or low, well-founded or speculative—was randomly manipulated" [82] p. 10. They each had a story that represented low risk and another that represented high risk. The subject was then asked the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with the statement: "I believe the author is a trustworthy and knowledgeable expert on ['global warming,' 'nuclear power,' or 'gun control.']" [82], p. 10. One would have suspected that the nature of the credentials would be

*The goal of the study was to examine a distinctive explanation for the failure of members of the public to form beliefs consistent with apparent scientific consensus on climate change and other issues of risk. We hypothesized that scientific opinion fails to quiet societal dispute on such issues not because members of the public are unwilling to defer to experts but because culturally diverse persons tend to form opposing perceptions of what experts believe. Individuals systematically overestimate the degree of scientific support for positions they are culturally predisposed to accept as a result of a cultural availability effect that influences how readily they* 

*can recall instances of expert endorsement of those positions. [82], p. 27.*

*The first was the existence of a strong correlation between individuals' cultural values and their perceptions of scientific consensus on risks known to divide persons* 

They found two forms of evidence to support their hypothesis:

*pillars of Republican identity a mere decade earlier [78], p. 14.*

and amplifying the excesses of the radical sites" [78], p. 14.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

deception and their social self-deception.

*Atlantic* observes:

Americans siloed in this "propaganda feedback loop."

*news is lying and Trump alone can fix it. [81]*

some 115,419 as of September 13, 2020.

misinterpretation. Giving ideologues scientific data that's relevant to their beliefs is like unleashing them in the motivated reasoning equivalent of a candy store" [79]. Mooney anticipated much of the conflicting and inaccurate positions that Trump supporters took in dealing with the coronavirus. Such narratives support their self-

These arguments from motivated reasoning or memes, myth, tropes, and narratives are reinforced and repeated throughout the disinformation-misinformation ecosystem to the point of addiction, where viewers' self-deception dialectically reinforces and is reinforced by the social and collective self-deception of others and selective events in the disinformation-misinformation ecosystem. This disinformation-misinformation ecosystem is a filter bubble or "propaganda feedback loop" [78], p. 33. Morrison [80] suggests that right-wing media keep over a quarter of

Fox provokes fear, moral outrage, and self-righteousness. Megan Garber of *The* 

Because of this relentless moral outrage, viewers are prone to believe irrational or unfounded claims or assertions, and to regard all other venues as fake news. This moral outrage is reflected in the actions of the viewers, which are then taken into the market place, such as the refusal to wear masks for the coronavirus pandemic or

Misinformation and the authorization and propagation of misinformation causes mortal damage, including the thousands of deaths by the coronavirus. Public intellectual Eugene Jarecki's Trump Death Clock (https://trumpdeathclock.com/) in New York City's Times Square, calculates that Trump's incompetence, mismanagement, and misinformation has caused 60% of American deaths from COVID-19,

*Fox News* plays a major role as a cognitive authority in the disinformationmisinformation ecology. It is not that it is the only one—there is OAN, Sinclair Broadcasting, and radio programs (like InfoWars) that play the same role, but to a lesser degree. The focus of this paper is on right-wing sources and the powerful influence of *Fox News* and similar cognitive authorities. One might object that the same approach is characteristic of the left-wing media. But that claim is built on the idea of false equivalences, that the left-wing and right-wing have different opinions but that these opinions are of equal weight. This is not the case. Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts published *Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics*, which shows quite the opposite. By doing a rigorous analysis of online stories, tweets, and Facebook-shares data points, the authors conclude that "something very different was happening in right-wing media than in centrist, center-left and left-wing media" [78], p. 14. They

*the behavior of the right-wing media ecosystem represents a radicalization of roughly a third of the American media system. We use the term "radicalization" advisedly in two senses. First, to speak of "polarization" is to assume symmetry. No fact emerges more clearly from our analysis of how four million political* 

to call the police on any Black person they think is threatening them.

*Fox has two pronouns, you and they, and one tone: indignation. (You are under attack; they are the attackers.) Its grammar is grievance. Its effect is totalizing. Over time, if you watch enough Fox & Friends or The Five or Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham, you will come to understand, as a matter of synaptic impulse, that immigrants are invading and the mob is coming and the* 

**34**

observe that.

*stories were linked, tweeted, and shared over a three-year period than that there is no symmetry in the architecture and dynamics of communications within the right-wing media ecosystem and outside of it. Second, throughout this period we have observed repeated public humiliation and vicious disinformation campaigns mounted by the leading sites in this sphere against individuals who were the core pillars of Republican identity a mere decade earlier [78], p. 14.*

While it seems exaggerated to say simply that liberals want facts and conservatives want their biases reinforced, and that liberals embrace journalism; while conservatives believe propaganda, Benkler et al. believe that the research they performed generally indicated that this was the case. With the more measured but still emphatic words, "the right-wing media ecosystem differs categorically from the rest of the media environment" and has been much more susceptible to "disinformation, lies and half-truths." As for *Fox News*'s role in this, "We found *Fox News* accrediting and amplifying the excesses of the radical sites" [78], p. 14.

Even in regular assessments such as who has scientific expertise, *Fox News* seems to help shape what kind of rational assessments are to be endorsed and which are not. Law School Professor Dan Kahan and colleagues did a study on "Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus" [82]. They looked at how an individual's deepseated moral values and their beliefs about how society should be ordered shaped how they assessed scientific expertise or what they thought was legitimate scientific consensus. Based on their cultural values, they divided the subjects into two pairs of categories: "individualists" and "communitarians," and "hierarchical" and "egalitarian." Hierarchical individualists are somewhat similar to conservative Republicans, and egalitarian communitarians are somewhat similar to liberal Democrats. Each subject was told that a close friend was undecided about the risks associated with "climate change, geologic isolation of nuclear waste and concealed weapon laws" [82], p.10. They were shown a picture of a fictional expert on each of the subjects at hand, and each expert had a Ph.D. in the pertinent field and now worked at a university other that the one from which they received their Ph.D. Each subject was given a passage from each author's book, "the position of which was on the risk in question—whether the risk was high or low, well-founded or speculative—was randomly manipulated" [82] p. 10. They each had a story that represented low risk and another that represented high risk. The subject was then asked the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with the statement: "I believe the author is a trustworthy and knowledgeable expert on ['global warming,' 'nuclear power,' or 'gun control.']" [82], p. 10. One would have suspected that the nature of the credentials would be persuasive. This was not the case.

*The goal of the study was to examine a distinctive explanation for the failure of members of the public to form beliefs consistent with apparent scientific consensus on climate change and other issues of risk. We hypothesized that scientific opinion fails to quiet societal dispute on such issues not because members of the public are unwilling to defer to experts but because culturally diverse persons tend to form opposing perceptions of what experts believe. Individuals systematically overestimate the degree of scientific support for positions they are culturally predisposed to accept as a result of a cultural availability effect that influences how readily they can recall instances of expert endorsement of those positions. [82], p. 27.*

They found two forms of evidence to support their hypothesis:

*The first was the existence of a strong correlation between individuals' cultural values and their perceptions of scientific consensus on risks known to divide persons*  *of opposing worldviews. Subjects holding hierarchical and individualistic outlooks, on the one hand, and ones holding egalitarian and communitarian outlooks, on the other, significantly disagreed about the state of expert opinion on climate change, nuclear waste disposal, and handgun regulation [82], p. 27.*

The second finding identified a mechanism that could explain this effect. When asked to evaluate whether an individual of elite academic credentials, including membership in the NAS, was a "knowledgeable and trustworthy expert," subjects' answers proved conditional on the fit between the position the putative expert was depicted as adopting (on climate change, on nuclear waste disposal, or on handgun regulation) and the position associated with the subjects' cultural outlooks [82], p. 27.

The study suggests that what different individuals regard as scientific consensus depends on their cultural values. So *Fox News* viewers may be primed in what they regard as a rational consensus about how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, such that they could buy into Trump's actions and assessments. But are they the source of such "rational" assessments or the effect? Or are they another element in the dialectical reinforcement of elements of the misinformation or disinformation ecology?

Another major influence in the disinformation-misinformation ecology is social media.

#### **9. Social media**

The problem with the internet is that is a self-serve "information" bank. For many Trump supporters, right-wing social media (e.g., Breitbart, Truthfeed, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, Zero Hedge) is a self-serve disinformation or misinformation bank. Right-wing ideologues, foreign agents, and clickbait entrepreneurs produce a deluge of disinformation of memes and narratives to solicit (at a minimum) and inflame (at a maximum) the disinformation seeker at these sites. Self-serve engagement is mediated by cognitive bias, confirmation bias, and steerage to selective sources. Generally, there are little restrictions on the kind of content that is made available.

Beyond specific right-wing media sources, as political commentator and professor Robert Reich argued in the Guardian, Facebook and Twitter are alarmingly influential. As he wrote:

*The reason 45% of Americans rely on Facebook for news and Trump's tweets reach 66 million is because these platforms are near monopolies, dominating the information marketplace. No TV network, cable giant or newspaper even comes close. Fox News' viewership rarely exceeds 3 million. The New York Times has 4.7 million subscribers.*

*Facebook and Twitter aren't just participants in the information marketplace. They're quickly becoming the information marketplace [83].*

Reich does not reference the source of his data, but given his expertise and academic credentials, one would assume that they were reliable. However, the Pew Research Center survey provided a more conservative estimate. They did an analysis of their surveys from October 2019 through June 2020. It indicated that only 18% of U.S. adults get their political news through social media (versus 25% that use news websites or apps, 16% that use Cable TV, 16% that use local TV, 13% that use Network TV, and 8% that use the radio). They found that users of social media are less likely than other news consumers to follow major news stories closely, such as information about the coronavirus pandemic, and that they are less knowledgeable

**37**

Amendment.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

about these topics. The largest group of social media users, 48%, are under 30, while 40% are between 30 and 49. Compared to the U.S. population generally, they are less likely to be white, have lower levels of education, have lower political knowledge than other groups, and were more likely to have heard a conspiracy theory that the pandemic was planned. Social media users were far less likely to be already following the election very closely in the study period; only 8% were, which is a quarter or less of the proportion of cable TV watchers (37%) and print media

The Pew Research Report did not indicate what it includes in social media. Beyond Facebook and Twitter, there is YouTube, WeChat, Instagram, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn, the internet offers Telegram, Reddit, Baidu Tieba, LinkedIn, LINE, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Many of these are hotbeds of misinformation and disinformation. According to Wikipedia, social media sites share the following properties: they are interactive Internet-based applications; they run on user-generated content (e.g., posts, texts, videos, photos); users have profiles that give some information about them; and they facilitate interactions between mem-

One of the most problematic aspects of social media are the number of hate groups and the far-right partisans that use it to attract followers and disseminate their propaganda. Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, PayPal, GoDaddy, YouTube, and others have suspended users connected to the far-right after the Unite the Right rally. Those suspended argued that the action attacked their free speech rights and used coded messages to get around any problem of censorship. A report of "Hate in America," a project produced by the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, did a study of far-right users of Facebook, Twitter, Gab, VK, and others during a twoweek period in June 2018. They tracked more than 3 million followers and compiled more than 2500 posts from these platforms that threatened harm against Black Americans, Latinos, Jews, and LGBTQ+ people. These posts got over a half-million likes and were shared 200,000 times. This evidence shows the strength and breadth of these groups, who gain power by assembling a collective voice, despite some

Perhaps the major problem with social media is the fact that anyone can use or create or propagate social media to disseminate clear lies and falsehoods on the internet in the name of intellectual freedom or freedom of expression. Mark Zuckerberg perhaps best exemplified this in a speech at Georgetown University where he argued that Facebook should be unfettered in intellectual freedom, including political advertisements of outright lies (e.g., pro-Trump reelection campaign advertisements that include lies about his opponents). He takes the view that the marketplace will work it out—the lies will be discovered, eventually rejected or ignored. He bases his argument, as do other free speech advocates, on the First

Harvard legal expert Yochai Benkler argues that Zuckerburg's interpretation of the First Amendment as preventing his company from suppressing false or dangerous speech is erroneous. He argues that the First Amendment is only about government involvement in speech; it does not apply to private speech or private parties, of which Twitter and Facebook are examples [80]. Evidence also shows that untruths are not sorting themselves out in the disinformation-misinformation marketplace. Disinformation spreads unchecked by corrections across the internet*. Fox News*, for example, echoes Trump's and his supporters' talking points, which are often patently false. Correspondingly, in social media sites like 8chan, white supremacists will defend their right to be racist and espouse hate rhetoric. In fact, bad actors use Facebook not to make rational statements but to inflame partisans. Joanna Hoffman, who was once Steve Jobs's closest advisor, criticized the leadership

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

consumers (33%) [84].

bers and/or groups [85].

restrictions by some platforms [86].

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

*nuclear waste disposal, and handgun regulation [82], p. 27.*

outlooks [82], p. 27.

social media.

**9. Social media**

influential. As he wrote:

*of opposing worldviews. Subjects holding hierarchical and individualistic outlooks, on the one hand, and ones holding egalitarian and communitarian outlooks, on the other, significantly disagreed about the state of expert opinion on climate change,* 

The second finding identified a mechanism that could explain this effect. When asked to evaluate whether an individual of elite academic credentials, including membership in the NAS, was a "knowledgeable and trustworthy expert," subjects' answers proved conditional on the fit between the position the putative expert was depicted as adopting (on climate change, on nuclear waste disposal, or on handgun regulation) and the position associated with the subjects' cultural

The study suggests that what different individuals regard as scientific consensus depends on their cultural values. So *Fox News* viewers may be primed in what they regard as a rational consensus about how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, such that they could buy into Trump's actions and assessments. But are they the source of such "rational" assessments or the effect? Or are they another element in the dialectical reinforcement of elements of the misinformation or disinformation ecology? Another major influence in the disinformation-misinformation ecology is

The problem with the internet is that is a self-serve "information" bank. For many Trump supporters, right-wing social media (e.g., Breitbart, Truthfeed, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, Zero Hedge) is a self-serve disinformation or misinformation bank. Right-wing ideologues, foreign agents, and clickbait entrepreneurs produce a deluge of disinformation of memes and narratives to solicit (at a minimum) and inflame (at a maximum) the disinformation seeker at these sites. Self-serve engagement is mediated by cognitive bias, confirmation bias, and steerage to selective sources. Generally,

Beyond specific right-wing media sources, as political commentator and profes-

*The reason 45% of Americans rely on Facebook for news and Trump's tweets reach 66 million is because these platforms are near monopolies, dominating the information marketplace. No TV network, cable giant or newspaper even comes close. Fox News' viewership rarely exceeds 3 million. The New York Times has 4.7 million subscribers.*

sor Robert Reich argued in the Guardian, Facebook and Twitter are alarmingly

*Facebook and Twitter aren't just participants in the information marketplace.* 

Reich does not reference the source of his data, but given his expertise and academic credentials, one would assume that they were reliable. However, the Pew Research Center survey provided a more conservative estimate. They did an analysis of their surveys from October 2019 through June 2020. It indicated that only 18% of U.S. adults get their political news through social media (versus 25% that use news websites or apps, 16% that use Cable TV, 16% that use local TV, 13% that use Network TV, and 8% that use the radio). They found that users of social media are less likely than other news consumers to follow major news stories closely, such as information about the coronavirus pandemic, and that they are less knowledgeable

*They're quickly becoming the information marketplace [83].*

there are little restrictions on the kind of content that is made available.

**36**

about these topics. The largest group of social media users, 48%, are under 30, while 40% are between 30 and 49. Compared to the U.S. population generally, they are less likely to be white, have lower levels of education, have lower political knowledge than other groups, and were more likely to have heard a conspiracy theory that the pandemic was planned. Social media users were far less likely to be already following the election very closely in the study period; only 8% were, which is a quarter or less of the proportion of cable TV watchers (37%) and print media consumers (33%) [84].

The Pew Research Report did not indicate what it includes in social media. Beyond Facebook and Twitter, there is YouTube, WeChat, Instagram, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn, the internet offers Telegram, Reddit, Baidu Tieba, LinkedIn, LINE, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Many of these are hotbeds of misinformation and disinformation. According to Wikipedia, social media sites share the following properties: they are interactive Internet-based applications; they run on user-generated content (e.g., posts, texts, videos, photos); users have profiles that give some information about them; and they facilitate interactions between members and/or groups [85].

One of the most problematic aspects of social media are the number of hate groups and the far-right partisans that use it to attract followers and disseminate their propaganda. Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, PayPal, GoDaddy, YouTube, and others have suspended users connected to the far-right after the Unite the Right rally. Those suspended argued that the action attacked their free speech rights and used coded messages to get around any problem of censorship. A report of "Hate in America," a project produced by the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, did a study of far-right users of Facebook, Twitter, Gab, VK, and others during a twoweek period in June 2018. They tracked more than 3 million followers and compiled more than 2500 posts from these platforms that threatened harm against Black Americans, Latinos, Jews, and LGBTQ+ people. These posts got over a half-million likes and were shared 200,000 times. This evidence shows the strength and breadth of these groups, who gain power by assembling a collective voice, despite some restrictions by some platforms [86].

Perhaps the major problem with social media is the fact that anyone can use or create or propagate social media to disseminate clear lies and falsehoods on the internet in the name of intellectual freedom or freedom of expression. Mark Zuckerberg perhaps best exemplified this in a speech at Georgetown University where he argued that Facebook should be unfettered in intellectual freedom, including political advertisements of outright lies (e.g., pro-Trump reelection campaign advertisements that include lies about his opponents). He takes the view that the marketplace will work it out—the lies will be discovered, eventually rejected or ignored. He bases his argument, as do other free speech advocates, on the First Amendment.

Harvard legal expert Yochai Benkler argues that Zuckerburg's interpretation of the First Amendment as preventing his company from suppressing false or dangerous speech is erroneous. He argues that the First Amendment is only about government involvement in speech; it does not apply to private speech or private parties, of which Twitter and Facebook are examples [80]. Evidence also shows that untruths are not sorting themselves out in the disinformation-misinformation marketplace. Disinformation spreads unchecked by corrections across the internet*. Fox News*, for example, echoes Trump's and his supporters' talking points, which are often patently false. Correspondingly, in social media sites like 8chan, white supremacists will defend their right to be racist and espouse hate rhetoric. In fact, bad actors use Facebook not to make rational statements but to inflame partisans. Joanna Hoffman, who was once Steve Jobs's closest advisor, criticized the leadership at Facebook and other social media, saying that their laissez-faire attitude and failure to monitor content was "destroying the very fabric of democracy, destroying the very fabric of human relationships and peddling in an addictive drug called anger" [87].

Also, it is simply wrong to believe that Facebook as a whole is balanced or neutral and has no particular bias. The *Economist* did a study on Facebook using CrowdTangle, a Facebook tool that tracks how web material is shared across social media. They discovered that in August 2020 the two most popular sites were *Fox News* and Breitbart measured by user engagements—shares, views, comments, and other activities. They concluded that

*whatever Facebook's intentions, the social-networking site has more of a political slant than Mr. Zuckerberg lets on. Using CrowdTangle, we compiled a list of the media outlets that received the most Facebook engagement in August. We then examined the top 35 for which data on their political biases were available from Ad Fontes Media, a media-watchdog organization. All told, these sites received an average of 8.7 m engagements in August. Fox News topped the list with 56.4 m interactions in the month; MSNBC, a rival cable-news network, received just 9.7 m [88].*

Despite Zuckerburg's claims, Facebook is not a neutral information playground and skews to the right. And so, the belief that individuals are capable of sorting out the truth for themselves in such an environment is problematic to say the least. For example, in 1987 the Reagan administration revoked the *Fairness Doctrine* of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which since 1949 had required broadcast license holders to present both sides of issues of public importance in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced. In eliminating it, FCC decision makers claimed that it "restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters ... [and] actually inhibits the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment of the public and the degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists" (FCC Fairness Doctrine). NBCUniversal lauded the decision, saying, "Today we reaffirm our faith in the American people. Our faith in their ability to distinguish between fact and fiction without any help from government" ([89], footnote 18 of Wikipedia entry). The emergence of right-wing media closely followed on the decision; the Rush Limbaugh Show premiered in 1988.

Obviously, it is nice to think that the truth will always win out. But in the Age of Disinformation, this approach seems too simplistic. Thus, we must ask, is there a limit to free expression when that expression leads to harmful acts toward demonized populations; the destruction of trust in political, governmental and media institutions; the loss of expertise; and the denigration of science and evidence?

What makes this sorting out even more difficult is the spread and speed of disinformation, and the inflammation of emotional triggers (memes, tropes). MIT researchers Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral [90] find in a study of rumor cascades from 2006 to 2017 that false information spreads more quickly and broadly than truthful information and that those on the right are more susceptible and more prone to disseminate false information than those on the left. They conclude:

*Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information [90], p. 1146.*

**39**

the group.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

Once acquired, false information is hard to dispel. Psychology Professor David Rapp's research on processing inaccurate information reveals that our brains quickly memorize information without remembering its source or validity. If we discover at a later time that the information was false, that realization does not override the

Cognitive issues of misremembering information complicate sorting false information. Such social media disinformation is spread by trolls, such as Russian operatives and Trump and right-wing supporters on the one side, and liberals and progressives on the other side (in addition to the clickbait entrepreneurs who solicit right-wingers [46]). The two sides are not equivalent. As we noted above, Facebook

YouTube in particular engages a rabbit hole phenomenon that increases rightwing radical viewership. When perusing YouTube videos for particular content, such as a specific conspiracy theory, the site's algorithm suggests more provocative videos to view, which in turn suggest even more provocative videos to view. The impact is to advance Google's profits, but with dire political consequences. Sociologist and information and library science professor Zeynep Tufekci declared YouTube to be "one of the most radicalizing instruments of the 21st century" because of these mechanisms [92]. According to the analysis of *New York Times* columnists Max Fisher and Amanda Taum, Brazil's ultra-right president Jair Bolsonaro

Before the internet, aggregating in groups to form hate speech collectives was more difficult. Physical proximity tended to be a constraint. With the advent of the internet and social media groups, it is easier for persons with radical ideas to find like-minded individuals, creating a forum with a loud voice, which in turn can convince others to join their cause. It creates a crowd effect that creates an appearance of a large audience for a particular theory or belief. The mass shooting directed at Latino people at an El Paso Walmart in August 2019 can be traced in part to the gunman's participation in 8chan, a social media group that permits anonymous postings. Slate magazine descried 8chan as "[a]n anonymous, meme-filled internet backwater…a place for white supremacists to indoctrinate others—particularly white men—into bigoted ideologies" [94]. Social media like 8chan not only aggregate a forum, but deceptively entice its followers to believe that they have a loud voice and that their group is larger than it really is, luring more members into

While there are concerns for groups like 8chan, Facebook illustrates a broader problem of regulating speech on the internet, particularly hate speech or conspiracy theories. The problem with conspiracy theorists is that they view any attempt to correct their theories by appealing to contravening evidence as a verification and extension of the conspiracy theory itself, another sign of a cover up. Believers in QAnon have stretched any limits of credibility in the theories they espouse for which it can supply little or no evidence or which are virtually impossible (e.g., one cannot verify that Trump will be saving the world from a satanic cult of cannibals and pedophiles). Should their speech be curtailed? Is there a limit to free speech? The first amendment asserts that the "Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." But Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes asserted in Schenck v. United States [95] argued that "the character of every act depends on the circumstances in which it is done." If a man falsely shouted fire in a theater and causes panic, he would not be protected on the basis of free speech. The "question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about substantive

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

is more infused with right-wing activity [88].

evils that Congress has a right to prevent" [95].

owes his electoral success primarily to YouTube videos [93].

initial impression [91], p. 282.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

anger" [87].

other activities. They concluded that

*9.7 m [88].*

at Facebook and other social media, saying that their laissez-faire attitude and failure to monitor content was "destroying the very fabric of democracy, destroying the very fabric of human relationships and peddling in an addictive drug called

Also, it is simply wrong to believe that Facebook as a whole is balanced or neutral and has no particular bias. The *Economist* did a study on Facebook using CrowdTangle, a Facebook tool that tracks how web material is shared across social media. They discovered that in August 2020 the two most popular sites were *Fox News* and Breitbart measured by user engagements—shares, views, comments, and

*whatever Facebook's intentions, the social-networking site has more of a political slant than Mr. Zuckerberg lets on. Using CrowdTangle, we compiled a list of the media outlets that received the most Facebook engagement in August. We then examined the top 35 for which data on their political biases were available from Ad Fontes Media, a media-watchdog organization. All told, these sites received an average of 8.7 m engagements in August. Fox News topped the list with 56.4 m interactions in the month; MSNBC, a rival cable-news network, received just* 

Despite Zuckerburg's claims, Facebook is not a neutral information playground and skews to the right. And so, the belief that individuals are capable of sorting out the truth for themselves in such an environment is problematic to say the least. For example, in 1987 the Reagan administration revoked the *Fairness Doctrine* of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which since 1949 had required broadcast license holders to present both sides of issues of public importance in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced. In eliminating it, FCC decision makers claimed that it "restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters ... [and] actually inhibits the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment of the public and the degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists" (FCC Fairness Doctrine). NBCUniversal lauded the decision, saying, "Today we reaffirm our faith in the American people. Our faith in their ability to distinguish between fact and fiction without any help from government" ([89], footnote 18 of Wikipedia entry). The emergence of right-wing media closely followed on the decision; the Rush Limbaugh Show premiered in 1988.

Obviously, it is nice to think that the truth will always win out. But in the Age of Disinformation, this approach seems too simplistic. Thus, we must ask, is there a limit to free expression when that expression leads to harmful acts toward demonized populations; the destruction of trust in political, governmental and media institutions; the loss of expertise; and the denigration of science and evidence? What makes this sorting out even more difficult is the spread and speed of disinformation, and the inflammation of emotional triggers (memes, tropes). MIT researchers Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral [90] find in a study of rumor cascades from 2006 to 2017 that false information spreads more quickly and broadly than truthful information and that those on the right are more susceptible and more prone to disseminate false information than those on the left. They

*Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science,* 

*urban legends, or financial information [90], p. 1146.*

**38**

conclude:

Once acquired, false information is hard to dispel. Psychology Professor David Rapp's research on processing inaccurate information reveals that our brains quickly memorize information without remembering its source or validity. If we discover at a later time that the information was false, that realization does not override the initial impression [91], p. 282.

Cognitive issues of misremembering information complicate sorting false information. Such social media disinformation is spread by trolls, such as Russian operatives and Trump and right-wing supporters on the one side, and liberals and progressives on the other side (in addition to the clickbait entrepreneurs who solicit right-wingers [46]). The two sides are not equivalent. As we noted above, Facebook is more infused with right-wing activity [88].

YouTube in particular engages a rabbit hole phenomenon that increases rightwing radical viewership. When perusing YouTube videos for particular content, such as a specific conspiracy theory, the site's algorithm suggests more provocative videos to view, which in turn suggest even more provocative videos to view. The impact is to advance Google's profits, but with dire political consequences. Sociologist and information and library science professor Zeynep Tufekci declared YouTube to be "one of the most radicalizing instruments of the 21st century" because of these mechanisms [92]. According to the analysis of *New York Times* columnists Max Fisher and Amanda Taum, Brazil's ultra-right president Jair Bolsonaro owes his electoral success primarily to YouTube videos [93].

Before the internet, aggregating in groups to form hate speech collectives was more difficult. Physical proximity tended to be a constraint. With the advent of the internet and social media groups, it is easier for persons with radical ideas to find like-minded individuals, creating a forum with a loud voice, which in turn can convince others to join their cause. It creates a crowd effect that creates an appearance of a large audience for a particular theory or belief. The mass shooting directed at Latino people at an El Paso Walmart in August 2019 can be traced in part to the gunman's participation in 8chan, a social media group that permits anonymous postings. Slate magazine descried 8chan as "[a]n anonymous, meme-filled internet backwater…a place for white supremacists to indoctrinate others—particularly white men—into bigoted ideologies" [94]. Social media like 8chan not only aggregate a forum, but deceptively entice its followers to believe that they have a loud voice and that their group is larger than it really is, luring more members into the group.

While there are concerns for groups like 8chan, Facebook illustrates a broader problem of regulating speech on the internet, particularly hate speech or conspiracy theories. The problem with conspiracy theorists is that they view any attempt to correct their theories by appealing to contravening evidence as a verification and extension of the conspiracy theory itself, another sign of a cover up. Believers in QAnon have stretched any limits of credibility in the theories they espouse for which it can supply little or no evidence or which are virtually impossible (e.g., one cannot verify that Trump will be saving the world from a satanic cult of cannibals and pedophiles). Should their speech be curtailed? Is there a limit to free speech? The first amendment asserts that the "Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." But Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes asserted in Schenck v. United States [95] argued that "the character of every act depends on the circumstances in which it is done." If a man falsely shouted fire in a theater and causes panic, he would not be protected on the basis of free speech. The "question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent" [95].

Any person that creates panic in a theater by shouting fire should be censured if not jailed. The hate speech and conspiracy theories on the internet have gotten to the point where physical harm results. The attack on the El Paso Walmart was just one example; there has also been violence against Jews, Muslims, and members of the LGBTQ+ community because of the right-wing radical social media ecosystem. Other problematic speech of the right-wing media includes supporting Trump administration's imprisonment of immigrants and their children (leading to the spread of disease and death, not to mention psychological trauma); their applause of the killing of two peaceful protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by a right-wing extremist; their lies about the growth of coronavirus infections and death; and so on. The support of false ideas and ideologies and the destruction of institutional norms and trust in expertise have created the equivalent of a stampede in a crowded theater. The loud, in-your-face refusal to wear masks as a civil liberties badge of honor in the war against the coronavirus in the United States not only denigrates the role of public health expertise but actively promotes the spread of the disease to the public, ignoring the rights and health of individuals who follow public health recommendations. The latter is not only a matter of yelling fire in a crowded theater but also fanning the flames. The foundation of a liberal democracy has been catapulted into chaos, where sources or institutions are politicized and not trusted (e.g., the intelligence community, the Justice Department), thereby attacking the very essence of democracy and democratic institutions.

To add to the mix, there is self-deception, social and collective. How do we cope with collective self-deception, where the truth is a contrived second-hand or false opinion, paraded as knowledge? The willingness of individuals to seek the actual truth appears to be extensively diminished, given that their cognitive authorities have all the "truth" and that only their venues have access to the "facts," and independent inquiry is fraught with seductive pitfalls designed to threaten to send one to hell, figuratively if not literally, based on one's religious persuasion (e.g., white evangelicals who believe that Trump was appointed by God and ministers who claim that a voter will be going to hell if they do not vote for him [96]). Even within orthodoxy, there are problematic results for questioning the powers that be: the corrupt Athenian government put Socrates to death for corrupting the youth by having them question the orthodoxy. In these days, "orthodoxy" (which comes from "right opinion" in Greek) is often a contrived constructed reality that one can call genuine fake news, validated through collective self-deception and false cognitive authorities.

Robert Reich [83] argues that two actions need to occur to bring rational control back to the internet. First, there should be some anti-trust action that would break up the large providers. He argues that they have a too broad and monolithic influence. Second, we must prevent such providers from pretending to be neutral providers of information for which they have no responsibility. Facebook and Twitter spread Trump's lies (among other untruths, distortions, paltering, doxing, fake news, and conspiracy theories), and the American public must be aware of this fact. He argues that democracy flourishes with truth and dies when disinformation and misinformation are allowed to run rampant. He sees the problem as disintermediation, by which he means that "sellers are linked directly to customers with no need for middlemen" [83]. Prior to the internet, newspapers and public broadcasting mediated information. They employed fact-checkers and editors, mostly constrained their bias, and adhered to journalistic norms. With the internet, mediation disappears, and information seekers are confronted with raw opinions, and what is available is influenced by money-making, biases, and agendas of all sorts, to which the information seekers may or may not be savvy. Reich says:

**41**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

*publishers and journalists—hence the term "media."*

*rely while taking no responsibility for its content [83].*

*Intermediating between the powerful and the people was once mainly the job of* 

*This role was understood to be so critical to democracy that the constitution enshrined it in the first amendment, guaranteeing freedom of the press….*

*Zuckerberg and Dorsey insist they aren't publishers or journalists. They say Facebook and Twitter are just "platforms" that convey everything and anything facts, lies, conspiracies, vendettas—with none of the public responsibilities that* 

*Rubbish. They cannot be the major carriers of the news on which most Americans* 

Reich believes that there must be some control over internet content. While some social media platforms have some policies restricting some kinds of speech on the internet, such as far-right hate speech, false coronavirus information, and speech that incites violence [97], and no political ads on Facebook the week before

*Fox News* and many right-wing social media sites have amplified the power and seductiveness of Trump and his demands for loyalty. They stoke grievances, anger, self-righteousness, social self-deception, and resentments. Prior to his election, Trump was a strong TV personality who claimed to be a successful businessman in spite of multiple bankruptcies. After the election, he wanted to project an image of a strong and popular leader, defending the interests of the small guy, the apparently ignored, the left behind, or the undervalued in American society; nursing the grudges of those who thought they did not get a fair shake in society, who thought their conservative values were being derided, and whose economic well-being was being trashed by outside forces, like immigrants and companies offshoring jobs. He demanded loyalty from all members of government and those who did not obey found themselves jobless. He marshaled the allegiance of the Republican Party, overcoming their clear doubts about his character and ability to run the government. But with the help of Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and later a loyal Head of the Department of Justice, William Barr, he made them all of those who stayed in office loyal. Former critics like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz not only to tolerate his incompetence, philandering, lying, projecting, self-aggrandizing, and demand for loyalty but also promote it. They refused to entertain the possibility of his guilt during his impeachment or turned any opposition to him into a culture war. Through him, the GOP was able to gain control of the federal government and to push their agenda, which slowly turned the GOP into Trump's party, for they abandoned many of the core values of the old Republican party, such as strong defense, balanced budgets, a low national debt, and so on. He became the face of the party, and those who were not loyal to him or did not fawn over him were pushed out of power. His TV persona and his ability to repeat the grievances, rac-

the election, these restrictions are not sufficient to safeguard democracy.

ism, and pettiness of his supporters turned him into a cult leader.

share four key characteristics. They

Sociologist Janja Lalich, who has studied cults extensively, suggests that members of "totalistic" cults—those that consider their ideology the one true path—

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*come with being part of the press.*

**10. The cult of Trump**

*Intermediating between the powerful and the people was once mainly the job of publishers and journalists—hence the term "media."*

*This role was understood to be so critical to democracy that the constitution enshrined it in the first amendment, guaranteeing freedom of the press….*

*Zuckerberg and Dorsey insist they aren't publishers or journalists. They say Facebook and Twitter are just "platforms" that convey everything and anything facts, lies, conspiracies, vendettas—with none of the public responsibilities that come with being part of the press.*

*Rubbish. They cannot be the major carriers of the news on which most Americans rely while taking no responsibility for its content [83].*

Reich believes that there must be some control over internet content. While some social media platforms have some policies restricting some kinds of speech on the internet, such as far-right hate speech, false coronavirus information, and speech that incites violence [97], and no political ads on Facebook the week before the election, these restrictions are not sufficient to safeguard democracy.

#### **10. The cult of Trump**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

essence of democracy and democratic institutions.

Any person that creates panic in a theater by shouting fire should be censured if not jailed. The hate speech and conspiracy theories on the internet have gotten to the point where physical harm results. The attack on the El Paso Walmart was just one example; there has also been violence against Jews, Muslims, and members of the LGBTQ+ community because of the right-wing radical social media ecosystem. Other problematic speech of the right-wing media includes supporting Trump administration's imprisonment of immigrants and their children (leading to the spread of disease and death, not to mention psychological trauma); their applause of the killing of two peaceful protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by a right-wing extremist; their lies about the growth of coronavirus infections and death; and so on. The support of false ideas and ideologies and the destruction of institutional norms and trust in expertise have created the equivalent of a stampede in a crowded theater. The loud, in-your-face refusal to wear masks as a civil liberties badge of honor in the war against the coronavirus in the United States not only denigrates the role of public health expertise but actively promotes the spread of the disease to the public, ignoring the rights and health of individuals who follow public health recommendations. The latter is not only a matter of yelling fire in a crowded theater but also fanning the flames. The foundation of a liberal democracy has been catapulted into chaos, where sources or institutions are politicized and not trusted (e.g., the intelligence community, the Justice Department), thereby attacking the very

To add to the mix, there is self-deception, social and collective. How do we cope with collective self-deception, where the truth is a contrived second-hand or false opinion, paraded as knowledge? The willingness of individuals to seek the actual truth appears to be extensively diminished, given that their cognitive authorities have all the "truth" and that only their venues have access to the "facts," and independent inquiry is fraught with seductive pitfalls designed to threaten to send one to hell, figuratively if not literally, based on one's religious persuasion (e.g., white evangelicals who believe that Trump was appointed by God and ministers who claim that a voter will be going to hell if they do not vote for him [96]). Even within orthodoxy, there are problematic results for questioning the powers that be: the corrupt Athenian government put Socrates to death for corrupting the youth by having them question the orthodoxy. In these days, "orthodoxy" (which comes from "right opinion" in Greek) is often a contrived constructed reality that one can call genuine fake news, validated through collective self-deception and false cogni-

Robert Reich [83] argues that two actions need to occur to bring rational control back to the internet. First, there should be some anti-trust action that would break up the large providers. He argues that they have a too broad and monolithic influence. Second, we must prevent such providers from pretending to be neutral providers of information for which they have no responsibility. Facebook and Twitter spread Trump's lies (among other untruths, distortions, paltering, doxing, fake news, and conspiracy theories), and the American public must be aware of this fact. He argues that democracy flourishes with truth and dies when disinformation and misinformation are allowed to run rampant. He sees the problem as disintermediation, by which he means that "sellers are linked directly to customers with no need for middlemen" [83]. Prior to the internet, newspapers and public broadcasting mediated information. They employed fact-checkers and editors, mostly constrained their bias, and adhered to journalistic norms. With the internet, mediation disappears, and information seekers are confronted with raw opinions, and what is available is influenced by money-making, biases, and agendas of all sorts, to which

the information seekers may or may not be savvy. Reich says:

**40**

tive authorities.

*Fox News* and many right-wing social media sites have amplified the power and seductiveness of Trump and his demands for loyalty. They stoke grievances, anger, self-righteousness, social self-deception, and resentments. Prior to his election, Trump was a strong TV personality who claimed to be a successful businessman in spite of multiple bankruptcies. After the election, he wanted to project an image of a strong and popular leader, defending the interests of the small guy, the apparently ignored, the left behind, or the undervalued in American society; nursing the grudges of those who thought they did not get a fair shake in society, who thought their conservative values were being derided, and whose economic well-being was being trashed by outside forces, like immigrants and companies offshoring jobs. He demanded loyalty from all members of government and those who did not obey found themselves jobless. He marshaled the allegiance of the Republican Party, overcoming their clear doubts about his character and ability to run the government. But with the help of Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and later a loyal Head of the Department of Justice, William Barr, he made them all of those who stayed in office loyal. Former critics like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz not only to tolerate his incompetence, philandering, lying, projecting, self-aggrandizing, and demand for loyalty but also promote it. They refused to entertain the possibility of his guilt during his impeachment or turned any opposition to him into a culture war. Through him, the GOP was able to gain control of the federal government and to push their agenda, which slowly turned the GOP into Trump's party, for they abandoned many of the core values of the old Republican party, such as strong defense, balanced budgets, a low national debt, and so on. He became the face of the party, and those who were not loyal to him or did not fawn over him were pushed out of power. His TV persona and his ability to repeat the grievances, racism, and pettiness of his supporters turned him into a cult leader.

Sociologist Janja Lalich, who has studied cults extensively, suggests that members of "totalistic" cults—those that consider their ideology the one true path share four key characteristics. They

*1) espouse an all-encompassing belief system; 2) exhibit excessive devotion to the leader; 3) avoid criticism of the group and its leader; and 4) feel disdain for nonmembers [98].*

She believes that followers of Trump belong to a cult.

The far longer list that Joe Navarro, former FBI agent, produced *in Psychology Today* also fits the facts about Trump. Based on his 1912 study of nine dangerous cult leaders, he produced a list of 50 characteristics of cult leaders, many of which apply to Trump. Below finds a sample of 20. A dangerous cult leader:


In *The Cult of Trump* [1], leading cult expert Steven Hassan cites Trump's "air of 'only I can fix this,' his practice of sowing fear and confusion, his demand for absolute loyalty, his tendency to lie and create alternative 'facts' and realities, his shunning and belittling critics and ex-believers" [1], p. xii. Having been rescued from the Moonies himself, Hassan compares Trump to Sun Myung Moon as well as L. Ron Hubbard, David Koresh, Lyndon LaRouche, and Jim Jones. The only strategy that seems to work to remove a cult follower from someone like Moon is being deprogrammed, physically removing the cult member from the cult context and challenging their belief system, until they see the unreality of their cult existence. Hassan himself experienced such deprogramming and has become a consultant who helps people recover their loved ones from cults. There is unfortunately no way to deprogram the entire 40% of America that currently lives in Trump's cult, and deprogramming must be continuously enforced, which is impractical as well as illegal. The support for Trump is so broad and is local to a network of strong supporters and advocates that extends and is supported by a broader network that includes newspapers, cable news networks, and social media sites. Extraction from this cult is unlikely, even more so a prolonged removal from it, for the disinformation is so pervasive.

**43**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

Amy Penn [100] argues that due to the cult-like nature of his presidency, Trump

is conditioning his supporters to take up arms if he loses reelection. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist who studied at Yale Medical School makes the same argument in a

*When Donald Trump suggests that the [corona]virus be taken as a "hoax," that people gather in churches or that people protest for their own sacrifice, he is actually testing people's loyalty to the "laws" of his mind over the laws of nature, or even impulse for survival. The more he abuses them, the greater their devotion grows, since the psychological cost of admitting their mistake is ever higher—and so it becomes easier to dig a well of unreality than to see the obvious truth [101].*

If Trump supporters are willing to have their grandparents sacrifice themselves

In addition to the corruption of *Fox News* and pro-Trump social media sites, there are many agents and agencies who are working to get Trump accepted and reelected. They include Russian trolls using disinformation campaigns, far-right agents, white supremacists, white evangelicals, members of the Republican party (Senators, House Members), the Department of Justice, the Trump administration and its political appointees, and clickbait entrepreneurs. The common tactics that they use to deal with challenges to their position include projection (unconsciously taking unwanted events or consequences for which one is responsible and attributing them to someone else, e.g., Joe Biden is causing racial violence), denial (asserting that what is actually happening is not what is actually happening, e.g., Trump claimed that the coronavirus is just like seasonal flu, about which he lied [69]), false equivalence (all opinions are equal, ones founded on opinions have the same value as those based on facts or evidence, e.g., the impeachment trial of Trump was a Democratic hoax), name-calling (also called an ad hominem logical fallacy, using names to try to tar the character of one's opponent in an effort to destroy the legitimacy of their arguments, e.g., Crooked Hillary), whataboutism (instead of focusing on the claim against them at hand, they bring up an unrelated matter on one's opponent, e.g., when one observed that Melania Trump uses unofficial email in conducting business, the argument is shifted to Hillary Clinton's use of unofficial email), and gaslighting (a tactic in which a person tries to gain more power by making a person question their own reality, e.g., Trump's calling the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election "fake news" after intelligence agencies had established it beyond doubt). Whataboutism seems to be a favorite with his supporters. When they are confronted with evidence they do

not like, they latch onto a narrative that ostensibly tars his opponent.

What makes Trump as a cult figure both problematic and perhaps also attractive to his cult is that he has a disturbing psychological profile. Psychologist John Gartner argues that Trump has at least three personality disorders: narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and paranoid personality disorder [103]. Bandy X. Lee's edited volume, *The dangerous case of Donald Trump: 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president* [101], contains the work

for the economy [102], they should be more than willing to die for the rightful president in a rigged election. While Lee attributes the resistance of Trump supporters to facing reality to a refusal to admit their mistakes, I would argue this is too simple. It more likely has to do with the failure of their lives, their refusal to admit that they are the source of their own failures. It is their failure to make difficult choices and to accept responsibility for their own actions and their life. Trump gave them permission to publicly externalize their failures onto other people (like immigrants and the coastal elites) and external events (like poor border walls), to embrace their victimhood, just as Trump extols his. They are his cult followers and

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

statement reported to a Salon reporter:

active agents for his deceit and disinformation.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

apply to Trump. Below finds a sample of 20. A dangerous cult leader:

*2.Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, or brilliance.*

*5.Has a sense of entitlement—expecting to be treated as special at all times.*

*7.Has an exaggerated sense of power entitlement that allows him to bend rules and* 

*11.Behaves as though people are objects to be used, manipulated, or exploited for per-*

*17.Is constantly assessing people to determine those who are a threat or those who revere* 

*20.Believes he possesses the answers and solutions to world problems ([99], reordered* 

In *The Cult of Trump* [1], leading cult expert Steven Hassan cites Trump's "air of 'only I can fix this,' his practice of sowing fear and confusion, his demand for absolute loyalty, his tendency to lie and create alternative 'facts' and realities, his shunning and belittling critics and ex-believers" [1], p. xii. Having been rescued from the Moonies himself, Hassan compares Trump to Sun Myung Moon as well as L. Ron Hubbard, David Koresh, Lyndon LaRouche, and Jim Jones. The only strategy that seems to work to remove a cult follower from someone like Moon is being deprogrammed, physically removing the cult member from the cult context and challenging their belief system, until they see the unreality of their cult existence. Hassan himself experienced such deprogramming and has become a consultant who helps people recover their loved ones from cults. There is unfortunately no way to deprogram the entire 40% of America that currently lives in Trump's cult, and deprogramming must be continuously enforced, which is impractical as well as illegal. The support for Trump is so broad and is local to a network of strong supporters and advocates that extends and is supported by a broader network that includes newspapers, cable news networks, and social media sites. Extraction from this cult is unlikely, even more so a

*18.Hates to be embarrassed or fail publicly; when he does, he acts out with rage. 19.Doesn't seem to feel guilty for anything he has done wrong nor does he apologize for* 

*1.Has a grandiose idea of who he is and what he can achieve.*

*4.Requires excessive admiration from followers and outsiders.*

*6.Is arrogant and haughty in his behavior or attitude.*

*8.Is hypersensitive to how he is seen or perceived by others.*

*13.Anyone who criticizes or questions him is called an "enemy."*

*15.Habitually puts down others as inferior; only he is superior.*

prolonged removal from it, for the disinformation is so pervasive.

*9.Publicly devalues others as being inferior, incapable, or not worthy.*

*12.When criticized, he tends to lash out not just with anger but with rage.*

*3.Demands blind, unquestioned obedience.*

*10.Is frequently boastful of accomplishments.*

*14.Has "magical" answers or solutions to problems.*

*16.Treats others with contempt and arrogance.*

She believes that followers of Trump belong to a cult.

*members [98].*

*break laws.*

*sonal gain.*

*him.*

*his actions.*

*by author).*

*1) espouse an all-encompassing belief system; 2) exhibit excessive devotion to the leader; 3) avoid criticism of the group and its leader; and 4) feel disdain for non-*

The far longer list that Joe Navarro, former FBI agent, produced *in Psychology Today* also fits the facts about Trump. Based on his 1912 study of nine dangerous cult leaders, he produced a list of 50 characteristics of cult leaders, many of which

**42**

Amy Penn [100] argues that due to the cult-like nature of his presidency, Trump is conditioning his supporters to take up arms if he loses reelection. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist who studied at Yale Medical School makes the same argument in a statement reported to a Salon reporter:

*When Donald Trump suggests that the [corona]virus be taken as a "hoax," that people gather in churches or that people protest for their own sacrifice, he is actually testing people's loyalty to the "laws" of his mind over the laws of nature, or even impulse for survival. The more he abuses them, the greater their devotion grows, since the psychological cost of admitting their mistake is ever higher—and so it becomes easier to dig a well of unreality than to see the obvious truth [101].*

If Trump supporters are willing to have their grandparents sacrifice themselves for the economy [102], they should be more than willing to die for the rightful president in a rigged election. While Lee attributes the resistance of Trump supporters to facing reality to a refusal to admit their mistakes, I would argue this is too simple. It more likely has to do with the failure of their lives, their refusal to admit that they are the source of their own failures. It is their failure to make difficult choices and to accept responsibility for their own actions and their life. Trump gave them permission to publicly externalize their failures onto other people (like immigrants and the coastal elites) and external events (like poor border walls), to embrace their victimhood, just as Trump extols his. They are his cult followers and active agents for his deceit and disinformation.

In addition to the corruption of *Fox News* and pro-Trump social media sites, there are many agents and agencies who are working to get Trump accepted and reelected. They include Russian trolls using disinformation campaigns, far-right agents, white supremacists, white evangelicals, members of the Republican party (Senators, House Members), the Department of Justice, the Trump administration and its political appointees, and clickbait entrepreneurs. The common tactics that they use to deal with challenges to their position include projection (unconsciously taking unwanted events or consequences for which one is responsible and attributing them to someone else, e.g., Joe Biden is causing racial violence), denial (asserting that what is actually happening is not what is actually happening, e.g., Trump claimed that the coronavirus is just like seasonal flu, about which he lied [69]), false equivalence (all opinions are equal, ones founded on opinions have the same value as those based on facts or evidence, e.g., the impeachment trial of Trump was a Democratic hoax), name-calling (also called an ad hominem logical fallacy, using names to try to tar the character of one's opponent in an effort to destroy the legitimacy of their arguments, e.g., Crooked Hillary), whataboutism (instead of focusing on the claim against them at hand, they bring up an unrelated matter on one's opponent, e.g., when one observed that Melania Trump uses unofficial email in conducting business, the argument is shifted to Hillary Clinton's use of unofficial email), and gaslighting (a tactic in which a person tries to gain more power by making a person question their own reality, e.g., Trump's calling the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election "fake news" after intelligence agencies had established it beyond doubt). Whataboutism seems to be a favorite with his supporters. When they are confronted with evidence they do not like, they latch onto a narrative that ostensibly tars his opponent.

What makes Trump as a cult figure both problematic and perhaps also attractive to his cult is that he has a disturbing psychological profile. Psychologist John Gartner argues that Trump has at least three personality disorders: narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and paranoid personality disorder [103]. Bandy X. Lee's edited volume, *The dangerous case of Donald Trump: 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president* [101], contains the work

of experts who agree. Both his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, and his niece, Mary Trump, find serious problems with Trump's mental health [104]. Dan P. McAdams [105], a psychologist who teaches at Northwestern University argues that Trump has no inner story, no moral frame of reference:

*Rather than see his life as an ongoing story Donald Trump lives in the emotional moment from one moment to the next. He refuses to be retrospective, prospective or introspective. He never looks back, he never looks very far forward, and he never looks inside. One after another, each life episode involves a battle of some kind, a struggle to triumph over an adversary because, as he sees it, the world is a dangerous place filled with vicious people. Without the luxury of a life narrative, each episode arises as a new event disconnected from others. Over the course of a day, a week, and indeed much of his life, Donald Trump has awakened anew to each event as if there were no distant past and will be no long-term future [105], p. 172.*

Because of this character deficiency, he has no inner story or evolving story, and he cannot learn lessons from his past or reorient his course for the future.

*He is always on the surface, always right now. In his own mind, he is more like a persona than a person, more like a primal force or superhero, rather than a fully realized human being. Even at the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2016, when the Presidential nominee was expected to appeal to the American public by telling his own story, Trump refused to humanize himself. He passed up the golden opportunity to convey who he is, who he was, and how he came to be [105], p. 233.*

He did not do so, because he could not. In the 2020 Republican National Convention, his handlers had to construct an inner narrative for him, and it was mostly projected by his children, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric. Others were instructed to humanize him: Trump's Twitter-man-slash-golf-caddy Dan Scavino said he was "a kind and decent man who shows endless kindness to everyone he meets." RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel observed that there are "private moments where he comforts people in times of pain and sadness." And Kellyanne Conway assured that when the president meets people in need he is "comforting and encouraging…assuring them that they matter." There is little evidence to confirm such stories [106].

McAdams calls Trump a "truly authentic fake" [105], p. 169, all surface with no depth. Perhaps because of this he captivates his supporters who can pour their hopes and imaginary stories into him, because there is nothing there than can contradict them.

There are little rational grounds for supporting Trump. Nicholas Kristof, in an assessment in the *New York Times*, examines 21 (of the more than 280) major promises that Trump made during his 2016 President campaign (e.g., build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, help students drowning in debt, repeal and replace Obamacare, drain the swamp in Washington, end chronic trade deficits, etc.), and there is only one promise that he kept (albeit with the enormous help of Mitch McConnell): put in conservative judges [4]. Perhaps there is one other basis: maintaining white privilege or racism. There appear to be no psychological grounds for supporting him either. Supporting Trump defies any sort of coherent rationale.

#### **11. Conclusion: the age of inflamed grievances**

*Fox News* and many right-wing social media sites are dominant cognitive authorities in the disinformation-misinformation ecology, though one cannot

**45**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

deny the influence of political leaders, a political party, and white evangelical leaders, among others. At the moment, their focus is Donald Trump and what he has come to represent: a form of conservatism that seems to have denied its roots (fiscal responsibility, strong national defense, anti-communism). It is now heavily characterized as anti-liberal, for it seems to have lost a lot of the meaning that conservativism had before Trump. The consumers of *Fox News* and right-wing social media sites are predisposed to swallow what they expect to ingest, employing these sources by conscious motivation (such as willful ignorance or avoidance of information contrary to their beliefs) or unconscious ones (gullibility, cognitive biases), conditioned by previous exposure from "information" channels such as *Fox News*, or from like-minded peers, friends, associates, religious leaders, politicians, and pundits. They are also conditioned to avoid or reject certain channels of information, what they are trained to believe is fake news. Because of the "propaganda feedback loop" [78], p. 33, in which they live, a disinformation-misinformation ecology, each element reinforces every other element in a dialogical process,

facilitating self-deception. Their self-deception or bad faith infects their friends and associates, and is reinforced by them (social self-deception), fostering a collective identity (collective self-deception), with such labels as "conservative" or "antiliberal." It is a dialectical process that is self-reinforcing and in which any contrary fact, logic, or evidence is rejected. Their like-minded (false) cognitive authorities authorize the validity of their biases and beliefs, oppose other cognitive authorities either partially (e.g., rejecting parts of science that have been made out to be part of a culture war, such as scientific recommendations of wearing of masks during the coronavirus pandemic, but accepting parts of science when they take their children to the hospital for a ruptured appendix) or completely (non-like-minded media, such as the *New York Times*). Both cognitive authorities of *Fox News* and right-wing social media and their consumers tell themselves that they operate in a sphere of knowledge, when at best it is opinion and at worst propaganda or false opinion. They claim their authorities are authentic, credible, and trustworthy, but they only supply information to confirm their biases, cherry-pick facts or evidence, and omit data unfavorable to their narratives (e.g., they failed to show how incompetently Trump handled the response to the coronavirus pandemic or that he lied about knowing about its severity). They live in a filter bubble, where everything that does not accord with their worldview (even its inconsistencies) is not only ignored but strongly disavowed as "fake news." There is a strong case to be made for their commitment to its cause (the support of Trump and right-wing ideology) as being addictive. In terms of *Fox News*, their "addiction to tribal partisan porn" [58] triggers an emotional meme, trope, or narrative, about which the viewers are primed to

be angry (whatever the emotional trigger) or are already angry.

The engaging, enraging emotional triggers may vary among individuals or groups, just as the motivations of Trump supporters vary along a wide range: at the top there is likely more "motivated reasoning," an attempt to rationalize acceptance of all things Trump in the interests in power, wealth, privilege or ideology. At the bottom are those who are addicted to their anger and resentments, their loss of privilege, their presumed displacement in society, and/or other antagonisms. All sorts of narratives can fuel their emotional state. Examples include the claim that the liberals are going to take away one's guns if they get into power, jobs are being taken by immigrants or sent abroad, one is being persecuted for being Christian, many people get free money from the government while you work hard for yours, and so forth. These narratives are stoked and restoked by daily examples dredged from the news and sometimes from dubious internet sources, such as alt-right sites. They can be distortions of events, such as claiming that there were no peaceful protesters in Portland, only rioters. They are repeated over and over again from the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

no inner story, no moral frame of reference:

of experts who agree. Both his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, and his niece, Mary Trump, find serious problems with Trump's mental health [104]. Dan P. McAdams [105], a psychologist who teaches at Northwestern University argues that Trump has

*Rather than see his life as an ongoing story Donald Trump lives in the emotional moment from one moment to the next. He refuses to be retrospective, prospective or introspective. He never looks back, he never looks very far forward, and he never looks inside. One after another, each life episode involves a battle of some kind, a struggle to triumph over an adversary because, as he sees it, the world is a dangerous place filled with vicious people. Without the luxury of a life narrative, each episode arises as a new event disconnected from others. Over the course of a day, a week, and indeed much of his life, Donald Trump has awakened anew to each event as if there were no distant past and will be no long-term future [105], p. 172.*

Because of this character deficiency, he has no inner story or evolving story, and

he cannot learn lessons from his past or reorient his course for the future.

*He is always on the surface, always right now. In his own mind, he is more like a persona than a person, more like a primal force or superhero, rather than a fully realized human being. Even at the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2016, when the Presidential nominee was expected to appeal to the American public by telling his own story, Trump refused to humanize himself. He passed up the golden opportunity to convey who he is, who he was, and how he came to be [105], p. 233.*

He did not do so, because he could not. In the 2020 Republican National Convention, his handlers had to construct an inner narrative for him, and it was mostly projected by his children, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric. Others were instructed to humanize him: Trump's Twitter-man-slash-golf-caddy Dan Scavino said he was "a kind and decent man who shows endless kindness to everyone he meets." RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel observed that there are "private moments where he comforts people in times of pain and sadness." And Kellyanne Conway assured that when the president meets people in need he is "comforting and encouraging…assuring them

that they matter." There is little evidence to confirm such stories [106].

**11. Conclusion: the age of inflamed grievances**

McAdams calls Trump a "truly authentic fake" [105], p. 169, all surface with no depth. Perhaps because of this he captivates his supporters who can pour their hopes and imaginary stories into him, because there is nothing there than can

There are little rational grounds for supporting Trump. Nicholas Kristof, in an assessment in the *New York Times*, examines 21 (of the more than 280) major promises that Trump made during his 2016 President campaign (e.g., build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, help students drowning in debt, repeal and replace Obamacare, drain the swamp in Washington, end chronic trade deficits, etc.), and there is only one promise that he kept (albeit with the enormous help of Mitch McConnell): put in conservative judges [4]. Perhaps there is one other basis: maintaining white privilege or racism. There appear to be no psychological grounds for supporting him either. Supporting Trump defies any sort of coherent rationale.

*Fox News* and many right-wing social media sites are dominant cognitive authorities in the disinformation-misinformation ecology, though one cannot

**44**

contradict them.

deny the influence of political leaders, a political party, and white evangelical leaders, among others. At the moment, their focus is Donald Trump and what he has come to represent: a form of conservatism that seems to have denied its roots (fiscal responsibility, strong national defense, anti-communism). It is now heavily characterized as anti-liberal, for it seems to have lost a lot of the meaning that conservativism had before Trump. The consumers of *Fox News* and right-wing social media sites are predisposed to swallow what they expect to ingest, employing these sources by conscious motivation (such as willful ignorance or avoidance of information contrary to their beliefs) or unconscious ones (gullibility, cognitive biases), conditioned by previous exposure from "information" channels such as *Fox News*, or from like-minded peers, friends, associates, religious leaders, politicians, and pundits. They are also conditioned to avoid or reject certain channels of information, what they are trained to believe is fake news. Because of the "propaganda feedback loop" [78], p. 33, in which they live, a disinformation-misinformation ecology, each element reinforces every other element in a dialogical process, facilitating self-deception. Their self-deception or bad faith infects their friends and associates, and is reinforced by them (social self-deception), fostering a collective identity (collective self-deception), with such labels as "conservative" or "antiliberal." It is a dialectical process that is self-reinforcing and in which any contrary fact, logic, or evidence is rejected. Their like-minded (false) cognitive authorities authorize the validity of their biases and beliefs, oppose other cognitive authorities either partially (e.g., rejecting parts of science that have been made out to be part of a culture war, such as scientific recommendations of wearing of masks during the coronavirus pandemic, but accepting parts of science when they take their children to the hospital for a ruptured appendix) or completely (non-like-minded media, such as the *New York Times*). Both cognitive authorities of *Fox News* and right-wing social media and their consumers tell themselves that they operate in a sphere of knowledge, when at best it is opinion and at worst propaganda or false opinion. They claim their authorities are authentic, credible, and trustworthy, but they only supply information to confirm their biases, cherry-pick facts or evidence, and omit data unfavorable to their narratives (e.g., they failed to show how incompetently Trump handled the response to the coronavirus pandemic or that he lied about knowing about its severity). They live in a filter bubble, where everything that does not accord with their worldview (even its inconsistencies) is not only ignored but strongly disavowed as "fake news." There is a strong case to be made for their commitment to its cause (the support of Trump and right-wing ideology) as being addictive. In terms of *Fox News*, their "addiction to tribal partisan porn" [58] triggers an emotional meme, trope, or narrative, about which the viewers are primed to be angry (whatever the emotional trigger) or are already angry.

The engaging, enraging emotional triggers may vary among individuals or groups, just as the motivations of Trump supporters vary along a wide range: at the top there is likely more "motivated reasoning," an attempt to rationalize acceptance of all things Trump in the interests in power, wealth, privilege or ideology. At the bottom are those who are addicted to their anger and resentments, their loss of privilege, their presumed displacement in society, and/or other antagonisms. All sorts of narratives can fuel their emotional state. Examples include the claim that the liberals are going to take away one's guns if they get into power, jobs are being taken by immigrants or sent abroad, one is being persecuted for being Christian, many people get free money from the government while you work hard for yours, and so forth. These narratives are stoked and restoked by daily examples dredged from the news and sometimes from dubious internet sources, such as alt-right sites. They can be distortions of events, such as claiming that there were no peaceful protesters in Portland, only rioters. They are repeated over and over again from the

same sources and different sources. Repeating information, true or not, increases its believability, and this applies to newspaper headlines, statements, or speeches [107]. They are repeated and echoed throughout the disinformation-misinformation ecology—from *Fox News* to/from conspiracy sites to/from friends to/from colleagues to/from associates to/from right-wing religious leaders to/from political leaders to/from government administrators and so on down the line, so that the emotional content is stoked into anger, aggression, a distorted perception of reality, fear and so forth. Like all addictions, the addiction to *Fox News* is never satiated. There is always a need for more and more and more memes, tropes, and narratives to nurse and inflame biases.

This condition of embracing and seeking self-serving tropes and narratives is similar to a perversion of what is presented in Søren Kierkegaard's notion of the demands of faith. In *Sickness unto Death* [108], God demands that Abraham sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Abraham not only sets out to obey but also does not even try to rationalize and explain himself to others, and only God's intermediary, an angel stops him. For Kierkegaard, the act of faith entails following God's demands, as irrational as they may appear to be. Kierkegaard wonders what faith would be if it demanded only something that was rational. The more irrational the demand, the greater the demand of faith to follow through. This seems to be true of the addicted Trump supporters—the greater the insane comments and demands, the greater the unflinching allegiance (e.g., science is a cultural war against one's individual rights to refuse to wear a mask, unless your child gets a case of smallpox [anti-vaxxers not withstanding]). Like Abraham's unflinching acceptance of God's demands, consider the unflinching acceptance of conspiracy theories, such as the willing suspension of disbelief that was required to swallow one of the early conspiracy theories called Pizzagate. It was conspiracy theory espoused by the alt-right, particularly through Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, that Hillary Clinton was sexually abusing children in the basement of a pizza shop, Comet Ping Pong, in Washington, DC. On December 4, 2016, based on his embrace of the Alex Jones' narrative (along with an anti-Democratic bias and other cognitive biases), Edgar Madison Welch, of Salisbury, NC, walked through the front door of the restaurant, pointed an assault rifle in the direction of an employee and fired [109]. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the narrative was so compelling to Welch that checking the facts did not occur to him (e.g., that the restaurant had no basement). What is disturbing is his unflinching acceptance of the narrative, his emotional triggers having become supersensitive. Another case was the conspiracy theories about the cause of the horrendous fires in Oregon and California in the summer of 2020. The conspiracy theory was that the fires were set by members of Antifa (Anti-Facists, started originally to fight racism but expanded to include other extremists [110]) and when homeowners were asked to leave their homes for safety reasons, they refused, arguing that they needed to protect their homes from the roaming gangs of Antifa [111]. It was a false rumor most likely set by the alt-right trying to help Trump's reelection campaign. Even higher on the irrational scale are the QAnon conspiracy believers, who embrace a conspiracy theory that could never be shown to correspond to reality: e.g., Trump is secretly saving the world from a satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals, most of whom are Democrats and the liberal elite. Every utterance or tweet Trump makes is a code that supposedly substantiates the theory. A QAnon embracer is told to believe that everything that Trump tweets or says has a meaning, even his errors in spelling and pronunciation, e.g., "covfefe" [8]. The theory is detached from any form of reality, which seems to strengthen adherents' devotion and addiction. Their faith in Trump is another form of sickness unto death, sickness built on an ill-conceived, propagandized self-righteousness. The difference between Kierkegaard's sickness unto death and theirs was that his goal

**47**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

was redemption, while theirs is a willful ignorance that pretends it is not willful, an addiction to some Gnostic gospel that is supposedly the subtext of all political reality. Cognitive authorities like *Fox News* (and OAN and Sinclair Broadcasting) and right-wing social media sites train consumers to engage and inflame their anger because it keeps them addicted to their message. While such authorities create, engage, and amplify consumers' emotive state, they generally seek money and power [39] and promote a right-wing ideology that tends to run contrary to the real demands of most American citizens, 40 per cent of whom continue to support and

Privately *Fox News* staff acknowledge they feel tied to supporting Trump while absolving themselves of any journalistic integrity while feeding the "Frankenstein"

demands uncritical loyalty, from whom they derive power, money, and support for their ideology of an unfettered capitalism. With social media sites, they perpetuate the addiction and uncritical loyalty, but they ignore its potential result: a civil war, the destruction of American democracy, the collapse of law and order, rampant corruption, the descent of the planet into an irreparable condition. Because their will to power feeds on the emotional triggers of its audience or social media engagers, their biases trump their abilities of critical thought, even their abilities to know that they do not have the ability for critical thought. That is why it is impossible to engage them with a rational argument or to train them in logical fallacy literacy, information literacy, media literacy, or digital literacy. Such tools, as critical and important as they are, are only useful to those who are open to using them, not to those that

In sum, *Fox News* and alt-right social media sites are two of the major factors that have contributed to the uncivil discourse in American society; the undermining of American democracy and democratic institutions; the decline in law and order; an anti-science, anti-humanistic agenda; and the hypersensitivity to presumed threats to one's rights and ideology. While we are engaged in disinformation wars in the Age of Disinformation, we also have entered the Age of Inflamed Grievances, given the in-your-face stoked grievances by the alt-right in cable news, social media, and the Trump administration. While we have had many grievances over the years, entities like *Fox News*, some social media sites (like Brietbart and QAnon), and other rightwing media have stoked and flamed one's resentments on a continuing basis so as to accumulate power, economic benefits, and an ideological supremacy, often quite opposite to interests of their supporters, democracy, and the survival of the country. To a significant extent, it has also become the Age of the Anti-Enlightenment, because science is not only treated as an alternate opinion but challenged as false (e.g., the coronavirus epidemic was a hoax invented by Democrats, and the Centers for Disease Control provide biased or false information about the pandemic). Plato would not have expected Trump supporters' resolution to return to the Cave, where they now shout obscenities at those who want to move them out of the Cave (e.g., at the local stores, they berate clerks on their insisting they wear a mask as part of the store's policy in coping with the pandemic, or they attack Black Americans as if they were all going to attack them). We now have segments of extreme right partisans that choose to abide in their self-righteousness and nonnegotiable postures, where every affront becomes a culture war, and any cause that disturbs them is inflamed into a righteous political act. Rather than a Socrates leading them out of the Cave, *Fox News*, right-wing social media sites, the Republican (Trump) Party, and the pro-Trump religious leaders, all want to secure the prisoners back into an enlarged Cave with self-imposed cells, where there is chaos, inflamed anger, tyranny, cruelty, fascism, narcissism, idolatry, arrogance, selfishness, and

that they have helped to create, sustain and perpetuate, a Frankenstein that

live in a filter bubble or closed "propaganda feedback loop" [78], p. 33.

ignorance, and where many prisoners praise their jailors and oppressors.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

empower them.

#### *A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

to nurse and inflame biases.

same sources and different sources. Repeating information, true or not, increases its believability, and this applies to newspaper headlines, statements, or speeches [107]. They are repeated and echoed throughout the disinformation-misinformation ecology—from *Fox News* to/from conspiracy sites to/from friends to/from colleagues to/from associates to/from right-wing religious leaders to/from political leaders to/from government administrators and so on down the line, so that the emotional content is stoked into anger, aggression, a distorted perception of reality, fear and so forth. Like all addictions, the addiction to *Fox News* is never satiated. There is always a need for more and more and more memes, tropes, and narratives

This condition of embracing and seeking self-serving tropes and narratives is similar to a perversion of what is presented in Søren Kierkegaard's notion of the demands of faith. In *Sickness unto Death* [108], God demands that Abraham sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Abraham not only sets out to obey but also does not even try to rationalize and explain himself to others, and only God's intermediary, an angel stops him. For Kierkegaard, the act of faith entails following God's demands, as irrational as they may appear to be. Kierkegaard wonders what faith would be if it demanded only something that was rational. The more irrational the demand, the greater the demand of faith to follow through. This seems to be true of the addicted Trump supporters—the greater the insane comments and demands, the greater the unflinching allegiance (e.g., science is a cultural war against one's individual rights to refuse to wear a mask, unless your child gets a case of smallpox [anti-vaxxers not withstanding]). Like Abraham's unflinching acceptance of God's demands, consider the unflinching acceptance of conspiracy theories, such as the willing suspension of disbelief that was required to swallow one of the early conspiracy theories called Pizzagate. It was conspiracy theory espoused by the alt-right, particularly through Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, that Hillary Clinton was sexually abusing children in the basement of a pizza shop, Comet Ping Pong, in Washington, DC. On December 4, 2016, based on his embrace of the Alex Jones' narrative (along with an anti-Democratic bias and other cognitive biases), Edgar Madison Welch, of Salisbury, NC, walked through the front door of the restaurant, pointed an assault rifle in the direction of an employee and fired [109]. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the narrative was so compelling to Welch that checking the facts did not occur to him (e.g., that the restaurant had no basement). What is disturbing is his unflinching acceptance of the narrative, his emotional triggers having become supersensitive. Another case was the conspiracy theories about the cause of the horrendous fires in Oregon and California in the summer of 2020. The conspiracy theory was that the fires were set by members of Antifa (Anti-Facists, started originally to fight racism but expanded to include other extremists [110]) and when homeowners were asked to leave their homes for safety reasons, they refused, arguing that they needed to protect their homes from the roaming gangs of Antifa [111]. It was a false rumor most likely set by the alt-right trying to help Trump's reelection campaign. Even higher on the irrational scale are the QAnon conspiracy believers, who embrace a conspiracy theory that could never be shown to correspond to reality: e.g., Trump is secretly saving the world from a satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals, most of whom are Democrats and the liberal elite. Every utterance or tweet Trump makes is a code that supposedly substantiates the theory. A QAnon embracer is told to believe that everything that Trump tweets or says has a meaning, even his errors in spelling and pronunciation, e.g., "covfefe" [8]. The theory is detached from any form of reality, which seems to strengthen adherents' devotion and addiction. Their faith in Trump is another form of sickness unto death, sickness built on an ill-conceived, propagandized self-righteousness. The difference between Kierkegaard's sickness unto death and theirs was that his goal

**46**

was redemption, while theirs is a willful ignorance that pretends it is not willful, an addiction to some Gnostic gospel that is supposedly the subtext of all political reality. Cognitive authorities like *Fox News* (and OAN and Sinclair Broadcasting) and right-wing social media sites train consumers to engage and inflame their anger because it keeps them addicted to their message. While such authorities create, engage, and amplify consumers' emotive state, they generally seek money and power [39] and promote a right-wing ideology that tends to run contrary to the real demands of most American citizens, 40 per cent of whom continue to support and empower them.

Privately *Fox News* staff acknowledge they feel tied to supporting Trump while absolving themselves of any journalistic integrity while feeding the "Frankenstein" that they have helped to create, sustain and perpetuate, a Frankenstein that demands uncritical loyalty, from whom they derive power, money, and support for their ideology of an unfettered capitalism. With social media sites, they perpetuate the addiction and uncritical loyalty, but they ignore its potential result: a civil war, the destruction of American democracy, the collapse of law and order, rampant corruption, the descent of the planet into an irreparable condition. Because their will to power feeds on the emotional triggers of its audience or social media engagers, their biases trump their abilities of critical thought, even their abilities to know that they do not have the ability for critical thought. That is why it is impossible to engage them with a rational argument or to train them in logical fallacy literacy, information literacy, media literacy, or digital literacy. Such tools, as critical and important as they are, are only useful to those who are open to using them, not to those that live in a filter bubble or closed "propaganda feedback loop" [78], p. 33.

In sum, *Fox News* and alt-right social media sites are two of the major factors that have contributed to the uncivil discourse in American society; the undermining of American democracy and democratic institutions; the decline in law and order; an anti-science, anti-humanistic agenda; and the hypersensitivity to presumed threats to one's rights and ideology. While we are engaged in disinformation wars in the Age of Disinformation, we also have entered the Age of Inflamed Grievances, given the in-your-face stoked grievances by the alt-right in cable news, social media, and the Trump administration. While we have had many grievances over the years, entities like *Fox News*, some social media sites (like Brietbart and QAnon), and other rightwing media have stoked and flamed one's resentments on a continuing basis so as to accumulate power, economic benefits, and an ideological supremacy, often quite opposite to interests of their supporters, democracy, and the survival of the country. To a significant extent, it has also become the Age of the Anti-Enlightenment, because science is not only treated as an alternate opinion but challenged as false (e.g., the coronavirus epidemic was a hoax invented by Democrats, and the Centers for Disease Control provide biased or false information about the pandemic).

Plato would not have expected Trump supporters' resolution to return to the Cave, where they now shout obscenities at those who want to move them out of the Cave (e.g., at the local stores, they berate clerks on their insisting they wear a mask as part of the store's policy in coping with the pandemic, or they attack Black Americans as if they were all going to attack them). We now have segments of extreme right partisans that choose to abide in their self-righteousness and nonnegotiable postures, where every affront becomes a culture war, and any cause that disturbs them is inflamed into a righteous political act. Rather than a Socrates leading them out of the Cave, *Fox News*, right-wing social media sites, the Republican (Trump) Party, and the pro-Trump religious leaders, all want to secure the prisoners back into an enlarged Cave with self-imposed cells, where there is chaos, inflamed anger, tyranny, cruelty, fascism, narcissism, idolatry, arrogance, selfishness, and ignorance, and where many prisoners praise their jailors and oppressors.

#### *Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

We have entered a brave new world, where, as Alice in *Through the Looking Glass* [112] said, "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." The more one leans to the right, the truer this position seems to be. If one's sources of information are *Fox News* or like-minded news sites and alt-right social media sites, not only are you asked to perpetuate these impossible things, but you are also asked to promote these things with a sense of self-entitled moral outrage throughout your disinformation ecology. In the age of distraction, truth is "whatever makes you click" [113]. In the age of inflamed grievances, truth is whatever you are predisposed and enflamed to click.

#### **Author details**

Thomas J. Froehlich Kent State University, Kent, OH, Unites States of America

\*Address all correspondence to: tfroehli@kent.edu

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**49**

2020]

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

from: https://www.washingtonpost. com/politics/how-the-trump-campaigncame-to-court-qanon-the-onlineconspiracy-movement-identified-bythe-fbi-as-a-violent-threat/2020/08/01/

af089b63ac21\_story.html [Accessed: 22

[8] Collins B. Trump fans, foiled by Google translate, believe 'covfefe' was a secret Arabic message. The Daily Beast [Internet]. 1 June 2017. Available from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpfans-foiled-by-google-translate-believecovfefe-was-a-secret-arabic-message

dd0ea9b4-d1d4-11ea-9038-

[Accessed: 26 August 2020].

[9] Grothaus M. QAnon's "codes" are probably just random typing, says researcher. Fast Company [Internet]. 15 August 2018. Available from: https:// www.fastcompany.com/90219187/ qanons-codes-are-probably-justrandom-typing-says-researcher [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[10] Warzel C. The week QAnon went mainstream. New York Times [Internet]. 15 August 2020. Available from: https:// www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/opinion/ qanon-marjorie-greene-congress.html

[11] Wong J. Revealed: QAnon Facebook groups are growing at a rapid pace around the world. The Guardian [Internet]. 11 August 2020. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/ us-news/2020/aug/11/qanon-facebookgroups-growing-conspiracy-theory [Accessed: 11 September 2020]

[12] Plato. The Republic. Bloom A, translator, editor. Basic Books; 1968.

[13] Froehlich TJ. A not-so-brief account of current information ethics: the ethics of ignorance, missing information, misinformation, disinformation and other forms of deception or

[Accessed: 22 August 2020]

August 2020]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

[1] Hassan, S. The Cult of Trump. New York, New York: Free Press; 2019. 320 p.

[2] Gartner, J. DEFCON 2: nuclear risk is rising as Donald Trump goes downhill. In: Gartner J, Buser S, Cruz L, editors. Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump. Asheville, NC: Chiron Publications; 2018. p. 25-37.

[3] Kessler G, Rizzo S, Kelly M. President Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims. Washington Post. 13 July 2020. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/2020/07/13/president-trumphas-made-more-than-20000-falseor-misleading-claims/ [Accessed: 23

[4] Kristof, N. 'I keep my promises,' Trump said. Let's check. New York Times [Internet]. 5 September 2020. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2020/09/05/opinion/sunday/ trump-promises-check.html [Accessed:

[5] Bandow D. The tragedy of Donald Trump: his presidency is marred with failure. Cato Institute [Internet]. 20 December 2019. Available from: https://www.cato.org/publications/ commentary/tragedy-donald-trumppresidency-marred-failure [Accessed: 9

[6] Longman M. Two stories that show why Trump's unfit for office. Washington Monthly [Internet]. 16 June 2020. Available from: https:// washingtonmonthly.com/2020/06/16/ two-stories-that-show-why-trumpsunfit-for-office/ [Accessed: 26 August

[7] Stanley-Becker I. How the Trump campaign came to court QAnon, the online conspiracy movement identified by the FBI as a violent threat. Washington Post [Internet]. 1 August 2020. Available

August 2020]

**References**

7 September 2020]

September 2020]

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

#### **References**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

whatever you are predisposed and enflamed to click.

We have entered a brave new world, where, as Alice in *Through the Looking Glass* [112] said, "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." The more one leans to the right, the truer this position seems to be. If one's sources of information are *Fox News* or like-minded news sites and alt-right social media sites, not only are you asked to perpetuate these impossible things, but you are also asked to promote these things with a sense of self-entitled moral outrage throughout your disinformation ecology. In the age of distraction, truth is "whatever makes you click" [113]. In the age of inflamed grievances, truth is

**48**

**Author details**

Thomas J. Froehlich

Kent State University, Kent, OH, Unites States of America

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: tfroehli@kent.edu

provided the original work is properly cited.

[1] Hassan, S. The Cult of Trump. New York, New York: Free Press; 2019. 320 p.

[2] Gartner, J. DEFCON 2: nuclear risk is rising as Donald Trump goes downhill. In: Gartner J, Buser S, Cruz L, editors. Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump. Asheville, NC: Chiron Publications; 2018. p. 25-37.

[3] Kessler G, Rizzo S, Kelly M. President Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims. Washington Post. 13 July 2020. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/2020/07/13/president-trumphas-made-more-than-20000-falseor-misleading-claims/ [Accessed: 23 August 2020]

[4] Kristof, N. 'I keep my promises,' Trump said. Let's check. New York Times [Internet]. 5 September 2020. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2020/09/05/opinion/sunday/ trump-promises-check.html [Accessed: 7 September 2020]

[5] Bandow D. The tragedy of Donald Trump: his presidency is marred with failure. Cato Institute [Internet]. 20 December 2019. Available from: https://www.cato.org/publications/ commentary/tragedy-donald-trumppresidency-marred-failure [Accessed: 9 September 2020]

[6] Longman M. Two stories that show why Trump's unfit for office. Washington Monthly [Internet]. 16 June 2020. Available from: https:// washingtonmonthly.com/2020/06/16/ two-stories-that-show-why-trumpsunfit-for-office/ [Accessed: 26 August 2020]

[7] Stanley-Becker I. How the Trump campaign came to court QAnon, the online conspiracy movement identified by the FBI as a violent threat. Washington Post [Internet]. 1 August 2020. Available

from: https://www.washingtonpost. com/politics/how-the-trump-campaigncame-to-court-qanon-the-onlineconspiracy-movement-identified-bythe-fbi-as-a-violent-threat/2020/08/01/ dd0ea9b4-d1d4-11ea-9038 af089b63ac21\_story.html [Accessed: 22 August 2020]

[8] Collins B. Trump fans, foiled by Google translate, believe 'covfefe' was a secret Arabic message. The Daily Beast [Internet]. 1 June 2017. Available from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpfans-foiled-by-google-translate-believecovfefe-was-a-secret-arabic-message [Accessed: 26 August 2020].

[9] Grothaus M. QAnon's "codes" are probably just random typing, says researcher. Fast Company [Internet]. 15 August 2018. Available from: https:// www.fastcompany.com/90219187/ qanons-codes-are-probably-justrandom-typing-says-researcher [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[10] Warzel C. The week QAnon went mainstream. New York Times [Internet]. 15 August 2020. Available from: https:// www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/opinion/ qanon-marjorie-greene-congress.html [Accessed: 22 August 2020]

[11] Wong J. Revealed: QAnon Facebook groups are growing at a rapid pace around the world. The Guardian [Internet]. 11 August 2020. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/ us-news/2020/aug/11/qanon-facebookgroups-growing-conspiracy-theory [Accessed: 11 September 2020]

[12] Plato. The Republic. Bloom A, translator, editor. Basic Books; 1968.

[13] Froehlich TJ. A not-so-brief account of current information ethics: the ethics of ignorance, missing information, misinformation, disinformation and other forms of deception or

incompetence. BiD: textos universitaris de biblioteconomia i documentació [Internet]. December 2017. Available from: http://bid.ub.edu/en/39/froehlich. htm DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1344/ BiD2017.39.8.

[14] Froehlich TJ. The role of pseudocognitive authorities and self-deception in the dissemination of fake news. Open Information Science. 2019; 3:115-136. DOI: 10.1515/opis-2019-0009

[15] Froehlich TJ. Ten lessons for the age of disinformation. In: Dalkir K and Katz R. editors. Navigating Fake News, Alternative Facts and Misinformation in a Post-Truth World. IGI Global. 2020. pp. 36-88. https://www.igi-global.com/ gateway/chapter/full-text-pdf/249503.

[16] Parts of this section are adapted, synthesized or expanded from [13, 14 or 15].

[17] Chisholm RM, Feehan TD. The intent to deceive. Journal of Philosophy 1977; 74(3):143-159.

[18] Fallis D. The varieties of disinformation. In: Floridi L and Illari P, editors. The Philosophy of Information Quality. Synthese Library. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing; 2014. 358. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-07121-3\_8

[19] Von Hippel W, Trivers R. The evolution and psychology of self-deception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2011; 34:1-16. DOI: 10.1017/ S0140525X10001354

[20] Dings R. Social strategies in selfdeception. New Ideas in Psychology. 2017; 47:16-23.

[21] Lynch K. Willful ignorance and selfdeception. Philosophical Studies. 2016; 173:505-523.

[22] Sweeny K, Melnyk D, Miller W, Shepperd JA. Information avoidance: who, what, when, and why. Review

of General Psychology. 2010; 14(4):340-353.

[23] Forgas JP, Baumeister RF. Homo credulous: On the social psychology of gullibility. In: Forgas JP, Baumeister RF, editors. The Social Psychology of Gullibility: Conspiracy Theories, Fake News and Irrational Beliefs. Routledge. 2019. Available from: https:// ebookcentral.proquest.com

[24] Cherry K. How cognitive biases influence how you think and act. Very Well Mind [Internet]. 19 July 2020. Available from: https://www. verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitivebias-2794963 [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[25] List of cognitive biases. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ List\_of\_cognitive\_biases [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[26] Benson B. Cognitive bias cheat sheet. Medium [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://medium.com/ better-humans/cognitive-bias-cheatsheet-55a472476b18 [Accessed: 23 August 2020]

[27] Availability heuristic. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Availability\_heuristic. [Accessed: 2020-08-27]

[28] Dreyfuss E. Cognitive bias president Trump understands better than you. Wired [Internet]. 3 June 2017. Available from: https://www.wired.com/2017/02/ cognitive-bias-president-trumpunderstands-better/ [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[29] MacDonald C. This is the natural cognitive bias that Donald Trump leveraged to win. Canadian Business [Internet]. 30 November 2016. Available from: https://www.canadianbusiness. com/blogs-and-comment/

**51**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

referred to MS-13 gang members. New York Times [Internet]. 17 May 2018. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2018/05/17/us/trump-animals-ms-13-gangs.html [Accessed: 13 September

[37] Mutz DC. Status threat, not economic hardship, explains the 2016 presidential vote. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 2018; 115(19):E4330-E4339. Available from: https://www.pnas.org/ content/115/19/E4330 [Accessed: 30

[38] Tanner, M. Donald Trump, the profligate president. Cato Institute [Internet]. 24 July 2019. Available from: https://www.cato.org/ publications/commentary/donaldtrump-profligate-president [Accessed:

[39] Stelter B. Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and The Dangerous Distortion of Truth. 2020. New York, New York.

Atria/One Signal Publishing.

[40] Mehta H. Shocker: White evangelicals no longer care about a president's private morality. Friendly Atheist [Internet]. 14 September 2017. Available from: http://www.patheos. com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/09/14/ shocker-white-evangelicals-no-longercare-about-a-presidents-privatemorality/#hCVezDDYSWpcGZB8.99

[Accessed: 1 January 2018]

2019]

[41] Mattson, S. White Christian nationalism — not secularism — is destroying America. Sojourners [Internet]. 4 February 2019 Available from: https://sojo.net/articles/whitechristian-nationalism-not-secularismdestroying-America [Accessed: 2 April

[42] Brockman DR. The radical theology that could make religious freedom a thing of the past. Texas Observer [Internet]. 2 June 2016. Available

2018]

June 2019]

7 September 2020]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

donald-trump-cognitive-biases [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[30] Friedman J. Nationalism isn't xenophobia, but it's just as bad. Niskanen Center [Internet]. 16 August 2017. Available from: https://www. niskanencenter.org/nationalism-isntxenophobia-just-bad/ [Accessed: 12

[31] Pettigrew TF. Social psychological perspectives on Trump supporters, Journal of Social and Political Psychology. 2017; 5(1):107-116.

Available from: https://jspp.psychopen. eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/750/ html [Accessed: 18 August 2017].

[32] Sinclair AH, Stanley ML, Seli P. Closed-minded cognition: right-wing authoritarianism is negatively related to belief updating following prediction error. Psychonomic

Bulletin & Review [Internet]. 2020. https://doi.org/10.3758/

[33] De Keersmaecker J, Roets A. Is there an ideological asymmetry in the moral approval of spreading misinformation by politicians? Journal of Personality and Individual Differences. 2019;

[34] Davis JH. House condemns Trump's attack on four congresswomen as racist. New York Times [Internet]. 17 May 2019. Available from: https:// www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ politics/trump-tweet-house-vote.html.

[35] Rubin J. Trump's language is racist. Period. Washington Post [Internet]. 23 June 2020. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ opinions/2020/06/23/follow-generalsanchezs-lead-trumps-language-isracist [Accessed: 23 August 2020]

[36] Davis JH, Chokshi N. Trump defends 'animals' remark, saying it

s13423-020-01767-y

[Accessed: 7 July 2019]

143:165-169.

September 2020]

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

donald-trump-cognitive-biases [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

of General Psychology. 2010;

ebookcentral.proquest.com

[23] Forgas JP, Baumeister RF. Homo credulous: On the social psychology of gullibility. In: Forgas JP, Baumeister RF, editors. The Social Psychology of Gullibility: Conspiracy Theories, Fake News and Irrational Beliefs. Routledge. 2019. Available from: https://

[24] Cherry K. How cognitive biases influence how you think and act. Very Well Mind [Internet]. 19 July 2020. Available from: https://www. verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitivebias-2794963 [Accessed: 27 August

[25] List of cognitive biases. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ List\_of\_cognitive\_biases [Accessed: 27

[26] Benson B. Cognitive bias cheat sheet. Medium [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://medium.com/ better-humans/cognitive-bias-cheatsheet-55a472476b18 [Accessed: 23

[27] Availability heuristic. In:

Wikipedia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Availability\_heuristic. [Accessed:

[28] Dreyfuss E. Cognitive bias president Trump understands better than you. Wired [Internet]. 3 June 2017. Available from: https://www.wired.com/2017/02/ cognitive-bias-president-trumpunderstands-better/ [Accessed: 27

[29] MacDonald C. This is the natural cognitive bias that Donald Trump leveraged to win. Canadian Business [Internet]. 30 November 2016. Available from: https://www.canadianbusiness.

com/blogs-and-comment/

14(4):340-353.

2020]

August 2020]

August 2020]

2020-08-27]

August 2020]

incompetence. BiD: textos universitaris de biblioteconomia i documentació [Internet]. December 2017. Available from: http://bid.ub.edu/en/39/froehlich. htm DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1344/

[14] Froehlich TJ. The role of pseudocognitive authorities and self-deception in the dissemination of fake news. Open Information Science. 2019; 3:115-136.

[15] Froehlich TJ. Ten lessons for the age of disinformation. In: Dalkir K and Katz R. editors. Navigating Fake News, Alternative Facts and Misinformation in a Post-Truth World. IGI Global. 2020. pp. 36-88. https://www.igi-global.com/ gateway/chapter/full-text-pdf/249503.

[16] Parts of this section are adapted, synthesized or expanded from [13, 14

[17] Chisholm RM, Feehan TD. The intent to deceive. Journal of Philosophy

disinformation. In: Floridi L and Illari P, editors. The Philosophy of Information Quality. Synthese Library. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing; 2014. 358. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-07121-3\_8

1977; 74(3):143-159.

[18] Fallis D. The varieties of

[19] Von Hippel W, Trivers R. The evolution and psychology of self-deception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2011; 34:1-16. DOI: 10.1017/

[20] Dings R. Social strategies in selfdeception. New Ideas in Psychology.

[21] Lynch K. Willful ignorance and selfdeception. Philosophical Studies. 2016;

[22] Sweeny K, Melnyk D, Miller W, Shepperd JA. Information avoidance: who, what, when, and why. Review

S0140525X10001354

2017; 47:16-23.

173:505-523.

DOI: 10.1515/opis-2019-0009

BiD2017.39.8.

or 15].

**50**

[30] Friedman J. Nationalism isn't xenophobia, but it's just as bad. Niskanen Center [Internet]. 16 August 2017. Available from: https://www. niskanencenter.org/nationalism-isntxenophobia-just-bad/ [Accessed: 12 September 2020]

[31] Pettigrew TF. Social psychological perspectives on Trump supporters, Journal of Social and Political Psychology. 2017; 5(1):107-116. Available from: https://jspp.psychopen. eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/750/ html [Accessed: 18 August 2017].

[32] Sinclair AH, Stanley ML, Seli P. Closed-minded cognition: right-wing authoritarianism is negatively related to belief updating following prediction error. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review [Internet]. 2020. https://doi.org/10.3758/ s13423-020-01767-y

[33] De Keersmaecker J, Roets A. Is there an ideological asymmetry in the moral approval of spreading misinformation by politicians? Journal of Personality and Individual Differences. 2019; 143:165-169.

[34] Davis JH. House condemns Trump's attack on four congresswomen as racist. New York Times [Internet]. 17 May 2019. Available from: https:// www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ politics/trump-tweet-house-vote.html. [Accessed: 7 July 2019]

[35] Rubin J. Trump's language is racist. Period. Washington Post [Internet]. 23 June 2020. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ opinions/2020/06/23/follow-generalsanchezs-lead-trumps-language-isracist [Accessed: 23 August 2020]

[36] Davis JH, Chokshi N. Trump defends 'animals' remark, saying it referred to MS-13 gang members. New York Times [Internet]. 17 May 2018. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2018/05/17/us/trump-animals-ms-13-gangs.html [Accessed: 13 September 2018]

[37] Mutz DC. Status threat, not economic hardship, explains the 2016 presidential vote. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 2018; 115(19):E4330-E4339. Available from: https://www.pnas.org/ content/115/19/E4330 [Accessed: 30 June 2019]

[38] Tanner, M. Donald Trump, the profligate president. Cato Institute [Internet]. 24 July 2019. Available from: https://www.cato.org/ publications/commentary/donaldtrump-profligate-president [Accessed: 7 September 2020]

[39] Stelter B. Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and The Dangerous Distortion of Truth. 2020. New York, New York. Atria/One Signal Publishing.

[40] Mehta H. Shocker: White evangelicals no longer care about a president's private morality. Friendly Atheist [Internet]. 14 September 2017. Available from: http://www.patheos. com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/09/14/ shocker-white-evangelicals-no-longercare-about-a-presidents-privatemorality/#hCVezDDYSWpcGZB8.99 [Accessed: 1 January 2018]

[41] Mattson, S. White Christian nationalism — not secularism — is destroying America. Sojourners [Internet]. 4 February 2019 Available from: https://sojo.net/articles/whitechristian-nationalism-not-secularismdestroying-America [Accessed: 2 April 2019]

[42] Brockman DR. The radical theology that could make religious freedom a thing of the past. Texas Observer [Internet]. 2 June 2016. Available

from: https://www.texasobserver. org/dominion-theology [Accessed: 14 September 2018]

[43] Ruse A. The Catholic Case for Trump. Washington DC: Regnery Publishing; 2020. 208 p.

[44] Nguyen T. Pope Francis calls out Trump, accuses him of "pro-life" hypocrisy. Vanity Fair [Internet]. September 2017. Available from: https:// www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/ pope-francis-trump-daca [Accessed: 29 September 2020]

[45] Smith A, Banic V. Fake news: how a partying macedonian teen earns thousands publishing lies. NBC News [Internet]. 6 December 2016. Available from: http://www.nbcnews.com/ news/world/fake-news-how-partyingmacedonian-teen-earns-thousandspublishing-lies-n692451 [Accessed: 13 August 2017]

[46] Ingraham C. Why conservatives might be more likely to fall for fake news. Washington Post [Internet]. 7 December 2016. Available from: https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/ wp/2016/12/07/why-conservativesmight-be-more-likely-to-fall-for-fakenews/ [Accessed: 26 October 2019]

[47] Ladd J. Negative partisanship may be the most toxic form of polarization. Vox [Internet]. 2 June 2017. Available from: https://www.vox.com/mischiefsof-faction/2017/6/2/15730524/negativepartisanship-toxic-polarization [Accessed: 24 August 2020]

[48] Klein E. Why We're Polarized. New York: Avid Reader Press; 2020.

[49] Jasko K, Grzymala-Moszczynska J, Maj M, Szastok M. Making Americans feel great again? Personal significance predicts political intentions of losers and winners of the 2016 U.S. election. Political Psychology. 2020. Available

from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/338918773\_Making\_ Americans\_Feel\_Great\_Again\_Personal\_ Significance\_Predicts\_Political\_ Intentions\_of\_Losers\_and\_Winners\_ of\_the\_2016\_US\_Election [Accessed: 16 September 2020]

[50] Azarian B. The psychology behind Donald Trump's unwavering support. Psychology Today. 13 September 2016. Available from: https://www. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ mind-in-the-machine/201609/thepsychology-behind-donald-trumpsunwavering-support. [Accessed: 29 August 2020]

[51] Bogage J. Whom are you voting for? This guy can read your mind. Washington Post [Internet]. 23 June 2019. Available from: https://www. washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/ wp/2016/06/23/whom-are-you-votingfor-this-guy-can-read-your-mind/ [Accessed:12 September 2020]

[52] Tracking waste and abuse in Trump's cabinet. Center for American Progress [Internet]. 6 April 2018. Available from: https://www. americanprogressaction.org/issues/ democracy/news/2018/04/06/170006/ tracking-waste-abuse-trumps-cabinet/. [Accessed: 25 September 2020]

[53] Conservatism in the United States. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Conservatism\_in\_the\_United\_States [Accessed: 27 August 2020]

[54] Resnick B. 9 essential lessons from psychology to understand the Trump era. Vox [Internet]. 4 April 2018. Available from: https://www.vox.com/scienceand-health/2018/4/11/16897062/ political-psychology-trump-explainstudies-research-science-motivatedreasoning-bias-fake-news. [Accessed: 29 August 2020]

**53**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

the-modern-news-consumer/ [Accessed: 25 August 2020]

August 2020]

[62] Gramlich J. 5 facts about Fox News. Pew Research Center [Internet]. 8 April 2020. Available from: https://www. pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/ five-facts-about-fox-news/ [Accessed: 5

[63] "FOX's File" PunditFact. Politifact [Internet]. Available from http://www. politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/ [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[64] Bishop W. Trump campaign flubs spelling of 'Nobel' in ad touting his nomination for Peace Prize. Lancaster Courier [Internet]. 9 November 2020. Available from: https://www. lancastercourier.com/2020/09/11/ trump-campaign-flubs-spelling-ofnobel-in-ad-touting-his-nominationfor-peace-prize/?fbclid=IwAR2vb ONvbwEcx5hjXkwBz1TmbccY5I9\_ ldg5ocQM\_nNDYgSba4Y36OPXOaQ [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[65] Harvey J. Lou Dobbs claims Trump 'had a great day.' Critics say he's 'delusional.' Huffpost [Internet]. 10 September 2020. Available from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/loudobbs-trump-great-day\_n\_5f59a1cac5b6 2874bc182e18. [Accessed: 12 September

[66] Roudabeh K. Demonstrations & political violence in America: new data for summer 2020. ACLED [Internet]. 3 September 2020. Available from: https://acleddata.com/2020/09/03/ demonstrations-political-violence-inamerica-new-data-for-summer-2020/ [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[67] McCarthy B. No, the Trump administration hasn't fulfilled every state request for coronavirus supplies. Politifact [Internet]. 27 July 2020. Available from: https://www. politifact.com/factchecks/2020/

2020]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

[56] Wilson P. Second-hand Knowledge: an Inquiry into Cognitive Authority. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; 1983.

[57] Rieh SY. Credibility and cognitive authority of information. In: Bates M, Maack MN, editors. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 3rd Ed. (pp. 1337-1344). New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. 2010. Available from: http://hdl.handle. net/2027.42/106416 [Accessed: 17

[58] Smith T. Foxocracy: Inside the Network's Playbook of Tribal Warfare. New York, NY: Diversion Books. 2019.

[59] Sullivan K. The Fox "News" lie: Fox's "news" side pushed misinformation every day for four months straight. Media Matters. 13 May 2019. Available from: https://www.mediamatters.org/ fox-news/fox-news-lie [Accessed: 26

[60] Buettner R, Craig S, McIntire M. Trump's taxes show chronic losses and years of income tax avoidance. New York Times. 27 September 2020. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/

donald-trump-taxes.html [Accessed: 30

[61] Mitchell A, Gottfried J, Barthel M, Shearer E. The modern news consumer. Pew Research Center. 7 July 2016. https://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/

[55] Goodman R, Rangappa A. How Sen. Ron Johnson's investigation became an enabler of Russian disinformation: Part I. Just Security [Internet]. 24 August 2020. Available from: https://www.justsecurity.org/71947/ how-sen-ron-johnsons-investigationbecame-an-enabler-of-russiandisinformation-part-i/ [Accessed: 29

August 2020]

August 2017]

August 2020]

September 2020]

272 p.

210 p.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

[55] Goodman R, Rangappa A. How Sen. Ron Johnson's investigation became an enabler of Russian disinformation: Part I. Just Security [Internet]. 24 August 2020. Available from: https://www.justsecurity.org/71947/ how-sen-ron-johnsons-investigationbecame-an-enabler-of-russiandisinformation-part-i/ [Accessed: 29 August 2020]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/338918773\_Making\_

Significance\_Predicts\_Political\_ Intentions\_of\_Losers\_and\_Winners\_ of\_the\_2016\_US\_Election [Accessed: 16

September 2020]

August 2020]

Americans\_Feel\_Great\_Again\_Personal\_

[50] Azarian B. The psychology behind Donald Trump's unwavering support. Psychology Today. 13 September 2016. Available from: https://www. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ mind-in-the-machine/201609/thepsychology-behind-donald-trumpsunwavering-support. [Accessed: 29

[51] Bogage J. Whom are you voting for? This guy can read your mind. Washington Post [Internet]. 23 June 2019. Available from: https://www. washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/ wp/2016/06/23/whom-are-you-votingfor-this-guy-can-read-your-mind/ [Accessed:12 September 2020]

[52] Tracking waste and abuse in Trump's cabinet. Center for American Progress [Internet]. 6 April 2018. Available from: https://www. americanprogressaction.org/issues/ democracy/news/2018/04/06/170006/ tracking-waste-abuse-trumps-cabinet/.

[Accessed: 25 September 2020]

[Accessed: 27 August 2020]

August 2020]

[54] Resnick B. 9 essential lessons from psychology to understand the Trump era. Vox [Internet]. 4 April 2018. Available from: https://www.vox.com/scienceand-health/2018/4/11/16897062/ political-psychology-trump-explainstudies-research-science-motivatedreasoning-bias-fake-news. [Accessed: 29

[53] Conservatism in the United States. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Conservatism\_in\_the\_United\_States

from: https://www.texasobserver. org/dominion-theology [Accessed: 14

[43] Ruse A. The Catholic Case for Trump. Washington DC: Regnery

[44] Nguyen T. Pope Francis calls out Trump, accuses him of "pro-life" hypocrisy. Vanity Fair [Internet]. September 2017. Available from: https:// www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/ pope-francis-trump-daca [Accessed: 29

[45] Smith A, Banic V. Fake news: how a partying macedonian teen earns thousands publishing lies. NBC News [Internet]. 6 December 2016. Available from: http://www.nbcnews.com/ news/world/fake-news-how-partyingmacedonian-teen-earns-thousandspublishing-lies-n692451 [Accessed: 13

[46] Ingraham C. Why conservatives might be more likely to fall for fake news. Washington Post [Internet]. 7 December 2016. Available from: https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/ wp/2016/12/07/why-conservativesmight-be-more-likely-to-fall-for-fakenews/ [Accessed: 26 October 2019]

[47] Ladd J. Negative partisanship may be the most toxic form of polarization. Vox [Internet]. 2 June 2017. Available from: https://www.vox.com/mischiefsof-faction/2017/6/2/15730524/negative-

[48] Klein E. Why We're Polarized. New

[49] Jasko K, Grzymala-Moszczynska J, Maj M, Szastok M. Making Americans feel great again? Personal significance predicts political intentions of losers and winners of the 2016 U.S. election. Political Psychology. 2020. Available

partisanship-toxic-polarization [Accessed: 24 August 2020]

York: Avid Reader Press; 2020.

September 2018]

September 2020]

August 2017]

Publishing; 2020. 208 p.

**52**

[56] Wilson P. Second-hand Knowledge: an Inquiry into Cognitive Authority. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; 1983. 210 p.

[57] Rieh SY. Credibility and cognitive authority of information. In: Bates M, Maack MN, editors. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 3rd Ed. (pp. 1337-1344). New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. 2010. Available from: http://hdl.handle. net/2027.42/106416 [Accessed: 17 August 2017]

[58] Smith T. Foxocracy: Inside the Network's Playbook of Tribal Warfare. New York, NY: Diversion Books. 2019. 272 p.

[59] Sullivan K. The Fox "News" lie: Fox's "news" side pushed misinformation every day for four months straight. Media Matters. 13 May 2019. Available from: https://www.mediamatters.org/ fox-news/fox-news-lie [Accessed: 26 August 2020]

[60] Buettner R, Craig S, McIntire M. Trump's taxes show chronic losses and years of income tax avoidance. New York Times. 27 September 2020. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/ donald-trump-taxes.html [Accessed: 30 September 2020]

[61] Mitchell A, Gottfried J, Barthel M, Shearer E. The modern news consumer. Pew Research Center. 7 July 2016. https://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/ the-modern-news-consumer/ [Accessed: 25 August 2020]

[62] Gramlich J. 5 facts about Fox News. Pew Research Center [Internet]. 8 April 2020. Available from: https://www. pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/ five-facts-about-fox-news/ [Accessed: 5 August 2020]

[63] "FOX's File" PunditFact. Politifact [Internet]. Available from http://www. politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/ [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[64] Bishop W. Trump campaign flubs spelling of 'Nobel' in ad touting his nomination for Peace Prize. Lancaster Courier [Internet]. 9 November 2020. Available from: https://www. lancastercourier.com/2020/09/11/ trump-campaign-flubs-spelling-ofnobel-in-ad-touting-his-nominationfor-peace-prize/?fbclid=IwAR2vb ONvbwEcx5hjXkwBz1TmbccY5I9\_ ldg5ocQM\_nNDYgSba4Y36OPXOaQ [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[65] Harvey J. Lou Dobbs claims Trump 'had a great day.' Critics say he's 'delusional.' Huffpost [Internet]. 10 September 2020. Available from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/loudobbs-trump-great-day\_n\_5f59a1cac5b6 2874bc182e18. [Accessed: 12 September 2020]

[66] Roudabeh K. Demonstrations & political violence in America: new data for summer 2020. ACLED [Internet]. 3 September 2020. Available from: https://acleddata.com/2020/09/03/ demonstrations-political-violence-inamerica-new-data-for-summer-2020/ [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[67] McCarthy B. No, the Trump administration hasn't fulfilled every state request for coronavirus supplies. Politifact [Internet]. 27 July 2020. Available from: https://www. politifact.com/factchecks/2020/

jul/27/sean-hannity/no-trumpadministration-hasnt-fulfilled-everystat/ [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[68] Garcia V. Laura Ingraham on the 'real COVID record': media and the left are rewriting history. Fox News [Internet]. 5 August 2020. Available from: https://www.foxnews.com/ media/laura-ingraham-blue-statescovid-trump-blame [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[69] Woodward B. Rage. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 2020. 466 p.

[70] Sanger MD, Wieland N, Lipton E, Haberman M, Sanger DE. Inside Trump's failure: the rush to abandon leadership role on the virus. New York Times [Internet]. 18 July 2020. Available from: https://www. nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/politics/ trump-coronavirus-responsefailure-leadership.html [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[71] Stokols E. Fox isn't enough: amid coronavirus crisis, Trump leans on a new media friend. Los Angeles Times [Internet]. 1 April 2020. Available from: https://www.latimes.com/politics/ story/2020-04-01/trump-leans-on-newmedia-friend [Accessed: 17 September 2020]

[72] Goldberg, J. Trump: Americans who died in war are 'losers' and 'suckers'. The Atlantic. 3 September 2020. Available from: https://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2020/09/trumpamericans-who-died-at-war-are-losersand-suckers/615997/. [Accessed: 17 September 2020]

[73] Embury-Dennis T. Fox News attempted to deny Trump called dead US soldiers 'suckers'. Hours later its own security correspondent contradicted them. The Independent. 10 September 2020. Available from: https://www. independent.co.uk/news/world/

americas/us-politics/trump-deadsoldiers-veterans-suckers-losersatlantic-fox-news-a9706436.html [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[74] Zorn E. The foolish inconsistency of the Fox News propaganda machine. Chicago Tribune [Internet]. 31 May 2019. Available from: https://www. chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ ct-perspec-zorn-fox-trump-obamakorea-20180320-story.html [Accessed: 25 September 2020]

[75] Trump DJ. NORTH CAROLINA: To make sure your Ballot COUNTS, sign & send it in EARLY. When Polls open, go to your Polling Place to see if it was COUNTED. IF NOT, VOTE! Your signed Ballot will not count because your vote has been posted. Don't let them illegally take your vote away from you! [Tweet]. 12 September 2020.

[76] Wemple E. Yes, Fox News matters. A lot. Washington Post [Internet]. 11 April 2019. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost. com/opinions/2019/04/11/yes-foxnews-matters-lot/?noredirect&utm\_ term=.8ad57d66b52f. [Accessed: 19 April 2019]

[77] Price D. Fox News didn't "steal" your parents. Medium [Internet]. 12 April 2019. Available from: https:// medium.com/@devonprice/fox-newsdidnt-steal-your-parents-8b1163403f6e [Accessed: 7 September 2020]

[78] Benkler Y, Faris R, Roberts H. Network propaganda: manipulation, disinformation, and radicalization in American politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2018. 472 p.

[79] Mooney C. The science of why we don't believe science. Mother Jones [Internet]. April 2011. Available from: https://www.motherjones. com/politics/2011/04/denial-sciencechris-mooney/?fbclid=IwAR0joS

**55**

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

[86] Gardner K. Social media: Where voices of hate find a place to preach. The Center for Public Integrity [Internet]. 30 August 2018. Available from: https://publicintegrity.org/politics/ social-media-where-voices-of-hatefind-a-place-to-preach/ [Accessed: 3

[87] McKeever V. Joanna Hoffman, the former right-hand woman of Steve Jobs, says Facebook is 'peddling in an addictive drug called anger'. CNBC [Internet]. 13 June 2020. Available from: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/12/ joanna-hoffman-facebook-is-peddlingan-addictive-drug-called-anger.html?fb clid=IwAR2DNvs0oJZBfjRdzAq-of8GE MPzVoeHzug0PTMIVhleUNvXNXh2e mOXS-o. [Accessed: 2 September 2020]

[88] Facebook offers a distorted view of American news. Economist. 10 September 2020. Available from: https://www.economist. com/graphic-detail/2020/09/10/ facebook-offers-a-distorted-view-ofamerican-news?utm\_campaign=theeconomist-today [Accessed: 14

[89] FCC fairness doctrine. In:

Wikipedia [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ FCC\_fairness\_doctrine. [Accessed: 15

[90] Vosoughi S, Roy D, Aral S. The spread of true and false news online. Science, 2018; 359(6380):1146-1151.

[91] Rapp DN. The Consequences of reading inaccurate information. Current Directions in Psychological Science,

[92] Tufekci Z. YouTube, the great radicalizer. New York Times [Internet]. 10 March 2018. Available from: https:// www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/ sunday/youtube-politics-radical.html.

[Accessed: 29 August 2020]

September 2020]

September 2018]

2016; 25(4):281-285.

September 2020]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

[80] Morrison P. How the 'propaganda feedback loop' of right-wing media keeps more than a quarter of Americans siloed. Los Angeles Times [Internet]. 7 November 2018. Available from: https:// www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/ la-ol-patt-morrison-yochai-benkler-20181107-htmlstory.html [Accessed: 26

[81] Garber M. Do you speak Fox? The Atlantic. September 2020. Available from: https://www.theatlantic. com/culture/archive/2020/09/ fox-news-trump-language-stelterhoax/616309/?utm\_source=newsletter

[Accessed: 17 September 2020]

Jenkins-Smith H. Cultural cognition of scientific consensus. Journal of Risk Research. 2011; 14(2):147-174, DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2010.511246

[83] Reich R. Facebook and Twitter spread Trump's lies – they must be broken up. The Guardian [Internet]. 2 November 2019. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/

commentisfree/2019/nov/02/facebooktwitter-donald-trump-lies. [Accessed: 2

Oliphant JB, Shearer E. Americans who mainly get their news on social media are less engaged, less knowledgeable. Pew Research Center [Internet]. 30 July 2020. Available from: https:// www.journalism.org/2020/07/30/ americans-who-mainly-get-their-newson-social-media-are-less-engaged-lessknowledgeable/ [Accessed: 2020-09-02]

[84] Mitchell A, Jurkowitz M,

[85] Social media. In: Wikipedia

[Accessed: 30 June 2019]

[Internet]. 2019. Available from: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social\_Media.

[82] Kahan D, Braman D,

September 2020]

t0kxWLUlWut1AMYwn0xT3d\_ wEp9l79mhVySrs26pi3WvtbW3pyptk

[Accessed: 22 August 2020]

October 2019]

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

t0kxWLUlWut1AMYwn0xT3d\_ wEp9l79mhVySrs26pi3WvtbW3pyptk [Accessed: 22 August 2020]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

americas/us-politics/trump-deadsoldiers-veterans-suckers-losersatlantic-fox-news-a9706436.html [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

[74] Zorn E. The foolish inconsistency of the Fox News propaganda machine. Chicago Tribune [Internet]. 31 May 2019. Available from: https://www. chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ ct-perspec-zorn-fox-trump-obamakorea-20180320-story.html [Accessed:

[75] Trump DJ. NORTH CAROLINA: To make sure your Ballot COUNTS, sign & send it in EARLY. When Polls open, go to your Polling Place to see if it was COUNTED. IF NOT, VOTE! Your signed Ballot will not count because your vote has been posted. Don't let them illegally take your vote away from you! [Tweet].

25 September 2020]

12 September 2020.

April 2019]

[76] Wemple E. Yes, Fox News matters. A lot. Washington Post [Internet]. 11 April 2019. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost. com/opinions/2019/04/11/yes-foxnews-matters-lot/?noredirect&utm\_ term=.8ad57d66b52f. [Accessed: 19

[77] Price D. Fox News didn't "steal" your parents. Medium [Internet]. 12 April 2019. Available from: https:// medium.com/@devonprice/fox-newsdidnt-steal-your-parents-8b1163403f6e

[Accessed: 7 September 2020]

University Press; 2018. 472 p.

[78] Benkler Y, Faris R, Roberts H. Network propaganda: manipulation, disinformation, and radicalization in American politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford

[79] Mooney C. The science of why we don't believe science. Mother Jones [Internet]. April 2011. Available from: https://www.motherjones. com/politics/2011/04/denial-sciencechris-mooney/?fbclid=IwAR0joS

jul/27/sean-hannity/no-trumpadministration-hasnt-fulfilled-everystat/ [Accessed: 13 September 2020]

September 2020]

September 2020]

September 2020]

2020]

[68] Garcia V. Laura Ingraham on the 'real COVID record': media and the left are rewriting history. Fox News [Internet]. 5 August 2020. Available from: https://www.foxnews.com/ media/laura-ingraham-blue-statescovid-trump-blame [Accessed: 13

[69] Woodward B. Rage. New York, NY:

Lipton E, Haberman M, Sanger DE. Inside Trump's failure: the rush to abandon leadership role on the virus. New York Times [Internet]. 18 July 2020. Available from: https://www. nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/politics/ trump-coronavirus-response-

failure-leadership.html [Accessed: 13

[71] Stokols E. Fox isn't enough: amid coronavirus crisis, Trump leans on a new media friend. Los Angeles Times [Internet]. 1 April 2020. Available from: https://www.latimes.com/politics/ story/2020-04-01/trump-leans-on-newmedia-friend [Accessed: 17 September

[72] Goldberg, J. Trump: Americans who died in war are 'losers' and 'suckers'. The Atlantic. 3 September 2020. Available from: https://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2020/09/trumpamericans-who-died-at-war-are-losersand-suckers/615997/. [Accessed: 17

[73] Embury-Dennis T. Fox News attempted to deny Trump called dead US soldiers 'suckers'. Hours later its own security correspondent contradicted them. The Independent. 10 September 2020. Available from: https://www. independent.co.uk/news/world/

Simon & Schuster. 2020. 466 p.

[70] Sanger MD, Wieland N,

**54**

[80] Morrison P. How the 'propaganda feedback loop' of right-wing media keeps more than a quarter of Americans siloed. Los Angeles Times [Internet]. 7 November 2018. Available from: https:// www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/ la-ol-patt-morrison-yochai-benkler-20181107-htmlstory.html [Accessed: 26 October 2019]

[81] Garber M. Do you speak Fox? The Atlantic. September 2020. Available from: https://www.theatlantic. com/culture/archive/2020/09/ fox-news-trump-language-stelterhoax/616309/?utm\_source=newsletter [Accessed: 17 September 2020]

[82] Kahan D, Braman D, Jenkins-Smith H. Cultural cognition of scientific consensus. Journal of Risk Research. 2011; 14(2):147-174, DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2010.511246

[83] Reich R. Facebook and Twitter spread Trump's lies – they must be broken up. The Guardian [Internet]. 2 November 2019. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2019/nov/02/facebooktwitter-donald-trump-lies. [Accessed: 2 September 2020]

[84] Mitchell A, Jurkowitz M, Oliphant JB, Shearer E. Americans who mainly get their news on social media are less engaged, less knowledgeable. Pew Research Center [Internet]. 30 July 2020. Available from: https:// www.journalism.org/2020/07/30/ americans-who-mainly-get-their-newson-social-media-are-less-engaged-lessknowledgeable/ [Accessed: 2020-09-02]

[85] Social media. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social\_Media. [Accessed: 30 June 2019]

[86] Gardner K. Social media: Where voices of hate find a place to preach. The Center for Public Integrity [Internet]. 30 August 2018. Available from: https://publicintegrity.org/politics/ social-media-where-voices-of-hatefind-a-place-to-preach/ [Accessed: 3 September 2020]

[87] McKeever V. Joanna Hoffman, the former right-hand woman of Steve Jobs, says Facebook is 'peddling in an addictive drug called anger'. CNBC [Internet]. 13 June 2020. Available from: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/12/ joanna-hoffman-facebook-is-peddlingan-addictive-drug-called-anger.html?fb clid=IwAR2DNvs0oJZBfjRdzAq-of8GE MPzVoeHzug0PTMIVhleUNvXNXh2e mOXS-o. [Accessed: 2 September 2020]

[88] Facebook offers a distorted view of American news. Economist. 10 September 2020. Available from: https://www.economist. com/graphic-detail/2020/09/10/ facebook-offers-a-distorted-view-ofamerican-news?utm\_campaign=theeconomist-today [Accessed: 14 September 2020]

[89] FCC fairness doctrine. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ FCC\_fairness\_doctrine. [Accessed: 15 September 2018]

[90] Vosoughi S, Roy D, Aral S. The spread of true and false news online. Science, 2018; 359(6380):1146-1151.

[91] Rapp DN. The Consequences of reading inaccurate information. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2016; 25(4):281-285.

[92] Tufekci Z. YouTube, the great radicalizer. New York Times [Internet]. 10 March 2018. Available from: https:// www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/ sunday/youtube-politics-radical.html. [Accessed: 29 August 2020]

[93] Fisher M, Taub A. How YouTube radicalized Brazil, New York Times [Internet]. 11 September 2019. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2019/08/11/world/americas/ youtube-brazil.html [Accessed: 29 September 2019]

[94] Glaser A. 8chan is a normal part of mass shootings now. Slate [Internet]. September 2019. Available from: https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/ el-paso-8chan-4chan-mass-shootingsmanifesto.html. [Accessed: 1 September 2019]

[95] Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47. 1919.

[96] Smietana B. Video from priest says Catholics who vote for Democrats will go to hell. One bishop approves this message. Religion News [Internet]. 6 September 2020. Available from: https://religionnews.com/2020/09/06/ catholic-vote-democrats-go-to-hellpriest-james-altman-video-warnsbishop-stirckland/ [Accessed: 30 September 2020]

[97] Marcos C. Facebook removes GOP lawmaker's post for inciting violence. The Hill [Internet]. 2 September 2020. Available from: https://thehill.com/ homenews/house/514814-facebookremoves-gop-lawmakers-post-forinciting-violence?fbclid=IwAR3XqVUX IDqSZjWktPD6i49u3FCTANyhfwpwI M70dtYUz5pE4Eztci-NfV0 [Accessed: 3 September 2020]

[98] Lalich J. A cult expert finds familiar patterns of behavior in Trump's GOP. Cult Research [Internet]. 1 September2018. Available from: http:// cultresearch.org/a-cult-expert-findsfamiliar-patterns-of-behavior-intrumps-gop/ [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[99] Navarro J. Dangerous cult leaders. Psychology Today [Internet]. 25

August 2012. Available from: https:// www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ spycatcher/201208/dangerous-cultleaders. [Accessed: 31 August 2020]

[100] Penn A. 'They are a cult for Trump': 6 reasons why the GOP is now more personality cult than political party. Front Page Live [Internet]. 29 September 2020. Available from: https:// www.frontpagelive.com/2020/08/29/ they-are-a-cult-for-trump-6-reasonswhy-the-gop-is-now-more-personalitycult-than-political-party/ [Accessed: 31 August 2020]

[101] Derysh, I. Yale psychiatrist: lockdown protesters exhibit same psychology as "child soldiers" and "urban gangs." Salon [Internet]. 23 April 2020. Available from: https:// www.salon.com/2020/04/23/ deryyale-psychiatrist-bandy-leelockdown-protesters-resemble-childsoldiers-and-urban-gangs/] [Accessed: 9 September 2020]

[102] Beckett L. Older people would rather die than let Covid-19 harm US economy – Texas official. The Guardian [Internet]. 24 March 2020. Available from: https://www. theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/24/ older-people-would-rather-die-thanlet-covid-19-lockdown-harm-useconomy-texas-official-dan-patrick. [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[103] Psychology Today Editorial Staff Shrinks battle over diagnosing Donald Trump. Psychology Today [Internet]. 31 January 2017. Available from: https:// www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ brainstorm/201701/shrinks-battle-overdiagnosing-donald-trump. [Accessed: 10 August 2017]

[104] Trump ML. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster; 2020. 240 p.

**57**

2020]

Glass. 2019. 98 p.

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump*

The Correspondent [Internet]. 16 April 2020. Available from: https:// thecorrespondent.com/410/how-thetruth-became-whatever-makes-youclick/9567807150-326405ae [Accessed:

29 August 2020]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

[105] McAdams, DP. The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning. Oxford University Press;

[106] Miller T. Trump's RNC con: warm and fuzzy fascism. RollingStone [Internet]. 28 August 2020. Available from: https://www.rollingstone.com/ politics/political-commentary/trumprnc-speech-illusion-white-houselawn-1051194/ [Accessed: 6 September

[107] Pennycook G, Cannon TD, Rand DG. Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 2018; 147(12):1865-1880. DOI: http://dx.doi. org.proxy.library.kent.edu/10.1037/

[108] Kierkegaard, S. The Sickness unto

[109] Robb A. Pizzagate: Anatomy of a fake news scandal. Rolling Stone [Internet]. 20 July 2020. Available from: https://www.rollingstone. com/feature/anatomy-of-a-fakenews-scandal-125877/ [Accessed: 15

[110] Who are Antifa? ADL [Internet]. Available from: https://www.adl.org/ resources/backgrounders/who-areantifa. [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[111] Healy J, Baker M. In Oregon, a year of political tumult extends to devastating wildfires. New York Times [Internet]. 11 September 2020. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2020/09/11/us/fires-oregon-antifarumors.html [Accessed: 15 September

[112] Carroll L. Through the Looking

[113] Wijnberg R. How the truth became whatever makes you click.

Death. London: Penguin; 2008.

2020. 320 p.

2020]

xge0000465

September 2020]

*A Disinformation-Misinformation Ecology: The Case of Trump DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95000*

[105] McAdams, DP. The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning. Oxford University Press; 2020. 320 p.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

August 2012. Available from: https:// www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ spycatcher/201208/dangerous-cultleaders. [Accessed: 31 August 2020]

[100] Penn A. 'They are a cult for Trump': 6 reasons why the GOP is now more personality cult than political party. Front Page Live [Internet]. 29 September 2020. Available from: https:// www.frontpagelive.com/2020/08/29/ they-are-a-cult-for-trump-6-reasonswhy-the-gop-is-now-more-personalitycult-than-political-party/ [Accessed: 31

[101] Derysh, I. Yale psychiatrist: lockdown protesters exhibit same psychology as "child soldiers" and "urban gangs." Salon [Internet]. 23 April 2020. Available from: https:// www.salon.com/2020/04/23/ deryyale-psychiatrist-bandy-leelockdown-protesters-resemble-childsoldiers-and-urban-gangs/] [Accessed:

[102] Beckett L. Older people would rather die than let Covid-19 harm US economy – Texas official. The Guardian [Internet]. 24 March 2020. Available from: https://www. theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/24/ older-people-would-rather-die-thanlet-covid-19-lockdown-harm-useconomy-texas-official-dan-patrick. [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[103] Psychology Today Editorial Staff Shrinks battle over diagnosing Donald Trump. Psychology Today [Internet]. 31 January 2017. Available from: https:// www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ brainstorm/201701/shrinks-battle-overdiagnosing-donald-trump. [Accessed:

[104] Trump ML. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster; 2020.

August 2020]

9 September 2020]

10 August 2017]

240 p.

[93] Fisher M, Taub A. How YouTube radicalized Brazil, New York Times [Internet]. 11 September 2019. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2019/08/11/world/americas/ youtube-brazil.html [Accessed: 29

[94] Glaser A. 8chan is a normal part of mass shootings now. Slate [Internet]. September 2019. Available from: https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/ el-paso-8chan-4chan-mass-shootingsmanifesto.html. [Accessed: 1 September

[95] Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S.

[96] Smietana B. Video from priest says Catholics who vote for Democrats will go to hell. One bishop approves this message. Religion News [Internet]. 6 September 2020. Available from: https://religionnews.com/2020/09/06/ catholic-vote-democrats-go-to-hellpriest-james-altman-video-warnsbishop-stirckland/ [Accessed: 30

[97] Marcos C. Facebook removes GOP lawmaker's post for inciting violence. The Hill [Internet]. 2 September 2020. Available from: https://thehill.com/ homenews/house/514814-facebookremoves-gop-lawmakers-post-forinciting-violence?fbclid=IwAR3XqVUX IDqSZjWktPD6i49u3FCTANyhfwpwI M70dtYUz5pE4Eztci-NfV0 [Accessed: 3

[98] Lalich J. A cult expert finds familiar

[99] Navarro J. Dangerous cult leaders. Psychology Today [Internet]. 25

patterns of behavior in Trump's GOP. Cult Research [Internet]. 1 September2018. Available from: http:// cultresearch.org/a-cult-expert-findsfamiliar-patterns-of-behavior-intrumps-gop/ [Accessed: 15 September

September 2019]

2019]

47. 1919.

September 2020]

September 2020]

**56**

2020]

[106] Miller T. Trump's RNC con: warm and fuzzy fascism. RollingStone [Internet]. 28 August 2020. Available from: https://www.rollingstone.com/ politics/political-commentary/trumprnc-speech-illusion-white-houselawn-1051194/ [Accessed: 6 September 2020]

[107] Pennycook G, Cannon TD, Rand DG. Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 2018; 147(12):1865-1880. DOI: http://dx.doi. org.proxy.library.kent.edu/10.1037/ xge0000465

[108] Kierkegaard, S. The Sickness unto Death. London: Penguin; 2008.

[109] Robb A. Pizzagate: Anatomy of a fake news scandal. Rolling Stone [Internet]. 20 July 2020. Available from: https://www.rollingstone. com/feature/anatomy-of-a-fakenews-scandal-125877/ [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[110] Who are Antifa? ADL [Internet]. Available from: https://www.adl.org/ resources/backgrounders/who-areantifa. [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[111] Healy J, Baker M. In Oregon, a year of political tumult extends to devastating wildfires. New York Times [Internet]. 11 September 2020. Available from: https://www.nytimes. com/2020/09/11/us/fires-oregon-antifarumors.html [Accessed: 15 September 2020]

[112] Carroll L. Through the Looking Glass. 2019. 98 p.

[113] Wijnberg R. How the truth became whatever makes you click. The Correspondent [Internet]. 16 April 2020. Available from: https:// thecorrespondent.com/410/how-thetruth-became-whatever-makes-youclick/9567807150-326405ae [Accessed: 29 August 2020]

**59**

**Chapter 3**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Fake News

*and Magdaléna Švecová*

Debunking as a Method of

*Zuzana Kvetanová, Anna Kačincová Predmerská* 

Uncovering Disinformation and

Journalism is about much more than just seeking and processing information. Multi-skilled journalists of the twenty-first century have to fulfil the given basic tasks and invest much of their time in verifying the affairs that are presented, and uncovering half-truths or false information. That is why all truly professional editorial offices pay attention to demasking, denying, or explaining disinformation in order to monitor and properly check the publishing activities of other media subjects. The chapter is focused on so-called debunking, a method of identifying disinformation, or rather a media genre that is associated with investigative journalism. The present study therefore aims to further explain why nowadays more and more media recipients express their trust in disinformation or various conspiracy theories. The outlined theoretical frameworks are followed by a discourse analysis in which the authors reflect on the current strategies of debunking applied by selected online news media. The text's contribution to the contemporary scholarly discussions on journalism thus lies in defining various journalistic strategies associated with debunking, i.e., publicly uncovering false information that is disseminated in order to influence or rather manipulate the whole of society or at least its major parts.

**Keywords:** debunking, digital media, disinformation, fake news, hoax, journalism

The post-factual era, as the scientific and media spheres call today, brings with it challenges not only for politicians but also for journalists. Although it is possible to speak of the presence and existence of various kinds of lies and manipulation techniques before the emergence of the Internet, no medium has provided such opportunities for the dissemination of fake news as does the digital space [1]. It is for this reason that journalists, whose ambition is to honestly verify and obtain information, are faced with various pseudo-media, blogs and social media accounts on a daily basis, presenting more or less thoughtfully and with certain goals various half-truths, information taken out of context or visual and audiovisual lies [2]. The creators of the news have thus (un)plannedly expanded their professional duties, namely on the one hand to identify the fake news itself and on the other hand to state the correct facts in the given context. In addition, their work on health and disease issues is very important, where disinformation and hoaxes directly threaten

#### **Chapter 3**

## Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News

*Zuzana Kvetanová, Anna Kačincová Predmerská and Magdaléna Švecová*

#### **Abstract**

Journalism is about much more than just seeking and processing information. Multi-skilled journalists of the twenty-first century have to fulfil the given basic tasks and invest much of their time in verifying the affairs that are presented, and uncovering half-truths or false information. That is why all truly professional editorial offices pay attention to demasking, denying, or explaining disinformation in order to monitor and properly check the publishing activities of other media subjects. The chapter is focused on so-called debunking, a method of identifying disinformation, or rather a media genre that is associated with investigative journalism. The present study therefore aims to further explain why nowadays more and more media recipients express their trust in disinformation or various conspiracy theories. The outlined theoretical frameworks are followed by a discourse analysis in which the authors reflect on the current strategies of debunking applied by selected online news media. The text's contribution to the contemporary scholarly discussions on journalism thus lies in defining various journalistic strategies associated with debunking, i.e., publicly uncovering false information that is disseminated in order to influence or rather manipulate the whole of society or at least its major parts.

**Keywords:** debunking, digital media, disinformation, fake news, hoax, journalism

#### **1. Introduction**

The post-factual era, as the scientific and media spheres call today, brings with it challenges not only for politicians but also for journalists. Although it is possible to speak of the presence and existence of various kinds of lies and manipulation techniques before the emergence of the Internet, no medium has provided such opportunities for the dissemination of fake news as does the digital space [1]. It is for this reason that journalists, whose ambition is to honestly verify and obtain information, are faced with various pseudo-media, blogs and social media accounts on a daily basis, presenting more or less thoughtfully and with certain goals various half-truths, information taken out of context or visual and audiovisual lies [2]. The creators of the news have thus (un)plannedly expanded their professional duties, namely on the one hand to identify the fake news itself and on the other hand to state the correct facts in the given context. In addition, their work on health and disease issues is very important, where disinformation and hoaxes directly threaten

the health of individuals and, as we can see during the coronavirus pandemic, the lives of the whole of society. However, this activity is often underestimated by the recipients because, as psychologists claim, individuals find it very difficult to change their attitudes and admit that they were wrong. The reason is a lack of critical thinking and its insufficient support and teaching by educational institutions. An appropriate method of publishing a combination of facts or arguments, however, can help change the attitudes of larger groups of people. Specifically, the phenomenon of debunking, the intention of which is to clarify the primarily false information presented and thus force the recipient to think more deeply about the published facts. The present study therefore deals with the current state of application of debunking in the Slovak media during the coronavirus pandemic.

#### **2. Disinformation, fake news, misinformation, hoaxes, and debunking**

Apart from the entertaining role of the media, the information needs of individuals have become one of the fundamental reasons for their reception of any media content, whether printed, radio, television, or, as currently dominant, online. Information-saturated content has the goal of presenting new knowledge, or to expand the recipient's knowledge of already known facts. In conjunction with the above, however, we can now talk about the origin and presence of the phenomena of disinformation, fake news, hoaxes or misinformation, which are respectively phenomena occurring mainly in the current online environment, which are described in layman's terms as a purposeful imitation of relevant information or the production of misleading messages and which furthermore, unfortunately, also fulfill the cognitive needs of recipients. It is also important to note that multimedia in particular has made a significant contribution to the development of this phenomena, in which even a nonjournalist can publish any information, and at the same time publish it both very quickly and easily [3].

The term "**disinformation**" represents the manipulation of facts or the publication of out-of-date, inaccurate and unverified information, the intention of their creators being to confuse the recipient and influence their opinion [4]. It is thus deliberately created and at the same time disseminated knowledge, the aim of which is to influence the public opinion of citizens [5], p. 247. In this context, it can be comprehensively argued that it is a deliberately distorted and at the same time deliberately inserted "fact" into a sophisticated information system with the ambition to permanently influence the actions and behavior of the users [6], p. 45. A characteristic feature of disinformation is, on the one hand, deliberately changed presented information, and, on the other hand, (often) the complete fabrication of a false fact (or lie), while the person who produces and subsequently disseminates it has full knowledge of this deception [7], p. 44. In this context, however, it should be noted that the explanatory term is frequently confused with the phrase "**fake news**," which can be understood as a collection of all misleading or false information in the online space, not excluding those which are disseminated improperly. The primary difference between the mentioned terms thus lies in the purely deliberate production of misleading facts (disinformation) and in the combination of the planned and at the same time unintentional dissemination of false knowledge (fake news). However, fake news can generally be considered as false news about certain events, existing mainly in the online space [8]. The mentioned theory thus clearly indicates the correlation of the existing phenomenon with the Internet media environment, in which no emphasis is placed on the veracity of reports offered to journalists, facts are usually not verified with several sources and the presented information is often made up [5], p. 247. An equivalent term to the previous two

**61**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

mentioned is so-called "**misinformation**" or in other words, rumors. Even in these cases, it is false information, but disseminated exclusively unintentionally. This is due in particular to the failure of certain individuals to interpret the knowledge acquired, which is then passed on to another recipient. In this context, however, we must not exclusively mention the complete distortion of the intended information, but also about slight modifications of certain reports presenting mostly uninten-

The presented findings thus indicate that false information can be broken down mainly according to its production as either being intentional or unintentional. However, within the researched issues, they found, mainly in the foreign online media space, usability in many forms. One form of misleading news, which has also established itself in the Slovak media, is the **hoax**. This, as a type of disinformation, is specific in that it both entertains and misleads the recipient. J. Makoš defines it as a deliberately untrue report, the creator of which tries to give the impression of truth to the recipients, sometimes it is composed of jokes, other times it is the central part of a disinformation campaign [5], p. 248. A Hoax is an alarm chain message, creating fear in recipients and thematically oriented to death or sex, while encouraging users to further share it via social networks or email communication [10], p. 140. As for the topic of hoaxes, it can also be messages discussing potentially dangerous situations, false requests for help, advice against diseases in the form of dangerous guidance on how to treat them, etc. [11], p. 45. In today's online journalism, however, we can also encounter modern types of disinformation, of which it is worth mentioning so-called "click-bait" ("click bait" in the title of the article, which is solely to entice the recipient to click on a particular website to increase its traffic [10], p. 18), "imposter content" (websites imitating socially known news sources, which differ mostly only by differingend domains [12], p. 11), "deepfake" or "cheap fakes" (fake videos, recordings or photography, which were created with the help of advanced artificial intelligence and are used as entertaining satirical material or as the subjects of targeted disinformation campaigns [5], p. 247; [13], p. 2–9), or "conspiracy theories" (reports explaining public events without credible and relevant evidence as a result of the secret conspiracy of a group of powerful governments, secret services, international organizations or others [5], p. 248; [10], p. 19).

Due to the noticeable presence of disinformation and its specific forms in media content, current (especially online) journalism is not only focused on the searching, processing and subsequent publication of information, but also on the verification of already presented knowledge, respectively on the identification of untruths and falsehoods. The given method of detecting false facts is called **debunking**. In a free translation, it can be defined as a declaration of a certain claim as conceited, untrue or exaggerated, or in other words, misleading [14]. The intention of journalists is simply to point out that a certain fact is not as important, valuable or true for society as it seems at first glance. Their aim is therefore to reveal a kind of myth currently prevailing in the consciousness of individuals. J. Cook and S. Lewandowsky, building on previous theses, argue that while the ambition of democratic societies is to publish accurate and truthful information, reducing the impact of disinformation on recipients is a difficult process and a demanding challenge for each and every society. According to these authors, it is easy elimination from the media environment is a misconception, because the presence of false information and its automatic acceptance are primarily a reflection of the lack of knowledge of individuals and their underdeveloped critical thinking. The debunking method therefore involves primary knowledge of the complex cognitive and perceptual processes of humans. This is because journalists need to understand how people process the acquired knowledge and information, how their existing knowledge is affected or how their worldviews impact their ability to think rationally. Thus, debunking is not primarily about what people think, but

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

tional untruths [9], p. 8.

#### *Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

the health of individuals and, as we can see during the coronavirus pandemic, the lives of the whole of society. However, this activity is often underestimated by the recipients because, as psychologists claim, individuals find it very difficult to change their attitudes and admit that they were wrong. The reason is a lack of critical thinking and its insufficient support and teaching by educational institutions. An appropriate method of publishing a combination of facts or arguments, however, can help change the attitudes of larger groups of people. Specifically, the phenomenon of debunking, the intention of which is to clarify the primarily false information presented and thus force the recipient to think more deeply about the published facts. The present study therefore deals with the current state of applica-

tion of debunking in the Slovak media during the coronavirus pandemic.

same time publish it both very quickly and easily [3].

**2. Disinformation, fake news, misinformation, hoaxes, and debunking**

The term "**disinformation**" represents the manipulation of facts or the publication of out-of-date, inaccurate and unverified information, the intention of their creators being to confuse the recipient and influence their opinion [4]. It is thus deliberately created and at the same time disseminated knowledge, the aim of which is to influence the public opinion of citizens [5], p. 247. In this context, it can be comprehensively argued that it is a deliberately distorted and at the same time deliberately inserted "fact" into a sophisticated information system with the ambition to permanently influence the actions and behavior of the users [6], p. 45. A characteristic feature of disinformation is, on the one hand, deliberately changed presented information, and, on the other hand, (often) the complete fabrication of a false fact (or lie), while the person who produces and subsequently disseminates it has full knowledge of this deception [7], p. 44. In this context, however, it should be noted that the explanatory term is frequently confused with the phrase "**fake news**," which can be understood as a collection of all misleading or false information in the online space, not excluding those which are disseminated improperly. The primary difference between the mentioned terms thus lies in the purely deliberate production of misleading facts (disinformation) and in the combination of the planned and at the same time unintentional dissemination of false knowledge (fake news). However, fake news can generally be considered as false news about certain events, existing mainly in the online space [8]. The mentioned theory thus clearly indicates the correlation of the existing phenomenon with the Internet media environment, in which no emphasis is placed on the veracity of reports offered to journalists, facts are usually not verified with several sources and the presented information is often made up [5], p. 247. An equivalent term to the previous two

Apart from the entertaining role of the media, the information needs of individuals have become one of the fundamental reasons for their reception of any media content, whether printed, radio, television, or, as currently dominant, online. Information-saturated content has the goal of presenting new knowledge, or to expand the recipient's knowledge of already known facts. In conjunction with the above, however, we can now talk about the origin and presence of the phenomena of disinformation, fake news, hoaxes or misinformation, which are respectively phenomena occurring mainly in the current online environment, which are described in layman's terms as a purposeful imitation of relevant information or the production of misleading messages and which furthermore, unfortunately, also fulfill the cognitive needs of recipients. It is also important to note that multimedia in particular has made a significant contribution to the development of this phenomena, in which even a nonjournalist can publish any information, and at the

**60**

mentioned is so-called "**misinformation**" or in other words, rumors. Even in these cases, it is false information, but disseminated exclusively unintentionally. This is due in particular to the failure of certain individuals to interpret the knowledge acquired, which is then passed on to another recipient. In this context, however, we must not exclusively mention the complete distortion of the intended information, but also about slight modifications of certain reports presenting mostly unintentional untruths [9], p. 8.

The presented findings thus indicate that false information can be broken down mainly according to its production as either being intentional or unintentional. However, within the researched issues, they found, mainly in the foreign online media space, usability in many forms. One form of misleading news, which has also established itself in the Slovak media, is the **hoax**. This, as a type of disinformation, is specific in that it both entertains and misleads the recipient. J. Makoš defines it as a deliberately untrue report, the creator of which tries to give the impression of truth to the recipients, sometimes it is composed of jokes, other times it is the central part of a disinformation campaign [5], p. 248. A Hoax is an alarm chain message, creating fear in recipients and thematically oriented to death or sex, while encouraging users to further share it via social networks or email communication [10], p. 140. As for the topic of hoaxes, it can also be messages discussing potentially dangerous situations, false requests for help, advice against diseases in the form of dangerous guidance on how to treat them, etc. [11], p. 45. In today's online journalism, however, we can also encounter modern types of disinformation, of which it is worth mentioning so-called "click-bait" ("click bait" in the title of the article, which is solely to entice the recipient to click on a particular website to increase its traffic [10], p. 18), "imposter content" (websites imitating socially known news sources, which differ mostly only by differingend domains [12], p. 11), "deepfake" or "cheap fakes" (fake videos, recordings or photography, which were created with the help of advanced artificial intelligence and are used as entertaining satirical material or as the subjects of targeted disinformation campaigns [5], p. 247; [13], p. 2–9), or "conspiracy theories" (reports explaining public events without credible and relevant evidence as a result of the secret conspiracy of a group of powerful governments, secret services, international organizations or others [5], p. 248; [10], p. 19).

Due to the noticeable presence of disinformation and its specific forms in media content, current (especially online) journalism is not only focused on the searching, processing and subsequent publication of information, but also on the verification of already presented knowledge, respectively on the identification of untruths and falsehoods. The given method of detecting false facts is called **debunking**. In a free translation, it can be defined as a declaration of a certain claim as conceited, untrue or exaggerated, or in other words, misleading [14]. The intention of journalists is simply to point out that a certain fact is not as important, valuable or true for society as it seems at first glance. Their aim is therefore to reveal a kind of myth currently prevailing in the consciousness of individuals. J. Cook and S. Lewandowsky, building on previous theses, argue that while the ambition of democratic societies is to publish accurate and truthful information, reducing the impact of disinformation on recipients is a difficult process and a demanding challenge for each and every society. According to these authors, it is easy elimination from the media environment is a misconception, because the presence of false information and its automatic acceptance are primarily a reflection of the lack of knowledge of individuals and their underdeveloped critical thinking. The debunking method therefore involves primary knowledge of the complex cognitive and perceptual processes of humans. This is because journalists need to understand how people process the acquired knowledge and information, how their existing knowledge is affected or how their worldviews impact their ability to think rationally. Thus, debunking is not primarily about what people think, but

about how they think [15], p. 1. The basic task of debunking is to reveal the aforementioned disinformation, fake news, misinformation, and their various forms, such as hoaxes or conspiracy theories. Despite the fact that the method evokes positive action, according to M. R. X. Denthit, the abovementioned term has a rather negative meaning, since debunking, in the sense of uncovering wrongdoings, is understood as a negative intention to point out the inaccuracy of a thing or concept. This is not only about the incorrectness of the published information, but also about the very act of drawing the audience's attention to the presented false findings [16], p. 2245. In this context, it is therefore essential to clarify the basic procedures, in particular the essence of the application of the debunking method.

#### **3. Application of debunking in the online media environment and its ignorance by users**

Thanks to the current development of multimedia, the behavior of the recipients themselves has been modified in journalism, among other things. Apparently passive consumers of messages have become active users who choose for themselves, from a considerable amount of content, what they will select [17], p. 37. The disadvantage is that, in addition to serious and truthful knowledge, there is also a large body of disinformation, fake news, or misinformation in online media spaces, which the audience can barely identify. This fact determined the emergence of the so-called method of debunking, potentially a new area of journalistic work. However, its implementation and application in practice is challenging, as it is, on the one hand, to ascertain the untruthfulness of the presented report and, on the other hand, to rebut it, relating to achieving a change in the perception of a certain message by individuals.

In the context of debunking, journalists must focus on the cognitive processes already mentioned, which reflect how people not only perceive information but also how they accept the change in knowledge they have recently adopted. It is thus a kind of update to the recipient's knowledge and memory. In their work, J. Cook and S. Lewandowsky clearly state that at the moment of receiving disinformation, it is really difficult to additionally remove the impact on the recipient of the lie or misrepresentation. The authors give an example in an experiment from 1994, when a report on a fictitious fire in a warehouse was published. Immediately, the journalists published a correction of the information, which was untrue, but despite receiving the corrected data, the recipients showed a lasting effect of disinformation at the moment when anyone asked them for the exact wording of the event. The first rule of debunking is therefore the so-called "the familiarity backfire effect." The authors claim that in an attempt to publish corrective information to previous disinformation, it is necessary not to mention the original falsehoods (not even in the title of the presented article). The best approach is therefore to focus exclusively on the "new" facts that the journalist wants to communicate to his recipients and raise their awareness in society. The second, equally appropriate approach is "the overkill backfire effect." The essence of the application of this effect is the fact that easily understandable information is more likely to be accepted by the recipient than true information. The "less is more" rule therefore applies. A simple argument is thus much more effective than refuting several (and at the same time complicated) lies. The content presented should therefore not only be short, but also of good readability regarding the use of simple language [18], short sentences and an acceptable number of subtitles or paragraphs. Illustration of facts in the form of infographics also seems to be a suitable strategy here. The last and at the same time the most effective method of debunking is the implementation of "the worldview backfire effect." This strategy is based on the assumption of the complicated nature of cognitive processes in

**63**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

people who often unknowingly receive information in a biased manner. This group of individuals reinforces their misconceptions even more strongly when confronted with counter-arguments for disinformation (e.g., by searching exclusively for information that confirms their previous opinion). If possible, the information should also reflect the experience of the average individual with the phenomenon, which makes the presented facts more acceptable to the rest of the audience, or possibly frame the fact by emphasizing selected attributes that the journalist considers the important in this context, making it more successful in forming the opinion of the recipient. Comprehensively speaking, when disinformation is published and subsequently refuted, a so-called "mental gap" arises in the mind of the recipient, which is often dealt with by accepting an incorrect statement rather than respecting an unexplained falsehood or lie [15], p. 2–5. The debunking method should there-

1.Disclosure of falsehoods should focus on highlighting the facts, with the

2.Before making any mention of falsehood, the author of the recipient should

3.The text should always contain an alternative explanation of the refuted disinformation, and thus not only say that the information presented was false, but

also explain in more detail what specifically mislead the recipient.

4.The simple graphic processing of the message also presupposes a clearer

In that regard, Reid complements the findings of Cook and Lewandowski,

1.Disclosure of an idea and not of a person—authors seeking to point out widespread disinformation should focus on rumors and lies relating more to the

2.Storytelling—recipients find it easier to remember the facts if they are presented in the form of a continuous narration. The role of the debunker is to choose a suitable narrative structure for presenting arguments about particular

3.Selection of relevant sources—the author should work clearly in their text and refer to credible sources (not only textual, but also, for example, auditory or

4.Presence of positivity—as M. R. X. Denthit also mentioned, the term "debunking" as such is mostly associated with negative connotations. It is therefore important for the journalist to apply positive language in his or her efforts to uncover lies or misinformation, thus making a more positive and credible impression on the

In many cases, however, despite the successful application of debunking to the online journalistic environment, individuals continue to trust the disinformation presented. The most common reason is their lack of critical thinking or inadequate media literacy. Mr. Rogers considers that one of the main reasons for the recipient's

subject of the event and not on the subject that is part of the event.

audiovisual), which increase the legitimacy of his statement.

author omitting previously published disinformation.

point out that the following information is misleading.

acceptance of the intended message.

arguing that it is equally important to focus on:

falsehoods.

recipient [19].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

fore adhere to the following rules:

#### *Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

particular the essence of the application of the debunking method.

**ignorance by users**

about how they think [15], p. 1. The basic task of debunking is to reveal the aforementioned disinformation, fake news, misinformation, and their various forms, such as hoaxes or conspiracy theories. Despite the fact that the method evokes positive action, according to M. R. X. Denthit, the abovementioned term has a rather negative meaning, since debunking, in the sense of uncovering wrongdoings, is understood as a negative intention to point out the inaccuracy of a thing or concept. This is not only about the incorrectness of the published information, but also about the very act of drawing the audience's attention to the presented false findings [16], p. 2245. In this context, it is therefore essential to clarify the basic procedures, in

**3. Application of debunking in the online media environment and its** 

achieving a change in the perception of a certain message by individuals.

In the context of debunking, journalists must focus on the cognitive processes already mentioned, which reflect how people not only perceive information but also how they accept the change in knowledge they have recently adopted. It is thus a kind of update to the recipient's knowledge and memory. In their work, J. Cook and S. Lewandowsky clearly state that at the moment of receiving disinformation, it is really difficult to additionally remove the impact on the recipient of the lie or misrepresentation. The authors give an example in an experiment from 1994, when a report on a fictitious fire in a warehouse was published. Immediately, the journalists published a correction of the information, which was untrue, but despite receiving the corrected data, the recipients showed a lasting effect of disinformation at the moment when anyone asked them for the exact wording of the event. The first rule of debunking is therefore the so-called "the familiarity backfire effect." The authors claim that in an attempt to publish corrective information to previous disinformation, it is necessary not to mention the original falsehoods (not even in the title of the presented article). The best approach is therefore to focus exclusively on the "new" facts that the journalist wants to communicate to his recipients and raise their awareness in society. The second, equally appropriate approach is "the overkill backfire effect." The essence of the application of this effect is the fact that easily understandable information is more likely to be accepted by the recipient than true information. The "less is more" rule therefore applies. A simple argument is thus much more effective than refuting several (and at the same time complicated) lies. The content presented should therefore not only be short, but also of good readability regarding the use of simple language [18], short sentences and an acceptable number of subtitles or paragraphs. Illustration of facts in the form of infographics also seems to be a suitable strategy here. The last and at the same time the most effective method of debunking is the implementation of "the worldview backfire effect." This strategy is based on the assumption of the complicated nature of cognitive processes in

Thanks to the current development of multimedia, the behavior of the recipients themselves has been modified in journalism, among other things. Apparently passive consumers of messages have become active users who choose for themselves, from a considerable amount of content, what they will select [17], p. 37. The disadvantage is that, in addition to serious and truthful knowledge, there is also a large body of disinformation, fake news, or misinformation in online media spaces, which the audience can barely identify. This fact determined the emergence of the so-called method of debunking, potentially a new area of journalistic work. However, its implementation and application in practice is challenging, as it is, on the one hand, to ascertain the untruthfulness of the presented report and, on the other hand, to rebut it, relating to

**62**

people who often unknowingly receive information in a biased manner. This group of individuals reinforces their misconceptions even more strongly when confronted with counter-arguments for disinformation (e.g., by searching exclusively for information that confirms their previous opinion). If possible, the information should also reflect the experience of the average individual with the phenomenon, which makes the presented facts more acceptable to the rest of the audience, or possibly frame the fact by emphasizing selected attributes that the journalist considers the important in this context, making it more successful in forming the opinion of the recipient. Comprehensively speaking, when disinformation is published and subsequently refuted, a so-called "mental gap" arises in the mind of the recipient, which is often dealt with by accepting an incorrect statement rather than respecting an unexplained falsehood or lie [15], p. 2–5. The debunking method should therefore adhere to the following rules:


In that regard, Reid complements the findings of Cook and Lewandowski, arguing that it is equally important to focus on:


In many cases, however, despite the successful application of debunking to the online journalistic environment, individuals continue to trust the disinformation presented. The most common reason is their lack of critical thinking or inadequate media literacy. Mr. Rogers considers that one of the main reasons for the recipient's confidence in disinformation is the fact that they did not learn to work with information or to orient themselves correctly in such informational overload. We often accept information unquestioningly, we do not question the sources and intentions of the authors and we do not have well-established mechanisms or techniques by which we can distinguish false reports from quality information. The theorist adds that this fact is mainly due to the fact that our society has significantly shifted technologically in recent years, but the recipients have not been able to adapt their way of thinking. The presence of multimedia has not only accelerated the reception and processing of knowledge, but has also reduced the time to read the articles themselves or the time to think about the messages presented [20]. Also, thanks to the wide availability of modern technology, today anyone can be considered as a form of media or journalist (including authors of blogs, videos, etc.). However there is a difference in reading an article by a serious journalist or anonymous blogger, in which W. Rogers sees dangers, as according to him the average recipient cannot distinguish these two polar opposites, in other words they are not media literate. Most individuals are not able to think critically about media content and are unable to ask questions that help them to understand the reality of the everyday media [21], p. 120, 121. In this context, J. Markoš adds that people's trust in disinformation often lies in their being "tailor made for the recipients." A serious journalist cannot write what their readers would like to read—they are limited by the truth. However, authors of false reports are not interested in the truth of the message, so the more enticing and tempting they can make ideas, the more believed they are, despite the fact that they are misleading. Equally acceptable for the recipient is an ordinary sensory experience, which absolutely does not have to be based on truth, preferable to information of a scientific nature, which is often confusing or complicated for Internet users [5], p. 88–99. J. Makoš calls the belief in disinformation, or in other words restricting our rationality, cognitive distortion. According to him, the most important are:


The findings of theorists are currently supplemented by practical findings. One example is logistic regression analysis, dealing with the perception of democracy and governance, carried out across 10 countries of the European Union. The research, among other things, identified five key factors that influence people's beliefs in disinformation and conspiracy theories. Above all was seen their willingness to trade their freedom for other benefits, support of an autocratic leader,

**65**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

distrust of the media as such, and dissatisfaction with the social system and imbalance in their own lives. However, the presented analysis shows that the tendency of individuals to believe false information is also related to the historical and political significance of a country. According to the degree of belief in disinformation and conspiracy theories, the Slovak Republic ranked first (56%), while the least believing in published lies are Lithuanians (17%) from EU countries. Most Slovaks interviewed believed five out of six published conspiracy theories [22]. Similar data is published by the Reuters Institute in the Digital News Report 2020. They involved 40 countries in their research, and focused their attention partly on mapping the concerns of the population about media-presented disinformation and misinformation. Although more than half of all respondents (56%) are concerned about the fact that there is a significant amount of fake news on the Internet, there are more concerns about the reception of falsehoods in countries in South America or Africa than in Europe. The given results can be conditioned by several aspects. On the one hand, the greater trust by the European population in disinformation may be due to their weaker digital literacy, in contrast to countries such as Brazil, Kenya, etc. [23]. On the other hand, it does not have to be strictly just about technical and technological progress, in terms of the educational level of society, but also about its socio-cultural growth. Every nation has a certain cultural identity, while individuals belonging to it often intuitively try not to admit the fact of their ignorance, or errors in their ways in terms of belief in fake information [5], p. 233. By declaring

their own ignorance, they would degrade their social roles, or social status.

It is the existence of the fact concerning the trust of the recipients in the fake news that raises the question of improving the implementation of debunking in journalistic practice, or in individual online media. As part of the discursive analysis, we will therefore try not only to point out the apparent dissemination of erroneous information in the current online media space, but also to map effective and at the same time heterogeneous journalistic creative procedures in the field of debunking.

The primary goal of the presented study is to discover the current state of practical implementation of debunking, which is used by the media in the Slovak Republic in order to refute fake news. Secondly, we also notice what new elements are brought by selected web media to this specific field. To achieve the above goals, we decided to use qualitative content analysis, or discursive analysis. Using the mentioned research method, we discover how selected Slovak web media notify about detected disinformation and hoaxes. Following on from the authors mentioned in the theoretical part of the work, specifically J. Cook, S. Lewandowsky and A. Reid, we note how domestic journalists follow the "rules" of debunking. We monitor specifically the "the familiarity backfire effect" (i.e., whether they mention the "original" untruths in the texts or in the titles of the presented texts, or present only new facts with which they try to orientate readers in the issue), "the overkill backfire effect" (whether they write short or reasonably large and comprehensible texts), and "the worldview backfire effect" (i.e., whether they publish disinforma-

In connection with the method of qualitative content analysis, which always includes the determination of selected analytical categories, we map the following:

• authorship of the text—downloaded agency text/author's text;

• character of the title—informs/does not notify about disinformation;

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

**4. Research methodology**

tion, which they immediately deny or refute).

#### *Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

confidence in disinformation is the fact that they did not learn to work with information or to orient themselves correctly in such informational overload. We often accept information unquestioningly, we do not question the sources and intentions of the authors and we do not have well-established mechanisms or techniques by which we can distinguish false reports from quality information. The theorist adds that this fact is mainly due to the fact that our society has significantly shifted technologically in recent years, but the recipients have not been able to adapt their way of thinking. The presence of multimedia has not only accelerated the reception and processing of knowledge, but has also reduced the time to read the articles themselves or the time to think about the messages presented [20]. Also, thanks to the wide availability of modern technology, today anyone can be considered as a form of media or journalist (including authors of blogs, videos, etc.). However there is a difference in reading an article by a serious journalist or anonymous blogger, in which W. Rogers sees dangers, as according to him the average recipient cannot distinguish these two polar opposites, in other words they are not media literate. Most individuals are not able to think critically about media content and are unable to ask questions that help them to understand the reality of the everyday media [21], p. 120, 121. In this context, J. Markoš adds that people's trust in disinformation often lies in their being "tailor made for the recipients." A serious journalist cannot write what their readers would like to read—they are limited by the truth. However, authors of false reports are not interested in the truth of the message, so the more enticing and tempting they can make ideas, the more believed they are, despite the fact that they are misleading. Equally acceptable for the recipient is an ordinary sensory experience, which absolutely does not have to be based on truth, preferable to information of a scientific nature, which is often confusing or complicated for Internet users [5], p. 88–99. J. Makoš calls the belief in disinformation, or in other words restricting our

rationality, cognitive distortion. According to him, the most important are:

mation to be the relevant message, even though it may be false,

recent or most significant positive or negative experience,

1. anchoring—in an unknown situation, the recipient considers the first infor-

2.peak-end bias—past events are evaluated as (un) true according to their most

3. survivalship bias—when evaluating an event, individuals tend to trust the version of successful, well-known people (although they can be misleading), ignoring the words of those considered less well-known or unsuccessful,

4. confirmation bias—recipients subconsciously seek confirmation of their

5. contrast bias—the human mind often uses comparisons and contrast in perceiving and evaluating certain (e.g., fictitious) events, which reassures it of its

The findings of theorists are currently supplemented by practical findings. One example is logistic regression analysis, dealing with the perception of democracy and governance, carried out across 10 countries of the European Union. The research, among other things, identified five key factors that influence people's beliefs in disinformation and conspiracy theories. Above all was seen their willingness to trade their freedom for other benefits, support of an autocratic leader,

(often false) opinions. As a result, they create groups of like-minded people on social networks, where they support each other in their belief in false informa-

**64**

tion,

(incorrect) opinion [5], p. 175.

distrust of the media as such, and dissatisfaction with the social system and imbalance in their own lives. However, the presented analysis shows that the tendency of individuals to believe false information is also related to the historical and political significance of a country. According to the degree of belief in disinformation and conspiracy theories, the Slovak Republic ranked first (56%), while the least believing in published lies are Lithuanians (17%) from EU countries. Most Slovaks interviewed believed five out of six published conspiracy theories [22]. Similar data is published by the Reuters Institute in the Digital News Report 2020. They involved 40 countries in their research, and focused their attention partly on mapping the concerns of the population about media-presented disinformation and misinformation. Although more than half of all respondents (56%) are concerned about the fact that there is a significant amount of fake news on the Internet, there are more concerns about the reception of falsehoods in countries in South America or Africa than in Europe. The given results can be conditioned by several aspects. On the one hand, the greater trust by the European population in disinformation may be due to their weaker digital literacy, in contrast to countries such as Brazil, Kenya, etc. [23]. On the other hand, it does not have to be strictly just about technical and technological progress, in terms of the educational level of society, but also about its socio-cultural growth. Every nation has a certain cultural identity, while individuals belonging to it often intuitively try not to admit the fact of their ignorance, or errors in their ways in terms of belief in fake information [5], p. 233. By declaring their own ignorance, they would degrade their social roles, or social status.

It is the existence of the fact concerning the trust of the recipients in the fake news that raises the question of improving the implementation of debunking in journalistic practice, or in individual online media. As part of the discursive analysis, we will therefore try not only to point out the apparent dissemination of erroneous information in the current online media space, but also to map effective and at the same time heterogeneous journalistic creative procedures in the field of debunking.

#### **4. Research methodology**

The primary goal of the presented study is to discover the current state of practical implementation of debunking, which is used by the media in the Slovak Republic in order to refute fake news. Secondly, we also notice what new elements are brought by selected web media to this specific field. To achieve the above goals, we decided to use qualitative content analysis, or discursive analysis. Using the mentioned research method, we discover how selected Slovak web media notify about detected disinformation and hoaxes. Following on from the authors mentioned in the theoretical part of the work, specifically J. Cook, S. Lewandowsky and A. Reid, we note how domestic journalists follow the "rules" of debunking. We monitor specifically the "the familiarity backfire effect" (i.e., whether they mention the "original" untruths in the texts or in the titles of the presented texts, or present only new facts with which they try to orientate readers in the issue), "the overkill backfire effect" (whether they write short or reasonably large and comprehensible texts), and "the worldview backfire effect" (i.e., whether they publish disinformation, which they immediately deny or refute).

In connection with the method of qualitative content analysis, which always includes the determination of selected analytical categories, we map the following:


We perform the analysis using an encryption key composed of two numerical categories. Category 1 indicates that the text follows the given rule of debunking, while category 2 concerns journalistic speech that does not correspond to the expected creation rules. Within a certain research area, we subsequently create the median, when generalizing the facts from the analyzed coding units.


**67**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

tivity, i.e., both parties were given space); 2—no.

explicitly included in the encryption key. These are as follows:

• Stylistic level and comprehensibility of the text;

• Emphasis on the event itself, not on the entity that disseminates it: 1—event;

• Presence of positivity in the text, which presupposes the rejection of defamation of the other party's opinion, ridicule, etc.: 1—yes (preservation of objec-

However, we also focus our attention on analytical categories, which cannot be

• Other accompanying visual/audiovisual material included—videos, photo

• Description of the sequence of information in the text (in paragraphs), while the publication of truthful information must be in chronological order to create a universal formula for the implementation of debunking in the Slovak

• Data concerning the number of mentioned disinformation in the text and the amount of sources used (with the aim of creating a comprehensive picture of

When following the chosen research method, we ask ourselves the following

RQ 3: How does the Slovak media use complementary journalistic methods of

RQ 4: Does the Slovak media observe objectivity in the form of debunking, in

The selected research material represents the 10 most read portals in the Slovak

RQ 1: How is the debunking method implemented in the Slovak

RQ 2: In what sequence does the Slovak media configure information in

debunking, which are story, visualization and comprehensibility of the text?

Republic (according to the IAB Slovakia system as at 18 July 2020), from each of which we chose by random a selection of five journalistic texts reflecting the issue of disinformation published in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. Among the most widely read serious portals at present are, highest read first: Aktuality.sk, Pluska.sk, Topky.sk, Čas.sk, Sme.sk, Pravda.sk (but this online medium did not address hoaxes), Tvnoviny.sk, Hnonline.sk, Dennikn.sk, Dnes24. sk and Startitup.sk (as an alternative to Pravda.sk, which also did not deal with the issue of disinformation). Together, we analyzed 50 texts and, based on our findings, drew conclusions about notifying the general public about published

the form of focusing on the event itself, and on positivity of the text?

**5. Result interpretation and main outcomes of the research**

In the following part of the text, we present the results of the discursive analysis of the selected (the five most visited) web media, focusing on the nature of debunking and compliance with debunking rules. Each analysis represents an

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

2—subject;

galleries, photos, etc.;

the problem addressed).

and disseminated disinformation.

media space;

research questions:

media space?

debunking?

• Data visualization: 1—yes; 2—no;

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

• character of perex—informs/does not notify about disinformation;

• the nature of the opening attached image—evokes/does not evoke

• placement of arguments refuting the disinformation (first/second half of the

• maintaining the objectivity of the text in terms of focusing on the event itself and not the subject, as well as maintaining the positivity of the journalistic

We perform the analysis using an encryption key composed of two numerical categories. Category 1 indicates that the text follows the given rule of debunking, while category 2 concerns journalistic speech that does not correspond to the expected creation rules. Within a certain research area, we subsequently create the

• Type of information in the perex: 1—it is not mentioned that it is disinformation;

• Introductory image material: 1—does not evoke disinformation, 2—evokes

• Refutation of disinformation: 1—in the second half of the text; 2—in the first

• Location of the most important fact within the correct information—point with respect to key information: 1—beginning of the text (title, perex, first

• Disinformation context: an explanation of what was introduced, or why:

• Warning of misleading information if it appears in the text: 1—yes, 2—no;

• indication of the most relevant (key, most important) information (first/

• indication of the context of disseminated disinformation (yes/no);

• using the story and visualizations as tools to illustrate published facts;

• intelligibility of the text (simple language and clear formatting);

median, when generalizing the facts from the analyzed coding units.

paragraph); 2—rest of the text (second part of the text);

• Using the story as a tool to explain: 1—yes; 2—no;

• warning of disinformation, if it is in the text (yes/no);

• accompanying visual and audiovisual material.

2—it is mentioned that it is disinformation;

disinformation;

second half of the text);

text);

speech;

disinformation;

half of the text;

1—yes; 2—no;

• Data visualization: 1—yes; 2—no;

**66**


However, we also focus our attention on analytical categories, which cannot be explicitly included in the encryption key. These are as follows:


When following the chosen research method, we ask ourselves the following research questions:

RQ 1: How is the debunking method implemented in the Slovak media space?

RQ 2: In what sequence does the Slovak media configure information in debunking?

RQ 3: How does the Slovak media use complementary journalistic methods of debunking, which are story, visualization and comprehensibility of the text?

RQ 4: Does the Slovak media observe objectivity in the form of debunking, in the form of focusing on the event itself, and on positivity of the text?

The selected research material represents the 10 most read portals in the Slovak Republic (according to the IAB Slovakia system as at 18 July 2020), from each of which we chose by random a selection of five journalistic texts reflecting the issue of disinformation published in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. Among the most widely read serious portals at present are, highest read first: Aktuality.sk, Pluska.sk, Topky.sk, Čas.sk, Sme.sk, Pravda.sk (but this online medium did not address hoaxes), Tvnoviny.sk, Hnonline.sk, Dennikn.sk, Dnes24. sk and Startitup.sk (as an alternative to Pravda.sk, which also did not deal with the issue of disinformation). Together, we analyzed 50 texts and, based on our findings, drew conclusions about notifying the general public about published and disseminated disinformation.

#### **5. Result interpretation and main outcomes of the research**

In the following part of the text, we present the results of the discursive analysis of the selected (the five most visited) web media, focusing on the nature of debunking and compliance with debunking rules. Each analysis represents an

evaluation of the approach of the work of each medium and is a summary/synopsis of the analysis of five journalistic texts. Data related to medians are given in parentheses, e.g. (), (2).

**Aktuality.sk** is the most read web medium in Slovakia. While one of the analyzed texts is the author's, the rest of the journalistic speeches come from press agencies (three times TASR, once AFP). In most cases, the headline, perex, and introductory visualization clearly refer to disinformation, reducing the chance of attracting the attention of readers with differing views. In total, the texts on the Aktuality.sk portal are assessed as follows: title (median 2), illustrative photography (median 2), perex (median 2), while disinformation is refuted in the introductory parts of the text (median 2). As for the principles of debunking mentioned in the theoretical part of the study, in all five cases the headlines of the articles make it clear that this is disinformation (a term mentioned in the headlines four times), misleading information or falsehood. Subsequently, in three cases, the illustrative photograph consists of the inscription FAKE NEWS (twice) or HOAX (once). The remaining two speeches are complemented by an illustrative shot that does not evoke the spread of untruths. The most essential information is usually published in the texts at the beginning, resp. in the first half of the text (1), which we evaluate positively. We also perceive positively the fact that the authors also state the context of the observed phenomenon (1) and present their ideas with appropriate arguments (1). We negatively assess the fact that the monitored portal does not mention the story (2) and in most texts or visualizations (2) in notifying about disinformation, which means that the reader loses the opportunity to better and more quickly orientate themself in the problem. The language of the articles is clear, without unnecessary or duplicate information, the formal editing of texts is clear. Overall, however, it cannot be stated that the theory is compatible with practice. Articles are divided into paragraphs, in some speeches with the use of subtitles, which means longer texts. Only in one of the examined examples is other accompanying material attached in addition to the illustrative image. Disinformation is mentioned in the text on average six times, while the average number of sources used is 5.4. With the sequence of information in the text, the authors of the Aktuality.sk portal work in most cases as follows: disinformation—refutation of disinformation—key information—argumentation.

**The Pluska.sk** web site is characterized by its tabloid format. All selected articles are of a news character and are taken from the TASR news agency, which deals with the debunking of disinformation in cooperation with the AFP agency. Captions are made up in tabloid style, there are words written in capital letters, punctuation, questions or exclamation sentences, but also colloquial expressions in order to attract the recipient, or to evoke emotion in the reader. Each caption indicates that the fact is a hoax (2). This trend continues in the perexes (2) of selected texts, which develop disinformation, and also it is refuted in this part of the text. Three out of five photographs emphasize that the articles concern unsubstantiated or misleading information (2). The location of the key fact (2), which is the most important of the truthful facts, is also problematic. This point appears to a large extent only in the final part of the text. On the other hand, it must be said that the authors of the articles managed to illustrate the context of the disinformation very well (1), by stating the facts explaining the real circumstances of the event. In two cases, the text even clarifies how the disinformation was verified. In one of them, the author explains how the Google Patents database works so that the reader can better understand the allocation of patents in connection with the production of viruses, and in the other, the creators explain the inVID reverse video search tool. We find these steps very useful because the creators of the articles explain how disinformers actually work. However, they do not draw attention to the presence

**69**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

of disinformation, or mention it only after interpreting it. The texts on the Pluska. sk portal do not have an offensive impact and usually focus on the phenomenon and event itself, not on the subject (1), in which the authors also succeeded in using journalistic speech and in which the source of disinformation was a scientist. The positivity of the article is thus preserved (1). None of the texts contains a real story (2) illustrating the issue, nor is any visualization (2) used for better understanding. The language of the texts, as the articles are taken from news agencies, is neutral. However, due to the medical theme, they contain technical terms or abbreviations that not every reader understands and is of definitional character. Speeches are divided into sections without subtitles, and as for longer articles the content is divided into several pages, which makes the text more difficult. As for the supplementary material, one journalistic statement is supplemented by a video on how to recognize the symptoms of coronavirus; the other contains a gallery of more than 50 photographs taken during the pandemic in various parts of the world. However, images and video do not dominate in the analyzed texts. One article contains disinformation on average 3.6 times, which is not a desirable phenomenon. In addition, the authors use an average of four sources, which are not only based on other media, most often news agencies, but also on the opinions of respected institutions and offices, professional publications and experts in the field. Within the sequence of information in the text, we can state that it is not followed in the correct order, as in general the information is presented in the following sequence: disinformation refutation—disinformation—information on disinformation spreaders—argu-

**Topky.sk** is also a tabloid news site that has a wide range of themes, among other things it also discusses agency news related to debunking. The authorship of the texts is unclear, as neither the authors nor the news agency is mentioned. Topky. sk, like other tabloid media, uses capital letters in the headlines, but no punctuation is used in connection with the articles we have selected. However, editors and authors in the headlines define that the topic is a hoax (2) and point out its spread via the Internet. As an example, we mention the caption "CORONAVIRUS HOAX video is spreading in Slovakia: Its author simply does not believe there is a pandemic!" At the same time, this is the kind of headline that is not completely unambiguous, and therefore does not contain information forcing the recipient to read the whole speech. Even the perexies of articles on Topky.sk applying the debunking method are in the spirit of disinformation (2), which they divide and interpret into about three sentences, such as: "ROME—Vaccination is unnecessary or even dangerous, Bill Gates has a plan to depopulate the planet and because of vaccines, people in developing countries can become paralyzed or die. These are just some of the false or unsubstantiated claims made in the Italian Parliament on 15 May in a speech by Sarah Cunial." In all cases, the introductory image material (2) contains a large red and white inscription HOAX, which may discourage readers who believe in hoaxing as part of debunking. The refutation of disinformation (2) is found directly in the perex, where both false information and reality are presented in the same way. On the other hand, key information (2) is in the background and the gradual publication of arguments culminates in the most important fact. The context (1) is based on selected evidence, which contributes very well to the individual parts of the disinformation, even if it is a far too noticeably a counterargument. In two perexes, we map the author's warning to published disinformation in connection with the current situation. We also encounter warnings (1) in the text, but their use depends on the topic of the particular article (e.g., the author refers to authority in the speech, in words such as "intentionally," or "manipulates" or by marking individual statements as "false or untrue"). In terms of maintaining objectivity, the texts adhere to the description of the event (1) and are also

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

ments—key information.

#### *Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

theses, e.g. (), (2).

information—argumentation.

evaluation of the approach of the work of each medium and is a summary/synopsis of the analysis of five journalistic texts. Data related to medians are given in paren-

**Aktuality.sk** is the most read web medium in Slovakia. While one of the analyzed texts is the author's, the rest of the journalistic speeches come from press agencies (three times TASR, once AFP). In most cases, the headline, perex, and introductory visualization clearly refer to disinformation, reducing the chance of attracting the attention of readers with differing views. In total, the texts on the Aktuality.sk portal are assessed as follows: title (median 2), illustrative photography (median 2), perex (median 2), while disinformation is refuted in the introductory parts of the text (median 2). As for the principles of debunking mentioned in the theoretical part of the study, in all five cases the headlines of the articles make it clear that this is disinformation (a term mentioned in the headlines four times), misleading information or falsehood. Subsequently, in three cases, the illustrative photograph consists of the inscription FAKE NEWS (twice) or HOAX (once). The remaining two speeches are complemented by an illustrative shot that does not evoke the spread of untruths. The most essential information is usually published in the texts at the beginning, resp. in the first half of the text (1), which we evaluate positively. We also perceive positively the fact that the authors also state the context of the observed phenomenon (1) and present their ideas with appropriate arguments (1). We negatively assess the fact that the monitored portal does not mention the story (2) and in most texts or visualizations (2) in notifying about disinformation, which means that the reader loses the opportunity to better and more quickly orientate themself in the problem. The language of the articles is clear, without unnecessary or duplicate information, the formal editing of texts is clear. Overall, however, it cannot be stated that the theory is compatible with practice. Articles are divided into paragraphs, in some speeches with the use of subtitles, which means longer texts. Only in one of the examined examples is other accompanying material attached in addition to the illustrative image. Disinformation is mentioned in the text on average six times, while the average number of sources used is 5.4. With the sequence of information in the text, the authors of the Aktuality.sk portal work in most cases as follows: disinformation—refutation of disinformation—key

**The Pluska.sk** web site is characterized by its tabloid format. All selected articles are of a news character and are taken from the TASR news agency, which deals with the debunking of disinformation in cooperation with the AFP agency. Captions are made up in tabloid style, there are words written in capital letters, punctuation, questions or exclamation sentences, but also colloquial expressions in order to attract the recipient, or to evoke emotion in the reader. Each caption indicates that the fact is a hoax (2). This trend continues in the perexes (2) of selected texts, which develop disinformation, and also it is refuted in this part of the text. Three out of five photographs emphasize that the articles concern unsubstantiated or misleading information (2). The location of the key fact (2), which is the most important of the truthful facts, is also problematic. This point appears to a large extent only in the final part of the text. On the other hand, it must be said that the authors of the articles managed to illustrate the context of the disinformation very well (1), by stating the facts explaining the real circumstances of the event. In two cases, the text even clarifies how the disinformation was verified. In one of them, the author explains how the Google Patents database works so that the reader can better understand the allocation of patents in connection with the production of viruses, and in the other, the creators explain the inVID reverse video search tool. We find these steps very useful because the creators of the articles explain how disinformers actually work. However, they do not draw attention to the presence

**68**

of disinformation, or mention it only after interpreting it. The texts on the Pluska. sk portal do not have an offensive impact and usually focus on the phenomenon and event itself, not on the subject (1), in which the authors also succeeded in using journalistic speech and in which the source of disinformation was a scientist. The positivity of the article is thus preserved (1). None of the texts contains a real story (2) illustrating the issue, nor is any visualization (2) used for better understanding. The language of the texts, as the articles are taken from news agencies, is neutral. However, due to the medical theme, they contain technical terms or abbreviations that not every reader understands and is of definitional character. Speeches are divided into sections without subtitles, and as for longer articles the content is divided into several pages, which makes the text more difficult. As for the supplementary material, one journalistic statement is supplemented by a video on how to recognize the symptoms of coronavirus; the other contains a gallery of more than 50 photographs taken during the pandemic in various parts of the world. However, images and video do not dominate in the analyzed texts. One article contains disinformation on average 3.6 times, which is not a desirable phenomenon. In addition, the authors use an average of four sources, which are not only based on other media, most often news agencies, but also on the opinions of respected institutions and offices, professional publications and experts in the field. Within the sequence of information in the text, we can state that it is not followed in the correct order, as in general the information is presented in the following sequence: disinformation refutation—disinformation—information on disinformation spreaders—arguments—key information.

**Topky.sk** is also a tabloid news site that has a wide range of themes, among other things it also discusses agency news related to debunking. The authorship of the texts is unclear, as neither the authors nor the news agency is mentioned. Topky. sk, like other tabloid media, uses capital letters in the headlines, but no punctuation is used in connection with the articles we have selected. However, editors and authors in the headlines define that the topic is a hoax (2) and point out its spread via the Internet. As an example, we mention the caption "CORONAVIRUS HOAX video is spreading in Slovakia: Its author simply does not believe there is a pandemic!" At the same time, this is the kind of headline that is not completely unambiguous, and therefore does not contain information forcing the recipient to read the whole speech. Even the perexies of articles on Topky.sk applying the debunking method are in the spirit of disinformation (2), which they divide and interpret into about three sentences, such as: "ROME—Vaccination is unnecessary or even dangerous, Bill Gates has a plan to depopulate the planet and because of vaccines, people in developing countries can become paralyzed or die. These are just some of the false or unsubstantiated claims made in the Italian Parliament on 15 May in a speech by Sarah Cunial." In all cases, the introductory image material (2) contains a large red and white inscription HOAX, which may discourage readers who believe in hoaxing as part of debunking. The refutation of disinformation (2) is found directly in the perex, where both false information and reality are presented in the same way. On the other hand, key information (2) is in the background and the gradual publication of arguments culminates in the most important fact. The context (1) is based on selected evidence, which contributes very well to the individual parts of the disinformation, even if it is a far too noticeably a counterargument. In two perexes, we map the author's warning to published disinformation in connection with the current situation. We also encounter warnings (1) in the text, but their use depends on the topic of the particular article (e.g., the author refers to authority in the speech, in words such as "intentionally," or "manipulates" or by marking individual statements as "false or untrue"). In terms of maintaining objectivity, the texts adhere to the description of the event (1) and are also

conceived positively (1). However, the authors do not use the full opportunities of story (2) and visualization (2) to explain the issue at all. The tabloid website applies simple sentences and a clear division of the text in the form of paragraphs, subtitles and highlighting essential information in bold. The language of journalistic expression is of a layperson's level. The constant use of citations by authors can seem cumbersome and sometimes too professional and incomprehensible. The texts contain illustrative photographs as well as visuals of the disinformation spread, while it is the videos or photographs of the falsehoods presented that contribute to their credibility. Creators publish misleading information in the text an average of 4.4 times and use an average of 3.2 sources per speech. Regarding the arrangement of information within the debunking on the Topky.sk portal, we can summarize it as follows: disinformation—refutation—information on disinformation spreaders—arguments—key information.

The tabloid online portal **Čas.sk** mainly focuses on themes and information about celebrities, scandals and various interesting topics. All texts using the debunking method are, again, taken from the TASR news agency (in one case in collaboration with a specific author writing under the abbreviation "pkr"). We negatively evaluate the confusing labeling of authorship—this information is only beneath the ads below the article, and many users may not notice it. Almost every headline points out that the fact is hoax (2). On the other hand, it should be noted that, unlike other tabloid media, they work with "softer" subtitles—they do not emphasize the term "hoax" in capital letters or a different font color. The only exception is writing on the diagnosis of COVID-19, which, however, is used in this capital form in most media. While perex includes direct information about falsehood (2), the preview image is chosen differently; in most cases, the text only complements the illustrative image without a negative undertone (1). The disinformation is refuted at the end (1), with key information at the beginning of the journalistic speech (1). The authors base individual claims on strong arguments and use relevant sources. We negatively evaluate the fact that the authors do not draw the attention of the reader to the interpreted disinformation in advance. On the other hand, their efforts not to attack opponents, not to ridicule and not to shame should be emphasized (1). Like most of the monitored media, Čas.sk does not use story (2) or visualization (2) to interpret disinformation. They do not apply subtitles in their texts, they only divide them by means of paragraphs, but they make greater use of working in bold, with which they emphasize the supporting information. Overall, their work with the text is typical for tabloid media—i.e., the presence of simple, comprehensible information, colloquial words; absence of technical terms; relatively short texts and relatively long subtitles with many punctuation marks; use of citations (often marked in bold). It is a surprising finding that the supplementary material appears in the monitored articles in only one case out of five (it is an attached Internet link to a CNN video, from which footage creating disinformation is taken, thus increasing the credibility of the text). False facts in the text are mentioned by the authors on average 5.6 times, while in one article they quote an average of almost four sources. In simple terms, the scheme of the sequence of inclusion of information in the texts can be summarized as follows: disinformation—key information—refutation of disinformation—argumentation.

**SME.sk** is an Internet version of the printed daily SME, which has a long tradition in Slovakia. Most of the articles analyzed come from news agencies, two are from authors. The construction of the text is based on headlines containing the information that it is a hoax or a false message or states that the fact is "not true" (2). The only positive example is the headline "State inspectors deny that ibuprofen promotes coronavirus proliferation," which does not immediately imply disinformation. Perexes of texts on the SME.sk portal are mostly made up of one sentence

**71**

information—arguments.

**6. Discussion and conclusion**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

and again emphasize that the main topic of the text is false information (2). In the headlines and perexes, the creators refer to authorities such as: "The State Institute for Drug Control emphasizes that it is a hoax." The opening image is mostly illustrative; it does not have a significant effect on emotions (1). They then proceed to the very refutation of the disinformation (2). In this case, refuting the untruth is a continuous process running through several parts of the text. On the other hand, the key information (1) that can explain the debunking is usually found in the introductory lines of the first or second paragraph. For example, in an article denying that a map shared on social networks shows the spread of coronavirus, the author explains in the perex that these are air routes and not the effect of the virus. The text concerning the refutation of information about the town of Žiar nad Hronom, where students tested positive for coronavirus, in turn confirmed with the authorities, who confirmed that the town has no such cases. The context of disinformation (1) is respected, as the authors of the texts work with sources such as authorities (mayors, school principals, police). These are local sources found in the author's texts, which increase the credibility of the article. The translated texts also cooperate with professional studies and their authors and also refer to factcheckers from other media (BBC). The authors of SME.sk do not provide warnings (2) when distributing disinformation. One positive example, however, is found: "The City Arena shopping center in Trnava is facing fake news about an allegedly infected person in a food vendor, which is spreading on social networks" the hoax being already mentioned in the title or perex. When manipulating image material, they explain how they adapt disinformation media for their purposes. We do not find elements of negativity in the analyzed articles of the SME.sk web media (1)—the authors always try to solve the given event and do not focus on the subject with regard to the spreader of the disinformation (1). Nor do they use stories (2) to "illustrate" an event (except for one article, which was based on the story of a person returning from abroad). In this context, it should be noted that newsrooms should not only expect these types of reports, but should proactively look for stories about real people, which is not difficult especially given the topic of coronavirus. The authors also do not apply visualizations to the given topics (2). The articles are relatively short and concise; they have news character, which can be assessed positively, as they can explain the essence of the facts in a relatively short text, albeit using a smaller number of sources. The language of the researched journalistic expressions used in this online portal is neutral and simple, it does not contain, mainly due to the choice of topics, much foreign and professional expressions or jargon. Overall, disinformation occurs on average 3.6 times in the text and two sources are used per article, which is due to the shortness of the texts. Regarding the organization of the information, the universal formula is as follows: disinformation—refutation—key

Based on not only the above findings, but also on findings from unpublished discursive analyzes of the remaining five mentioned web portals, we can state that the implementation of debunking within the Slovak media environment does not reach the required level. This is mainly due to the fact that a considerable amount of information is acquired from press agencies. At the same time, much of this information does not even go through the minimum editorial changes [24]. Even in ideal cases, only minor corrections are made, mainly concerning modification of the title, subtitles and perexes, or modification or addition of the accompanying visual or audiovisual material [25]. As an example, we can mention the misleading

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

#### *Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

ers—arguments—key information.

conceived positively (1). However, the authors do not use the full opportunities of story (2) and visualization (2) to explain the issue at all. The tabloid website applies simple sentences and a clear division of the text in the form of paragraphs, subtitles and highlighting essential information in bold. The language of journalistic expression is of a layperson's level. The constant use of citations by authors can seem cumbersome and sometimes too professional and incomprehensible. The texts contain illustrative photographs as well as visuals of the disinformation spread, while it is the videos or photographs of the falsehoods presented that contribute to their credibility. Creators publish misleading information in the text an average of 4.4 times and use an average of 3.2 sources per speech. Regarding the arrangement of information within the debunking on the Topky.sk portal, we can summarize it as follows: disinformation—refutation—information on disinformation spread-

The tabloid online portal **Čas.sk** mainly focuses on themes and information about celebrities, scandals and various interesting topics. All texts using the debunking method are, again, taken from the TASR news agency (in one case in collaboration with a specific author writing under the abbreviation "pkr"). We negatively evaluate the confusing labeling of authorship—this information is only beneath the ads below the article, and many users may not notice it. Almost every headline points out that the fact is hoax (2). On the other hand, it should be noted that, unlike other tabloid media, they work with "softer" subtitles—they do not emphasize the term "hoax" in capital letters or a different font color. The only exception is writing on the diagnosis of COVID-19, which, however, is used in this capital form in most media. While perex includes direct information about falsehood (2), the preview image is chosen differently; in most cases, the text only complements the illustrative image without a negative undertone (1). The disinformation is refuted at the end (1), with key information at the beginning of the journalistic speech (1). The authors base individual claims on strong arguments and use relevant sources. We negatively evaluate the fact that the authors do not draw the attention of the reader to the interpreted disinformation in advance. On the other hand, their efforts not to attack opponents, not to ridicule and not to shame should be emphasized (1). Like most of the monitored media, Čas.sk does not use story (2) or visualization (2) to interpret disinformation. They do not apply subtitles in their texts, they only divide them by means of paragraphs, but they make greater use of working in bold, with which they emphasize the supporting information. Overall, their work with the text is typical for tabloid media—i.e., the presence of simple, comprehensible information, colloquial words; absence of technical terms; relatively short texts and relatively long subtitles with many punctuation marks; use of citations (often marked in bold). It is a surprising finding that the supplementary material appears in the monitored articles in only one case out of five (it is an attached Internet link to a CNN video, from which footage creating disinformation is taken, thus increasing the credibility of the text). False facts in the text are mentioned by the authors on average 5.6 times, while in one article they quote an average of almost four sources. In simple terms, the scheme of the sequence of inclusion of information in the texts can be summarized as follows: disinformation—key

information—refutation of disinformation—argumentation.

**SME.sk** is an Internet version of the printed daily SME, which has a long tradition in Slovakia. Most of the articles analyzed come from news agencies, two are from authors. The construction of the text is based on headlines containing the information that it is a hoax or a false message or states that the fact is "not true" (2). The only positive example is the headline "State inspectors deny that ibuprofen promotes coronavirus proliferation," which does not immediately imply disinformation. Perexes of texts on the SME.sk portal are mostly made up of one sentence

**70**

and again emphasize that the main topic of the text is false information (2). In the headlines and perexes, the creators refer to authorities such as: "The State Institute for Drug Control emphasizes that it is a hoax." The opening image is mostly illustrative; it does not have a significant effect on emotions (1). They then proceed to the very refutation of the disinformation (2). In this case, refuting the untruth is a continuous process running through several parts of the text. On the other hand, the key information (1) that can explain the debunking is usually found in the introductory lines of the first or second paragraph. For example, in an article denying that a map shared on social networks shows the spread of coronavirus, the author explains in the perex that these are air routes and not the effect of the virus. The text concerning the refutation of information about the town of Žiar nad Hronom, where students tested positive for coronavirus, in turn confirmed with the authorities, who confirmed that the town has no such cases. The context of disinformation (1) is respected, as the authors of the texts work with sources such as authorities (mayors, school principals, police). These are local sources found in the author's texts, which increase the credibility of the article. The translated texts also cooperate with professional studies and their authors and also refer to factcheckers from other media (BBC). The authors of SME.sk do not provide warnings (2) when distributing disinformation. One positive example, however, is found: "The City Arena shopping center in Trnava is facing fake news about an allegedly infected person in a food vendor, which is spreading on social networks" the hoax being already mentioned in the title or perex. When manipulating image material, they explain how they adapt disinformation media for their purposes. We do not find elements of negativity in the analyzed articles of the SME.sk web media (1)—the authors always try to solve the given event and do not focus on the subject with regard to the spreader of the disinformation (1). Nor do they use stories (2) to "illustrate" an event (except for one article, which was based on the story of a person returning from abroad). In this context, it should be noted that newsrooms should not only expect these types of reports, but should proactively look for stories about real people, which is not difficult especially given the topic of coronavirus. The authors also do not apply visualizations to the given topics (2). The articles are relatively short and concise; they have news character, which can be assessed positively, as they can explain the essence of the facts in a relatively short text, albeit using a smaller number of sources. The language of the researched journalistic expressions used in this online portal is neutral and simple, it does not contain, mainly due to the choice of topics, much foreign and professional expressions or jargon. Overall, disinformation occurs on average 3.6 times in the text and two sources are used per article, which is due to the shortness of the texts. Regarding the organization of the information, the universal formula is as follows: disinformation—refutation—key information—arguments.

#### **6. Discussion and conclusion**

Based on not only the above findings, but also on findings from unpublished discursive analyzes of the remaining five mentioned web portals, we can state that the implementation of debunking within the Slovak media environment does not reach the required level. This is mainly due to the fact that a considerable amount of information is acquired from press agencies. At the same time, much of this information does not even go through the minimum editorial changes [24]. Even in ideal cases, only minor corrections are made, mainly concerning modification of the title, subtitles and perexes, or modification or addition of the accompanying visual or audiovisual material [25]. As an example, we can mention the misleading

infographics on the Aktuality.sk and Startitup.sk portals publishing the numbers of victims of the Covid-19 virus in comparison with other diseases. While the headline on Aktuality.sk reads "Coronavirus: Infographics comparing COVID-19 with other causes of death is misleading," Startitup.sk has it worded as follows: "Thousands of Slovaks shared an infographic that is a misleading hoax." In both cases, however, the authors ("incorrect"), immediately in the title, point out the disinformation. The perex and the subtitles used are also changed (two are used in both cases). From our experience with the analyzed texts, we can say that the more the author's intervention in the article, the better the text is in terms of fulfilling the principles of debunking.

The most widespread problem in newsrooms is the work of journalists with headlines and perexes [26]. Although the intention of the editors to publish and identify disinformation at the very beginning of the article is sufficient, as they want to draw attention to often dangerous lies, it is not so effective. The disinformation is refuted in the first paragraphs of the press text, which is also not in line with the worldview backfire effect, and is without the desired effect. In addition, the examples studied use incorrect terminology and disinformation is called hoaxes. Therefore, they apply the opposite procedure to debunking to that which is recommended. In general, the process is as follows: disinformation—a key fact—argumentation—refutation of disinformation. If we start with the analytical categories we chose, which reflect the findings from professional literature related to the issue of debunking, we must negatively evaluate the constant interpretation of disinformation in the texts (on average 5.24 times). These alternate between arguments and facts, while their authors draw on various authorities, experts, institutions (on average 4.46 times). This is an incorrect procedure within the implementation of the debunking method, the essence of which is the logical placement of various types of information. However, when it comes to setting the context, it is necessary that authors rely on relevant sources explaining the real situation regarding the topic of debunking. In many cases, the authors also unnecessarily explain where and through what media the disinformation spreads and also how many times it was shared. We also noticed that if the author works with only one argument, the text does not seem entirely plausible.

On the positive side, up to half of the articles contained key information in the introductory paragraphs of the speech, which is a desirable persuasive technique in debunking. With a few exceptions, there are no stories in the texts on the basis of which the negative consequences of the spread of disinformation in the field of health could be suitably illustrated. There are also no visualizations in the form of graphs, tables or infographics, suitably illustrating the issue with exact statistics. We also consider positively the preservation of the objectivity of the media, in terms of notification about the event, not the subjects. This fact assumes that the analyzed articles have retained a certain degree of positivity. Journalists thus avoid insulting and publicly criticizing the so-called "opposite camp," which could discourage the reading of the corrected type of news by the most important target group, namely people who tend to trust disinformation. As far as the formal and linguistic aspects of the texts are concerned, they were mostly news texts; the authors tried to write clearly without using complicated sentences. Unfortunately, the topic of coronavirus also requires the application of technical terms from medicine or pharmacy. However, they are not explained in more detail in the argument. In addition, the journalistic texts discussed do not include videos or photographs, and in many cases it is only text that is appropriately divided by subtitles or paragraphs, and this strategy is based on the rules of the formal editing of articles on websites. If we were to look at the level of debunking in the Slovak media environment, according to the average values of the median of individual analytical categories, we could

**73**

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

state that the Slovak online media adhere to the work with the introductory cover photo (1), appropriately state the context (1), put emphasis on the event and not on the subject (1) and maintain positivity (1). The median therefore reaches 1.5. The headline, perex, refutation of disinformation, warnings about fake news, work with the story and visualization received the median number 2. Based on the facts

**RQ 1: How is the debunking method implemented in the Slovak media space?** The research shows that the Slovak media generally do not follow the recommended principles of effective debunking. The editors include mentions of the falseness of the information right in the introductory parts of the text (title, perex, preview image), which clearly do not reflect the presented theoretical knowledge. We also perceive negatively the fact that the interpretation of disinformation in the form of stories is used by the authors of texts only very sporadically. Likewise, the authors do not draw the attention of their recipients to the upcoming publication of disinformation, nor do they use visualizations (in the form of clear graphs, infographics, and tables), which can quickly orientate the user regarding the problem. It can also be concluded that the editorial offices do not use offensive language, thanks to which, in our opinion, they are be able to address wider groups of readers. On the other hand, the use of a number of credible sources, adherence to the objectivity of the text, sufficient argumentation, appropriate placement of the event in context and focusing the creator's attention on the event itself, not on the disseminator of

**RQ 2: In what sequence does the Slovak media arrange information in** 

In most of the analyzed media, the sequence of configuration of information was similar, and therefore: disinformation—key fact—argument—refutation of disinformation. In the title, the editors usually state their awareness of the hoax. The same procedure applies in the case of perex, while the preview images have a different character (they fluctuate between title images with depictions of disinformation to illustrative shots that do not evoke disinformation). Subsequently, the journalistic texts present key facts, which they immediately substantiate with appropriate arguments (drawn from relevant sources). In the end, the author usually refutes the disinformation (often in the form of a quote or paraphrase from a

**RQ 3: How does the Slovak media use complementary journalistic methods of debunking, which are story, visualization and comprehensibility of the text?** The findings evidently suggest that the selected Slovak media do not use the story as a method of explanation of disinformation. The presence of narration can be observed in journalistic texts only if it follows on from the context of the given topic. The examined text also frequently lacks visualization in the form of graphs or tables, which would be able to clearly supplement the necessary facts and arguments. However, the articles are written clearly, while the analyzed media adhere to the regularity frequency, in terms of their publication, the adequate scope of paragraphs and their work with subtitles. In many cases, the language of selected journalistic expressions suits the lay audience, but in some places technical terms or abbreviations also appear, which cannot be replaced by colloquial synonyms.

**RQ 4: Does the Slovak media observe objectivity in the form of debunking,** 

In their journalistic texts, selected web media try to maintain objectivity and do not significantly attack opponents who spread disinformation or half-truths. They mention them only in the context of spreading disinformation, mostly on or via social networks. Even if the media criticizes scientific authorities or other entities

**regarding focusing on the event itself, and the positivity of the text?**

for publishing lies, a degree of decency via argument is maintained.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

obtained, we can answer the research questions:

disinformation, should be emphasized.

recognized expert familiar with the presented issues).

**debunking?**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

infographics on the Aktuality.sk and Startitup.sk portals publishing the numbers of victims of the Covid-19 virus in comparison with other diseases. While the headline on Aktuality.sk reads "Coronavirus: Infographics comparing COVID-19 with other causes of death is misleading," Startitup.sk has it worded as follows: "Thousands of Slovaks shared an infographic that is a misleading hoax." In both cases, however, the authors ("incorrect"), immediately in the title, point out the disinformation. The perex and the subtitles used are also changed (two are used in both cases). From our experience with the analyzed texts, we can say that the more the author's intervention in the article, the better the text is in terms of fulfilling the principles

The most widespread problem in newsrooms is the work of journalists with headlines and perexes [26]. Although the intention of the editors to publish and identify disinformation at the very beginning of the article is sufficient, as they want to draw attention to often dangerous lies, it is not so effective. The disinformation is refuted in the first paragraphs of the press text, which is also not in line with the worldview backfire effect, and is without the desired effect. In addition, the examples studied use incorrect terminology and disinformation is called hoaxes. Therefore, they apply the opposite procedure to debunking to that which is recommended. In general, the process is as follows: disinformation—a key fact—argumentation—refutation of disinformation. If we start with the analytical categories we chose, which reflect the findings from professional literature related to the issue of debunking, we must negatively evaluate the constant interpretation of disinformation in the texts (on average 5.24 times). These alternate between arguments and facts, while their authors draw on various authorities, experts, institutions (on average 4.46 times). This is an incorrect procedure within the implementation of the debunking method, the essence of which is the logical placement of various types of information. However, when it comes to setting the context, it is necessary that authors rely on relevant sources explaining the real situation regarding the topic of debunking. In many cases, the authors also unnecessarily explain where and through what media the disinformation spreads and also how many times it was shared. We also noticed that if the author works with only one argument, the text

On the positive side, up to half of the articles contained key information in the introductory paragraphs of the speech, which is a desirable persuasive technique in debunking. With a few exceptions, there are no stories in the texts on the basis of which the negative consequences of the spread of disinformation in the field of health could be suitably illustrated. There are also no visualizations in the form of graphs, tables or infographics, suitably illustrating the issue with exact statistics. We also consider positively the preservation of the objectivity of the media, in terms of notification about the event, not the subjects. This fact assumes that the analyzed articles have retained a certain degree of positivity. Journalists thus avoid insulting and publicly criticizing the so-called "opposite camp," which could discourage the reading of the corrected type of news by the most important target group, namely people who tend to trust disinformation. As far as the formal and linguistic aspects of the texts are concerned, they were mostly news texts; the authors tried to write clearly without using complicated sentences. Unfortunately, the topic of coronavirus also requires the application of technical terms from medicine or pharmacy. However, they are not explained in more detail in the argument. In addition, the journalistic texts discussed do not include videos or photographs, and in many cases it is only text that is appropriately divided by subtitles or paragraphs, and this strategy is based on the rules of the formal editing of articles on websites. If we were to look at the level of debunking in the Slovak media environment, according to the average values of the median of individual analytical categories, we could

**72**

of debunking.

does not seem entirely plausible.

state that the Slovak online media adhere to the work with the introductory cover photo (1), appropriately state the context (1), put emphasis on the event and not on the subject (1) and maintain positivity (1). The median therefore reaches 1.5. The headline, perex, refutation of disinformation, warnings about fake news, work with the story and visualization received the median number 2. Based on the facts obtained, we can answer the research questions:

#### **RQ 1: How is the debunking method implemented in the Slovak media space?**

The research shows that the Slovak media generally do not follow the recommended principles of effective debunking. The editors include mentions of the falseness of the information right in the introductory parts of the text (title, perex, preview image), which clearly do not reflect the presented theoretical knowledge. We also perceive negatively the fact that the interpretation of disinformation in the form of stories is used by the authors of texts only very sporadically. Likewise, the authors do not draw the attention of their recipients to the upcoming publication of disinformation, nor do they use visualizations (in the form of clear graphs, infographics, and tables), which can quickly orientate the user regarding the problem. It can also be concluded that the editorial offices do not use offensive language, thanks to which, in our opinion, they are be able to address wider groups of readers. On the other hand, the use of a number of credible sources, adherence to the objectivity of the text, sufficient argumentation, appropriate placement of the event in context and focusing the creator's attention on the event itself, not on the disseminator of disinformation, should be emphasized.

#### **RQ 2: In what sequence does the Slovak media arrange information in debunking?**

In most of the analyzed media, the sequence of configuration of information was similar, and therefore: disinformation—key fact—argument—refutation of disinformation. In the title, the editors usually state their awareness of the hoax. The same procedure applies in the case of perex, while the preview images have a different character (they fluctuate between title images with depictions of disinformation to illustrative shots that do not evoke disinformation). Subsequently, the journalistic texts present key facts, which they immediately substantiate with appropriate arguments (drawn from relevant sources). In the end, the author usually refutes the disinformation (often in the form of a quote or paraphrase from a recognized expert familiar with the presented issues).

**RQ 3: How does the Slovak media use complementary journalistic methods of debunking, which are story, visualization and comprehensibility of the text?**

The findings evidently suggest that the selected Slovak media do not use the story as a method of explanation of disinformation. The presence of narration can be observed in journalistic texts only if it follows on from the context of the given topic. The examined text also frequently lacks visualization in the form of graphs or tables, which would be able to clearly supplement the necessary facts and arguments. However, the articles are written clearly, while the analyzed media adhere to the regularity frequency, in terms of their publication, the adequate scope of paragraphs and their work with subtitles. In many cases, the language of selected journalistic expressions suits the lay audience, but in some places technical terms or abbreviations also appear, which cannot be replaced by colloquial synonyms.

**RQ 4: Does the Slovak media observe objectivity in the form of debunking, regarding focusing on the event itself, and the positivity of the text?**

In their journalistic texts, selected web media try to maintain objectivity and do not significantly attack opponents who spread disinformation or half-truths. They mention them only in the context of spreading disinformation, mostly on or via social networks. Even if the media criticizes scientific authorities or other entities for publishing lies, a degree of decency via argument is maintained.

Thanks to the knowledge earned from theoretical reflection and from the subsequent empirical research, we were able to define several fundamental problems that the Slovak web media have in connection with the implementation of debunking. Recognizing the importance of truthful information, which is the basis for a realistic picture of individuals or of society as a whole about what is happening in the world and also for their advancement in various areas of human activity, we propose a number of suitable solutions for journalists and for entire newsrooms:


**75**

serving.

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

7.There are several useful tools for the above-mentioned visualization of information that can efficiently process different types of data. These include, for example, quadrigram.com, datamatic.com or datavisu.al and

8.When implementing debunking, it is necessary to focus on the scope of the article. It is not possible to explicitly quantify how long the text should be, as each topic requires a different argument. On the other hand, research shows that only 10–20% of users actually read a complicated (online) journalistic text [28]. Therefore, this motto must be followed: All the essentials must be men-

9.At the same time, the texts need to be created with a clear structure, which the reader will get used to and in which they will be able to orientate quickly. Therefore, we recommend that the editors choose a uniform formal arrangement of journalistic texts published on one page and avoid dividing the articles,

10.Within the content of a published text, journalists should not focus exclu-

sively on relevant sources, but should also explain the reasons why someone is spreading a chosen lie and what the consequences may be of this act. It is also a good idea for the authors to clarify exactly how the disinformation arose, as it is often a matter of modifying the truth and real facts or manipulating photographs, recordings, audiovisual content and also a subjective selection of

11.We believe that it would be helpful for editorial offices to regularly include hyperlinks in their texts, which appeared only rarely in the articles we analyzed. They have a credible effect on readers, enabling them to search for and verify the interpreted information, often also from primary sources (since in many cases the editors worked only with agency sources, i.e., secondary sources—in

12.In connection with the correct reference to sources and the publication of statements by experts, we do not recommend the media to refer primarily to their own texts, but rather to facts from other media or sources. People who believe conspiracies, often believing in various theories and condemning of certain types of media, may perceive work with such resources as self-

13.Whether a person who believes in some disinformation receives a message that applies the debunking method also depends on the nature of the caption, the perex, and the appropriate introductory photograph. If the headline, perex or photograph suggests that the article refutes a previously published lie, the recipient's acceptance level of the newly published information is reduced. Therefore, it is appropriate to choose a neutral headline stating the key facts and resulting from a range of arguments in support of the truth, which should later be followed by the perex itself. When choosing a cover photo, it is necessary to choose illustrative shots, ideally those that show people, because they are more believable to the average recipient. Last but not least, it is essential to implement the debunking method quickly, including in the context

of information sharing on social networks.

the form of quotations or paraphrases selected by the agency).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

tioned, and nothing more.

via hyperlinks, into several pages.

information from the context.

many others.

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

number of suitable solutions for journalists and for entire newsrooms:

Thanks to the knowledge earned from theoretical reflection and from the subsequent empirical research, we were able to define several fundamental problems that the Slovak web media have in connection with the implementation of debunking. Recognizing the importance of truthful information, which is the basis for a realistic picture of individuals or of society as a whole about what is happening in the world and also for their advancement in various areas of human activity, we propose a

1.Journalists or editorial staff should also devote themselves to debunking from an author's point of view and not simply acquire content from press agencies. Although it is time-consuming and costly for the editors to draw attention to all disinformation themselves, the individual departments within the news, could identify the key topics they would like to address in the area of debunking. The texts from press agencies are written schematically [27], and the editorial staff should adapt this content to the target group and also to the basic rules of debunking methodology. As we stated in the introductory chapters, this is a formula or a template into which the required information can be inserted in such manner so as to increase the impact. Subsequently, it is also possible to convert press releases into the form required by the false detection

2.Editors should receive training on how to implement debunking. As this is a very straightforward and simple procedure, training should not be time consuming. Once they (for example, one of the members of the editorial board) are able to master the technique, on the basis of an understanding of the appropriate literature, they can in turn train other competent journalists.

3.We also consider it desirable to limit information on the volume and route of disinformation disseminated through various channels and also to stop emphasizing which specific media or authorities shared the false information. This method of disclosing facts is not relevant in the context of debunking, as it may give too much weight to the fake news, and instead should focus primarily

4.An appropriate way to draw attention to disinformation is, for example, in the form of a subtitle clearly referring to the most recent lie. Mentioning it in the sentence just before the disinformation, which points to the possible lie, is also considered an adequate technique. We must not forget to choose appropriate language, and thus avoid expressions such as "lying," "false," "hoax," "lie" and rather focus on words and phrases as "not very relevant," "fictitious," "wrong," and so on.

5.However, if it is necessary to mention disinformation in the text, journalists should focus more on the story, or link it to the real experience of the participants in the event, which draws attention to the irrelevance of the fake news.

6.The average reader does not understand technical or pharmaceutical technical terms. It is therefore ideal to omit these words and phrases as mentioned by the press. However, if the author is forced (due to context) to use these terms, it would be appropriate to explain them in more detail (for example in parenthe-

This procedure is especially appropriate concerning health issues.

on verified and truthful information.

**74**

ses or visually).

method.


### **Acknowledgements**

This chapter was elaborated within a national research project supported by the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences (VEGA) No. 1/0283/20, titled 'Synergy of the Media Industry Segments in the Context of Critical Political Economy of Media'.

### **Author details**

Zuzana Kvetanová\*, Anna Kačincová Predmerská and Magdaléna Švecová Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Trnava, Slovak Republic

\*Address all correspondence to: zuzana.kvetanova@ucm.sk

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**77**

2020]

p. 255

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News*

editors. Nejlepší kniha o fake news dezinformacích a manipulacích!!! Brno:

[10] Nutil P. Média lži a příliš rychlý mozek. Prague: Grada; 2018. p. 192

[11] Gregor M, Vejvodová P. Hoaxy. In: Gregor M, Vejvodová P, editors. Nejlepší kniha o fake news dezinformacích a manipulacích!!! Brno: C Press; 2018.

[12] Caplan R, Hanson L, Donovan J. Dead Reckonin: Navigating Content Moderation after "Fake News". New York: Data & Society Research Institute;

[13] Paris B, Donovan J. Deepfakes and Cheap Fakes. New York: Data & Society

[14] Dictionary. Debunk [Internet]. Available from: https://www.dictionary. com/browse/debunking [Accessed: 06

[15] Cook J, Lewandowsky S. The Debunking Handbook. St. Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland;

[16] Dentith MRX. Debunking conspiracy theories. Synthese.

[17] Struhárik F. Ako internet zmenil žurnalistiku. N Magazín. 2018;**3**(4):36,

[18] Panasenko N. Reasoning as a functional-semantic type of speech in literary and media texts (on the material of the English language). The way of science. International Scientific Journal.

2020;**77**(7):31, s2311-40, s2158

[19] Reid A. How to Deal with Online Rumors and Debunking [Internet]. 2015. Available from: https://www.

2020;**197**(5):2245-2269

s2453-37, s9597

Research Institute; 2019. p. 47

C Press; 2018. pp. 8-9

pp. 45-46

2018. p. 38

July 2020]

2011. p. 7

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

Panasenko N. Homo corporalis as the communicated muse and centrepiece of commercialized culture. European Journal of Media, Art & Photography.

[2] Rončáková T, Môcová L. New journalistic genres in social weeklies: A statistical probe. Informatologia.

[1] Pravdová H, Hudíková Z,

**References**

2020;**8**(1):68-81

2020;**53**(1-2):92-100

[3] Višňovský J. Keď mám v ruke smartfón, som novinár? Niekoľ ko poznámok k žurnalistike neprofesionálnych novinárov. In:

Jurišová V, Klementis M,

Radošinská J, editors. Marketing

FMK UCM; 2017. pp. 118-129

Identity 2017: onlinové pravidlá. Trnava:

[4] Fantomas. S akým obsahom sa na internete môžeme stretnúť? [Internet]. Available from: https://zvolsi.info/sk/ fantomas/ [Accessed: 06 July 2020]

[5] Markoš J. Sila rozumu v bláznivej dobe. Bratislava: N Press, s.r.o.; 2019.

[6] Křeček J. Dezinformace. In: Reifová I, editor. Slovník mediální komunikace.

[7] Wardle C, Derakhshan H. Thinking about 'information disorder': Formats of misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information. In: Ireton C, Posetti J, editors. Journalism, 'Fake News' & Disinformation. Paris: UNESCO; 2018. pp. 43-54

[8] Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. Fake News [Internet]. Available from: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.

news?q=fake+news [Accessed: 06 July

[9] Ujfaluši T. Fake news, dezinformácie a fámy. In: Gregor M, Vejvodová P,

com/definition/english/fake-

Prague: Portál; 2004. p. 45

*Debunking as a Method of Uncovering Disinformation and Fake News DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93738*

#### **References**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

This chapter was elaborated within a national research project supported by the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences (VEGA) No. 1/0283/20, titled 'Synergy of the Media Industry Segments in the Context of Critical Political

Zuzana Kvetanová\*, Anna Kačincová Predmerská and Magdaléna Švecová Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: zuzana.kvetanova@ucm.sk

**76**

**Author details**

**Acknowledgements**

Economy of Media'.

Trnava, Trnava, Slovak Republic

provided the original work is properly cited.

[1] Pravdová H, Hudíková Z, Panasenko N. Homo corporalis as the communicated muse and centrepiece of commercialized culture. European Journal of Media, Art & Photography. 2020;**8**(1):68-81

[2] Rončáková T, Môcová L. New journalistic genres in social weeklies: A statistical probe. Informatologia. 2020;**53**(1-2):92-100

[3] Višňovský J. Keď mám v ruke smartfón, som novinár? Niekoľ ko poznámok k žurnalistike neprofesionálnych novinárov. In: Jurišová V, Klementis M, Radošinská J, editors. Marketing Identity 2017: onlinové pravidlá. Trnava: FMK UCM; 2017. pp. 118-129

[4] Fantomas. S akým obsahom sa na internete môžeme stretnúť? [Internet]. Available from: https://zvolsi.info/sk/ fantomas/ [Accessed: 06 July 2020]

[5] Markoš J. Sila rozumu v bláznivej dobe. Bratislava: N Press, s.r.o.; 2019. p. 255

[6] Křeček J. Dezinformace. In: Reifová I, editor. Slovník mediální komunikace. Prague: Portál; 2004. p. 45

[7] Wardle C, Derakhshan H. Thinking about 'information disorder': Formats of misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information. In: Ireton C, Posetti J, editors. Journalism, 'Fake News' & Disinformation. Paris: UNESCO; 2018. pp. 43-54

[8] Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. Fake News [Internet]. Available from: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries. com/definition/english/fakenews?q=fake+news [Accessed: 06 July 2020]

[9] Ujfaluši T. Fake news, dezinformácie a fámy. In: Gregor M, Vejvodová P,

editors. Nejlepší kniha o fake news dezinformacích a manipulacích!!! Brno: C Press; 2018. pp. 8-9

[10] Nutil P. Média lži a příliš rychlý mozek. Prague: Grada; 2018. p. 192

[11] Gregor M, Vejvodová P. Hoaxy. In: Gregor M, Vejvodová P, editors. Nejlepší kniha o fake news dezinformacích a manipulacích!!! Brno: C Press; 2018. pp. 45-46

[12] Caplan R, Hanson L, Donovan J. Dead Reckonin: Navigating Content Moderation after "Fake News". New York: Data & Society Research Institute; 2018. p. 38

[13] Paris B, Donovan J. Deepfakes and Cheap Fakes. New York: Data & Society Research Institute; 2019. p. 47

[14] Dictionary. Debunk [Internet]. Available from: https://www.dictionary. com/browse/debunking [Accessed: 06 July 2020]

[15] Cook J, Lewandowsky S. The Debunking Handbook. St. Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland; 2011. p. 7

[16] Dentith MRX. Debunking conspiracy theories. Synthese. 2020;**197**(5):2245-2269

[17] Struhárik F. Ako internet zmenil žurnalistiku. N Magazín. 2018;**3**(4):36, s2453-37, s9597

[18] Panasenko N. Reasoning as a functional-semantic type of speech in literary and media texts (on the material of the English language). The way of science. International Scientific Journal. 2020;**77**(7):31, s2311-40, s2158

[19] Reid A. How to Deal with Online Rumors and Debunking [Internet]. 2015. Available from: https://www.

journalism.co.uk/news/how-to-dealwith-online-rumors-and-debunkingresponsibly/s2/a564062/ [Accessed: 07 July 2020]

[20] Vrabec N, Graca M. Mobile applications in the context of the new evangelization. European Journal of Science and Theology. 2017;**13**(4):123-135

[21] Rogers W. Nedostatek kritického myšlení a mediální gramotnosti. In: Gregor M, Vejvodová P, editors. Nejlepší kniha o fake news dezinformacích a manipulacích!!! Brno: C Press; 2018. pp. 120-122

[22] Globsec. Voices of Central and Eastern Europe Perceptions of Democracy & Governance in 10 EU Countries [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.globsec.org/ wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Voicesof-Central-and-Eastern-Europe\_readversion.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1A69wP-7H5P bkzkdyyTBgIazh751KC32l1iFKL7bhMSy 5Ra64seTYS2aI [Accessed: 07 July 2020]

[23] Newman N, Fletcher R, Schulz A, Andı S, Nielsen KR. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https:// reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/ default/files/2020-06/DNR\_2020\_ FINAL.pdf [Accessed: 07 July 2020]

[24] Radošinská J. Multiplatformové novinárstvo v kontexte mediálnej kultúry. In: Pravdová H, Radošinská J, Višňovský J, editors. Koncepty a praktiky multiplatformovej žurnalistiky: Slovensko v sieťach digitálnych diaľnic. Trnava: FMK UCM; 2017. pp. 107-182

[25] Višňovský J. Paralely digitálneho novinárstva a jeho rozmach v kontexte rozvoja informačných a komunikačných technológií v spoločnosti. In: Pravdová H, Radošinská J, Višňovský J, editors. Koncepty a praktiky multiplatformovej žurnalistiky: Slovensko v sieťach digitálnych diaľnic. Trnava: FMK UCM; 2017. pp. 183-272

[26] Višňovský J, Radošinská J. Online journalism: Current trends and challenges. In: Peña Acuña B, editor. The Evolution of Media Communication. Rijeka: InTech; 2017. pp. 3-22

[27] Višňovský J, Greguš Ľ, Mináriková J, Kubíková K. Television news as an information source and its perception in Slovakia. Communication Today. 2019;**10**(1):40-60

[28] Go-Gulf. How People Read Content Online – Statistic and Trends [Internet]. 2018. Available from: https://www. go-gulf.ae/how-people-read-contentonline/ [Accessed: 03 August 2020]

**79**

consequences.

mass media, reality TV

**1. Introduction**

**Chapter 4**

**Abstract**

*Shestakova Eleonora*

Lightweight and Simplified

Social-Everyday Reality

Truth as a Kind of Distortion of

Fake news has become one of the typical features of modern mass media. Researchers usually associate the dissemination of fake news with political, economic problems, with an obvious violation of civil rights and freedoms. But with this approach, several significant points are missed. Firstly, for people and society is significant the news of the "simple" spheres of life. Mass media has long been invaded to these sphere and its life forms, for example, through the genres of reality, largely lifestyle. Secondly, the social-everyday sphere is extremely saturated with various places of formation and existence of common senses, about which J.-L. Nancy. The introduction of fake news in them will inevitably lead to the revolution of everyday life, which A. Heller was thinking about. But it will be a deliberately made, artificial revolution of everyday life, built on the soft and strong manipulation of emotions, moods. Thirdly, fake news cannot be limited to the typological series of deception, misinformation, fake, forgery. Such news in the social-everyday sphere, initially, is based on the lightweight and simplified truth about a particular event, phenomenon, methods and possibilities of achieving the desired result. This determines the following objectives of the article. First of all, substantiate the importance of researching entertainment programs from the point of view of fake news and information. To prove that playing of the various types lightweight and simplified world in reality TV is an effective version of the modern type of propaganda, which leads to irreversible deformations of social-everyday reality and dominant patterns of behavior. Thus, fake news introduces into the world of a person, a social group, a society, it would seem, insignificant distortions, small erroneous ideas about reality. But, this leads to serious socio-cultural, worldview

**Keywords:** fake news, truth, social-everyday reality, manipulation, ideology,

Obvious and aggressive propaganda of ideas, various kinds of falsity in social relations, manipulations with public consciousness have become a peculiar feature of the culture of the second half of the twentieth century. European sociologists and philosophers had purposefully written about this: J. Habermas, S. Moscovici,

#### **Chapter 4**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

žurnalistiky: Slovensko v sieťach digitálnych diaľnic. Trnava: FMK UCM;

Rijeka: InTech; 2017. pp. 3-22

[26] Višňovský J, Radošinská J. Online journalism: Current trends and

challenges. In: Peña Acuña B, editor. The Evolution of Media Communication.

[27] Višňovský J, Greguš Ľ, Mináriková J, Kubíková K. Television news as an information source and its perception in Slovakia. Communication Today.

[28] Go-Gulf. How People Read Content Online – Statistic and Trends [Internet]. 2018. Available from: https://www. go-gulf.ae/how-people-read-contentonline/ [Accessed: 03 August 2020]

2017. pp. 183-272

2019;**10**(1):40-60

journalism.co.uk/news/how-to-dealwith-online-rumors-and-debunkingresponsibly/s2/a564062/ [Accessed:

[20] Vrabec N, Graca M. Mobile applications in the context of the new evangelization. European Journal of Science and Theology.

[21] Rogers W. Nedostatek kritického myšlení a mediální gramotnosti. In: Gregor M, Vejvodová P, editors. Nejlepší kniha o fake news dezinformacích a manipulacích!!! Brno: C Press; 2018.

[22] Globsec. Voices of Central and Eastern Europe Perceptions of Democracy & Governance in 10 EU Countries [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.globsec.org/ wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Voicesof-Central-and-Eastern-Europe\_readversion.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1A69wP-7H5P bkzkdyyTBgIazh751KC32l1iFKL7bhMSy 5Ra64seTYS2aI [Accessed: 07 July 2020]

[23] Newman N, Fletcher R, Schulz A, Andı S, Nielsen KR. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 [Internet].

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/ default/files/2020-06/DNR\_2020\_ FINAL.pdf [Accessed: 07 July 2020]

[24] Radošinská J. Multiplatformové novinárstvo v kontexte mediálnej

Radošinská J, Višňovský J, editors. Koncepty a praktiky multiplatformovej žurnalistiky: Slovensko v sieťach digitálnych diaľnic. Trnava: FMK UCM;

[25] Višňovský J. Paralely digitálneho

novinárstva a jeho rozmach v kontexte rozvoja informačných a komunikačných technológií v spoločnosti. In: Pravdová H, Radošinská J, Višňovský J, editors. Koncepty a praktiky multiplatformovej

2020. Available from: https://

kultúry. In: Pravdová H,

2017. pp. 107-182

07 July 2020]

2017;**13**(4):123-135

pp. 120-122

**78**

## Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality

*Shestakova Eleonora*

#### **Abstract**

Fake news has become one of the typical features of modern mass media. Researchers usually associate the dissemination of fake news with political, economic problems, with an obvious violation of civil rights and freedoms. But with this approach, several significant points are missed. Firstly, for people and society is significant the news of the "simple" spheres of life. Mass media has long been invaded to these sphere and its life forms, for example, through the genres of reality, largely lifestyle. Secondly, the social-everyday sphere is extremely saturated with various places of formation and existence of common senses, about which J.-L. Nancy. The introduction of fake news in them will inevitably lead to the revolution of everyday life, which A. Heller was thinking about. But it will be a deliberately made, artificial revolution of everyday life, built on the soft and strong manipulation of emotions, moods. Thirdly, fake news cannot be limited to the typological series of deception, misinformation, fake, forgery. Such news in the social-everyday sphere, initially, is based on the lightweight and simplified truth about a particular event, phenomenon, methods and possibilities of achieving the desired result. This determines the following objectives of the article. First of all, substantiate the importance of researching entertainment programs from the point of view of fake news and information. To prove that playing of the various types lightweight and simplified world in reality TV is an effective version of the modern type of propaganda, which leads to irreversible deformations of social-everyday reality and dominant patterns of behavior. Thus, fake news introduces into the world of a person, a social group, a society, it would seem, insignificant distortions, small erroneous ideas about reality. But, this leads to serious socio-cultural, worldview consequences.

**Keywords:** fake news, truth, social-everyday reality, manipulation, ideology, mass media, reality TV

#### **1. Introduction**

Obvious and aggressive propaganda of ideas, various kinds of falsity in social relations, manipulations with public consciousness have become a peculiar feature of the culture of the second half of the twentieth century. European sociologists and philosophers had purposefully written about this: J. Habermas, S. Moscovici,

P. Ricoeur, M. Foucault, M. de Certeau, H. Arendt, A. Heller, J. Baudrillard, J. Assmann, A. Assmann, L. Althusser, S. Zizek, J.-L. Nancy. In their opinion, this state of the social-everyday sphere of culture is largely correlated with the development of mass media and with the growth of various opportunities for a person to present his life in the form of a narrative about it. This range of possibilities unfolds from the traditional genres of journalistic interviews, articles, memoir literature to the modernity genres of reality TV, posts, comments and stories on social media. Media communications specialists emphasize: "The social channels we use are less important now than ever before. Today, it's all about how you tell your story" [1]. In addition: "Stories are immersive not only because they are full-screen, but because they are shared in the moment with your audience. <… > you are giving your followers a glimpse into what's happening in your life right now. They're getting a look at a moment in your day, and they feel like they are a part of it because you have invited them in" [2]. Modern society and people are becoming in many ways media texts. They turn out to be not only passive consumers of information from the mass media, but also, if desired, active participants in media communication, creators of conditional media reality. In this process, modern society and a person at the same time settle down in a new space, master forms of coexistence with it, and lose sensitivity to convention, play and, most importantly, to the invariably public essence of media reality. Therefore, social-everyday reality and media reality are constantly in the process of convergence.

This reveals two interrelated key issues: moral-ethical and sociocultural. Society and a person master media reality, be taught relationships with it, designated the foundations, boundaries, principles of what is permitted, of the trust and of the doubts about it, developed new ideas about building a reputation. In media reality quickly the formation of what H. Rheingold designated as informal public accumulation of useful knowledge and a change in the role of the degree of trust [3] to people and groups collecting and disseminating information. The degree of trust in the source, quality of information is one of the key conditions for a long, stable, effective existence of participants in both media communication and social communication. Simultaneously a predictable transformation of technologies for creating fake news, opportunities for manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation is observed. They are becoming more and more sophisticated and seek to captured, colonized the private world of an ordinary person. But, most importantly, they fill it with the necessary – from the point of view of ideological, political, economic benefits – ready-made ideas, meanings.

This kind of relationship between society, a person, and media communications is justly alarming. These are, at the outset, concerns about how, in what directions and on what basis the social-everyday reality develops. Undoubtedly, these are fears about what moods, preferences, ideas and dreams it produces, what behavioral patterns it sets under the influence of long and frequent interaction with media reality. This is actualized the issues that are related to: firstly, to the preservation of the ability and desire of society and the individual to distinguish truth from falsehood, disinformation, manipulation; secondly, with the problematic field of simplification, a kind of primitives of moral-ethical, socio-cultural problems and, accordingly, the perception of news, information, their identification as truthful, reliable/deceitful, fake; thirdly, with the education of a sharply critical attitude to information at first sight about useful things, products, opportunities, primarily in the private sphere; fourthly, with the proliferation of leisure and entertainment programs in the media reality, in which the borderline between facts and reality is inevitably blurred. These programs are initially based on obvious playful and highly emotional moments. They seduce society and a person with the possibilities of quick, easy, all kinds of pleasure from simple and ethically generally recognized,

**81**

style?" [5].

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

permissible joys and comfort. These are, generally, gastronomic culture, fashion, sports, home design, healthy lifestyle, and family and youth entertainment, travel. In many ways, they make up the circle of useful social-everyday knowledge about which H. Rheingold wrote. This invariably leads to a smoothing of critical consciousness, activation of the emotional and sensory beginning and simplifies tasks

One way to overcome these qualms is to cultivate the *fair memory* ([4], p. 9). This is a special kind of memory associated with collective memory. The collective memory is "the memory of the moral obligation to exercise fairness or to allow its embodiment. By doing good or bad deeds, a person is not just an individual under the pressure of circumstances, but a thinking subject who, faced with an obstacle, creates his own identity. Individual and collective memory, contributing to the formation of personal identity, gives rise to the problem of a fair memory" ([4] p. 10). One of the key points in this process is the formation of personal identity through a critical attitude to reality, as well as personal choice and actions conditioned by it. This applies not only to the "high" spheres of life associated with civil, political rights and freedoms. The creation of *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) is no less relevant for the sphere of everyday life. It is important to consider the following. Concepts memory and of a *fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) inextricably linked to language and narration: "Memory needed language as a means of expression, and a narrative" ([4] p. 8). The languages of mass media, media text in this sense play one of the leading roles. They are able to form not only collective, but also *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur), principles, foundations, models for identity, but they can also play with memory,

It is clear that the formation of *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) is in many respects the basis and condition for the stabilization, survival of the modern world, for which the problems of ethics, morality, responsibility, reputation, identity, self-identity of a person are relevant. Mass media continues to play the role of a strong consolidation factor, the creation of a collective mindset, consciousness, mentality. Although it is also clear that in the situation of strengthening the positions of the mass media, their focus on the private sphere of society and person life, the formation of the total of media reality, often filled with information chaos, dubious, unreliable news, it is necessary to understand the following issues. Firstly, what and as a result of what is included in the semantic and axiological scope of concepts of *fake news, information chaos*. Secondly, what are the conditions, principles, mechanisms of their implementation in social and everyday reality? Thirdly, is it always necessary and productive to consider them in a binary coordinate system: false/true, bad/ good, unfair, forged/correct, trustworthy? Fourthly, what can resist, protect society, people from information and social chaos, inaccurate information, fake news?

**2. Justification of the main approaches and areas of research**

Fake news, unreliable information has become one of the characteristic features of modern mass media. It does not have to prove it anymore [5–13]. Rather need to join fair questions L Corbin: "Do not you find it unfair that in this new, complex eco-system of the new media, news organizations like the BBC, putting an effort into making sure that the piece of information is accurate, can lose to mere individuals, handsome men (or women) with good presentation, making people believe in something which is just not right? To an ordinary viewer, a nice guy sitting on a couch and making a self-video of his own might be more trustworthy than wellestablished news organizations, because of his/her appearance, the "one of us"

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

for various kinds of manipulations.

subtly manipulate it.

#### *Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

permissible joys and comfort. These are, generally, gastronomic culture, fashion, sports, home design, healthy lifestyle, and family and youth entertainment, travel. In many ways, they make up the circle of useful social-everyday knowledge about which H. Rheingold wrote. This invariably leads to a smoothing of critical consciousness, activation of the emotional and sensory beginning and simplifies tasks for various kinds of manipulations.

One way to overcome these qualms is to cultivate the *fair memory* ([4], p. 9). This is a special kind of memory associated with collective memory. The collective memory is "the memory of the moral obligation to exercise fairness or to allow its embodiment. By doing good or bad deeds, a person is not just an individual under the pressure of circumstances, but a thinking subject who, faced with an obstacle, creates his own identity. Individual and collective memory, contributing to the formation of personal identity, gives rise to the problem of a fair memory" ([4] p. 10). One of the key points in this process is the formation of personal identity through a critical attitude to reality, as well as personal choice and actions conditioned by it. This applies not only to the "high" spheres of life associated with civil, political rights and freedoms. The creation of *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) is no less relevant for the sphere of everyday life. It is important to consider the following. Concepts memory and of a *fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) inextricably linked to language and narration: "Memory needed language as a means of expression, and a narrative" ([4] p. 8). The languages of mass media, media text in this sense play one of the leading roles. They are able to form not only collective, but also *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur), principles, foundations, models for identity, but they can also play with memory, subtly manipulate it.

It is clear that the formation of *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) is in many respects the basis and condition for the stabilization, survival of the modern world, for which the problems of ethics, morality, responsibility, reputation, identity, self-identity of a person are relevant. Mass media continues to play the role of a strong consolidation factor, the creation of a collective mindset, consciousness, mentality. Although it is also clear that in the situation of strengthening the positions of the mass media, their focus on the private sphere of society and person life, the formation of the total of media reality, often filled with information chaos, dubious, unreliable news, it is necessary to understand the following issues. Firstly, what and as a result of what is included in the semantic and axiological scope of concepts of *fake news, information chaos*. Secondly, what are the conditions, principles, mechanisms of their implementation in social and everyday reality? Thirdly, is it always necessary and productive to consider them in a binary coordinate system: false/true, bad/ good, unfair, forged/correct, trustworthy? Fourthly, what can resist, protect society, people from information and social chaos, inaccurate information, fake news?

#### **2. Justification of the main approaches and areas of research**

Fake news, unreliable information has become one of the characteristic features of modern mass media. It does not have to prove it anymore [5–13]. Rather need to join fair questions L Corbin: "Do not you find it unfair that in this new, complex eco-system of the new media, news organizations like the BBC, putting an effort into making sure that the piece of information is accurate, can lose to mere individuals, handsome men (or women) with good presentation, making people believe in something which is just not right? To an ordinary viewer, a nice guy sitting on a couch and making a self-video of his own might be more trustworthy than wellestablished news organizations, because of his/her appearance, the "one of us" style?" [5].

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

P. Ricoeur, M. Foucault, M. de Certeau, H. Arendt, A. Heller, J. Baudrillard, J. Assmann, A. Assmann, L. Althusser, S. Zizek, J.-L. Nancy. In their opinion, this state of the social-everyday sphere of culture is largely correlated with the development of mass media and with the growth of various opportunities for a person to present his life in the form of a narrative about it. This range of possibilities unfolds from the traditional genres of journalistic interviews, articles, memoir literature to the modernity genres of reality TV, posts, comments and stories on social media. Media communications specialists emphasize: "The social channels we use are less important now than ever before. Today, it's all about how you tell your story" [1]. In addition: "Stories are immersive not only because they are full-screen, but because they are shared in the moment with your audience. <… > you are giving your followers a glimpse into what's happening in your life right now. They're getting a look at a moment in your day, and they feel like they are a part of it because you have invited them in" [2]. Modern society and people are becoming in many ways media texts. They turn out to be not only passive consumers of information from the mass media, but also, if desired, active participants in media communication, creators of conditional media reality. In this process, modern society and a person at the same time settle down in a new space, master forms of coexistence with it, and lose sensitivity to convention, play and, most importantly, to the invariably public essence of media reality. Therefore, social-everyday reality and media reality are constantly in

This reveals two interrelated key issues: moral-ethical and sociocultural. Society and a person master media reality, be taught relationships with it, designated the foundations, boundaries, principles of what is permitted, of the trust and of the doubts about it, developed new ideas about building a reputation. In media reality quickly the formation of what H. Rheingold designated as informal public accumulation of useful knowledge and a change in the role of the degree of trust [3] to people and groups collecting and disseminating information. The degree of trust in the source, quality of information is one of the key conditions for a long, stable, effective existence of participants in both media communication and social communication. Simultaneously a predictable transformation of technologies for creating fake news, opportunities for manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation is observed. They are becoming more and more sophisticated and seek to captured, colonized the private world of an ordinary person. But, most importantly, they fill it with the necessary – from the point of view of ideological, political, economic

This kind of relationship between society, a person, and media communications is justly alarming. These are, at the outset, concerns about how, in what directions and on what basis the social-everyday reality develops. Undoubtedly, these are fears about what moods, preferences, ideas and dreams it produces, what behavioral patterns it sets under the influence of long and frequent interaction with media reality. This is actualized the issues that are related to: firstly, to the preservation of the ability and desire of society and the individual to distinguish truth from falsehood, disinformation, manipulation; secondly, with the problematic field of simplification, a kind of primitives of moral-ethical, socio-cultural problems and, accordingly, the perception of news, information, their identification as truthful, reliable/deceitful, fake; thirdly, with the education of a sharply critical attitude to information at first sight about useful things, products, opportunities, primarily in the private sphere; fourthly, with the proliferation of leisure and entertainment programs in the media reality, in which the borderline between facts and reality is inevitably blurred. These programs are initially based on obvious playful and highly emotional moments. They seduce society and a person with the possibilities of quick, easy, all kinds of pleasure from simple and ethically generally recognized,

**80**

the process of convergence.

benefits – ready-made ideas, meanings.

To date, researchers has identified the following leading types of fake news: "…six types of definition: (1) news satire, (2) news parody, (3) fabrication, (4) manipulation, (5) advertising, and (6) propaganda" ([6], p. 147). The creation and dissemination of fake news, disinformation is associated primarily with political, social, economic topics, with the violation of civil rights and freedoms, with the era of universal propaganda, devaluation of democratic values and the development of post-truth. This is not contested too. Fake news is correlated with a distortion of reality, lies, forgery, forgery, manipulation, inconsistency with reality, its transformations using parody, satire.

Leading signs of fake news: retreating from facts, hiding the truth; emphasis on rumors, speculation, links to unreliable, anonymous sources; non-personalized experts; the desire not to focus on the consequences of events; purposeful used of negative strong emotions; aggressiveness of tone, style of presentation; escalation of threats. Fake news has become a threat in itself "…not only to the integrity of political debate, but also to the broader health of society in general" ([13], p. 464). Furthermore: "On its own, this is a serious concern, but perhaps the most serious concern is the ability of Fake News to create an artificial worldview for specific groups of citizens that systematically distorts reality. There have been several recent examples where precisely this kind of distortion has led to devastating consequences" ([13], p. 466).

Accordingly, the advice on combating false information is focused on the opposite properties. Despite the fact that there are no easy answers to questions about the methods of struggle, according to experts, they agree on the following points. Society and individual must work out and than invariably, systematically exercise a skeptical attitude towards information; they must remember about democratic values; be supposed to take care of their media ecology; must learn to understood the disinformation landscape and tasks, goals of business models; check sources of information; constantly compare information about one event from different mass media; to give special attention to the emotional saturation of suspicious, controversial topics; enhance the role of analytics; to become a kind of researchers of what they see, hear. At the same time, it is important to take into account that it will be extremely difficult and long to get rid of the consequences of exposure to fake news.

When studying fake news and ways to overcome them, the attention of researchers is focused on the position, systemic actions and responsibility of a journalist, an editor and an edition, and their reputation. It is they who are called upon to resist information chaos, manipulations, lies, fake news, to fight their using traditional methods, the capabilities of high-quality journalism.

Dominance of this kind of approach to the problem of fake news leads to three key points is emphasized. Firstly, it is the position of the person which consumes mass media. The accent is on personal and conscious choice, responsibility for what he accepts/rejects as true, reliable, necessary, useful/false, unreliable, harmful information for him. Secondly, it is the informational content. Priority is given to socially, economically, politically obvious topics in their relevance, for example, presidential elections, military conflicts, increased civil protests, government response to the pandemic, falling living standards. Thirdly, it is the reputation and social responsibility of the journalist, editor and edition. They are viewed as guarantors of reliable, high-quality, socially responsible information. These are important, relevant and promising aspects of fake news research. But this approach misses a few significant points. Without a systematic study of these moments, it will remain incomprehensible why an ordinary person began to trust information from little-known handsome young man more than professional news from journalists and publishers with a good reputation. The question remains unclear why different people from different social groups are more concerned about how best to present themselves and their private life in the form of a media text than about the consequences of such actions.

**83**

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

**3. Lightweight and simplified truth and mass media's creation of** 

News is essential for people not only from the world of politics, economics, civil rights and freedoms, but also from more "simple" spheres of life, which form the backbone of everyday life. For example, news of fashion, home design, gastronomic culture, etc. This is a socially everyday sphere and its forms of life, according to J. Habermas, which for several hundred years have shaped the culture of countries belonging to the "spiritual contour of the West" and its identity ([14], p. 44–45). They are important for the individual, for the family, and for various social groups. To manage them, to be able to gently, without violence, change their ideological and semantic content, values – means to have complete control over modern society. This kind of news about the "simple" private sphere of life is capable of no less creating an artificial worldview, as well as fake news from the sphere of politics, as Alibašić and Rose wrote about [13]. However, if the news about political, socio-economic events is perceived by an ordinary person as something external, as attempts to invade his private space, the desire to impose someone else's opinion, to deceive, then with news about "simple" spheres of life, the situation is different. There is no explicit and traditional opposition between power/person, public/private, society/ home. These social-everyday forms of private life and their reflection in the mass media are initially perceived as efforts to support and revive the positive private

The mass media have long invaded the world of everyday life, for example, through the genres of reality (reality shows, lifestyle). They show an ordinary person a variety of opportunities for entertainment, pleasure, comfort, fashion in what for a long time belonged to the sphere of private life, or rather even routine. Mass media at the beginning of the XXI century very quickly mastered this socialeveryday form of life, realizing its importance from an ideological, political and economic point of view. The emergence and development of the lifestyle genre plays one of the leading roles in this process. So, P.M. Jensen especially emphasizes the socio-cultural environment of the emergence and spread of this new media phenomenon: "The lifestyle genre has its historical roots in factual programming genres of the didactic sort <…> Another particularity of the genre is that lifestyle programs are increasingly traded internationally as program formats, which are subsequently adapted locally to meet national market conditions outside their country of origin <…>" ([15], p. 37). This is primarily due to the high standard of living in these countries, as noted by experts analyzing the lifestyle genre [16–31]. Judging by the research conducted the emergence and rapid development of this genre led to four

Firstly, it is the desire of an ordinary person, who leads a stable, financially successful and socially predictable lifestyle, to improve with the help of advice on design, cooking, fashion, healthy lifestyle, leisure time, their home, appearance, and routine. This contributes to the further development of reality genres to striv-

Secondly, the spread of the Anglo-Saxon way of life to other, less socially, economically successful regions, which, through reality genres, adopt the image, living standards, behavioral patterns, value orientations of their more successful geopolitical neighbors. These genres, as A. Mazel emphasizes, analyzing programs with Jamie Oliver, create this or that image as a desirable lifestyle, encouraging users to buy goods in order to acquire this lifestyle. This is achieved, in particular, by the fact that "Cooking and eating are not represented as domestic labour or a necessity, but rather as a form of leisure and a pleasurable lifestyle activity. Oliver's 'naked' style makes cooking look effortless, accessible, and achievable" ([31], p. 138). The origin

ing to maximize the fullness covered of social-everyday life forms.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

**everyday life**

values of everyday life.

main consequences.

#### **3. Lightweight and simplified truth and mass media's creation of everyday life**

News is essential for people not only from the world of politics, economics, civil rights and freedoms, but also from more "simple" spheres of life, which form the backbone of everyday life. For example, news of fashion, home design, gastronomic culture, etc. This is a socially everyday sphere and its forms of life, according to J. Habermas, which for several hundred years have shaped the culture of countries belonging to the "spiritual contour of the West" and its identity ([14], p. 44–45). They are important for the individual, for the family, and for various social groups. To manage them, to be able to gently, without violence, change their ideological and semantic content, values – means to have complete control over modern society. This kind of news about the "simple" private sphere of life is capable of no less creating an artificial worldview, as well as fake news from the sphere of politics, as Alibašić and Rose wrote about [13]. However, if the news about political, socio-economic events is perceived by an ordinary person as something external, as attempts to invade his private space, the desire to impose someone else's opinion, to deceive, then with news about "simple" spheres of life, the situation is different. There is no explicit and traditional opposition between power/person, public/private, society/ home. These social-everyday forms of private life and their reflection in the mass media are initially perceived as efforts to support and revive the positive private values of everyday life.

The mass media have long invaded the world of everyday life, for example, through the genres of reality (reality shows, lifestyle). They show an ordinary person a variety of opportunities for entertainment, pleasure, comfort, fashion in what for a long time belonged to the sphere of private life, or rather even routine. Mass media at the beginning of the XXI century very quickly mastered this socialeveryday form of life, realizing its importance from an ideological, political and economic point of view. The emergence and development of the lifestyle genre plays one of the leading roles in this process. So, P.M. Jensen especially emphasizes the socio-cultural environment of the emergence and spread of this new media phenomenon: "The lifestyle genre has its historical roots in factual programming genres of the didactic sort <…> Another particularity of the genre is that lifestyle programs are increasingly traded internationally as program formats, which are subsequently adapted locally to meet national market conditions outside their country of origin <…>" ([15], p. 37). This is primarily due to the high standard of living in these countries, as noted by experts analyzing the lifestyle genre [16–31]. Judging by the research conducted the emergence and rapid development of this genre led to four main consequences.

Firstly, it is the desire of an ordinary person, who leads a stable, financially successful and socially predictable lifestyle, to improve with the help of advice on design, cooking, fashion, healthy lifestyle, leisure time, their home, appearance, and routine. This contributes to the further development of reality genres to striving to maximize the fullness covered of social-everyday life forms.

Secondly, the spread of the Anglo-Saxon way of life to other, less socially, economically successful regions, which, through reality genres, adopt the image, living standards, behavioral patterns, value orientations of their more successful geopolitical neighbors. These genres, as A. Mazel emphasizes, analyzing programs with Jamie Oliver, create this or that image as a desirable lifestyle, encouraging users to buy goods in order to acquire this lifestyle. This is achieved, in particular, by the fact that "Cooking and eating are not represented as domestic labour or a necessity, but rather as a form of leisure and a pleasurable lifestyle activity. Oliver's 'naked' style makes cooking look effortless, accessible, and achievable" ([31], p. 138). The origin

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

mations using parody, satire.

To date, researchers has identified the following leading types of fake news: "…six types of definition: (1) news satire, (2) news parody, (3) fabrication, (4) manipulation, (5) advertising, and (6) propaganda" ([6], p. 147). The creation and dissemination of fake news, disinformation is associated primarily with political, social, economic topics, with the violation of civil rights and freedoms, with the era of universal propaganda, devaluation of democratic values and the development of post-truth. This is not contested too. Fake news is correlated with a distortion of reality, lies, forgery, forgery, manipulation, inconsistency with reality, its transfor-

Leading signs of fake news: retreating from facts, hiding the truth; emphasis on rumors, speculation, links to unreliable, anonymous sources; non-personalized experts; the desire not to focus on the consequences of events; purposeful used of negative strong emotions; aggressiveness of tone, style of presentation; escalation of threats. Fake news has become a threat in itself "…not only to the integrity of political debate, but also to the broader health of society in general" ([13], p. 464). Furthermore: "On its own, this is a serious concern, but perhaps the most serious concern is the ability of Fake News to create an artificial worldview for specific groups of citizens that systematically distorts reality. There have been several recent examples where precisely this

Accordingly, the advice on combating false information is focused on the opposite properties. Despite the fact that there are no easy answers to questions about the methods of struggle, according to experts, they agree on the following points. Society and individual must work out and than invariably, systematically exercise a skeptical attitude towards information; they must remember about democratic values; be supposed to take care of their media ecology; must learn to understood the disinformation landscape and tasks, goals of business models; check sources of information; constantly compare information about one event from different mass media; to give special attention to the emotional saturation of suspicious, controversial topics; enhance the role of analytics; to become a kind of researchers of what they see, hear. At the same time, it is important to take into account that it will be extremely difficult and long to get rid of the consequences of exposure to fake news. When studying fake news and ways to overcome them, the attention of researchers is focused on the position, systemic actions and responsibility of a journalist, an editor and an edition, and their reputation. It is they who are called upon to resist information chaos, manipulations, lies, fake news, to fight their using

Dominance of this kind of approach to the problem of fake news leads to three key points is emphasized. Firstly, it is the position of the person which consumes mass media. The accent is on personal and conscious choice, responsibility for what he accepts/rejects as true, reliable, necessary, useful/false, unreliable, harmful information for him. Secondly, it is the informational content. Priority is given to socially, economically, politically obvious topics in their relevance, for example, presidential elections, military conflicts, increased civil protests, government response to the pandemic, falling living standards. Thirdly, it is the reputation and social responsibility of the journalist, editor and edition. They are viewed as guarantors of reliable, high-quality, socially responsible information. These are important, relevant and promising aspects of fake news research. But this approach misses a few significant points. Without a systematic study of these moments, it will remain incomprehensible why an ordinary person began to trust information from little-known handsome young man more than professional news from journalists and publishers with a good reputation. The question remains unclear why different people from different social groups are more concerned about how best to present themselves and their private life in the form of a media text than about the consequences of such actions.

kind of distortion has led to devastating consequences" ([13], p. 466).

traditional methods, the capabilities of high-quality journalism.

**82**

and development, the successful existence of the lifestyle genre is associated with the everyday life of an ordinary person. P.M. Jensen describes it this way: "Lifestyle television deals with ordinary people's everyday lives. <…> The genre, together with reality, falls into the factual entertainment category, and programs are most often didactical at their core and give practical advice and inspiration on food, fashion, body, garden and house, all of which are phenomena through which we express and develop our identities" ([15], p. 38). As a result, a phenomenon develops, which researchers (Kate Soper, Lyn Thomas, Robert Caruana, Sarah Glozer, Giana M. Eckhardt [32–34]) refer to as "alternative hedonism": "'Alternative hedonism' is here theorized as an immanent critique of 'consumerism', and the impulse behind a new 'political imaginary' or vision of the 'good life' that might influence (along with other developments) the move to a more socially just and environmentally sustainable and enjoyable future" ([33], p. 1). This phenomenon is directly related to the genres of reality: "In lifestyle television we identified four sub-genres where the representation of the joys of consumption is tempered by anxieties about quality of life, and desires for other pleasures: narratives of 'relocation' from urban noise and pollution to rural community and natural beauty; cookery programmes focusing on quests for authentic, wild or local food; programmes focusing on spiritual journeys motivated by disillusionment with material success; and finally, 'ecoreality' programmes, where the protagonists are challenged to adopt a new and 'greener' lifestyle" ([33], p. 2).

Thirdly, the inevitable fusion of lifestyle with reality shows, as well as the purposeful use of melodrama and documentary drama techniques, first of all, to improve the image of reality. Although lifestyle, according to researchers, is softer, emotionally calmer, kinder, in fact harmless, in contrast to the real show genre.

Fourthly, the emergence of various kinds of manipulations, fake news, people who work for corporations, create a personal image through fictional stories, deception, speculation on vital topics. This creates quasi-social relations: "Lifestyle gurus embody the para-social, trading off the appeal of intimacy, authenticity and integrity. <…> social media have increased the levels of emotional investment, trust and attention capital in para-social relationships by providing ubiquitous access to native experts and creating the platform to achieve influence and micro-celebrity status. <…> the growing number of lifestyle gurus providing the public with health advice and scientific knowledge points to the need to examine critically the social and cultural landscape that enables micro-celebrities to emerge" [35]. However, in such cases of manipulations, deceptions, their exposure, the same ideas, advice, approaches work for the reality genres as for other fake news. We are interested in a completely different aspect, which, as a rule, is not taken into account by researchers.

It is important to understand: what kind of transformations and distortions of social-everyday reality genres of reality produce; how these distorted views are formed; why they should be interpreted in the problematic field of fake news and understand the full extent of the threats they pose.

The social-everyday sphere of life, as the development of reality genres has shown, is no less saturated with news and events than the political, social and economic. In this sphere of life, no less than in the sphere of civil rights and freedoms, moral and ethical principles, trust, foundations and values for identity and self-identity are important. News about the "simple" private sphere of life actively, but gently, unobtrusively forms an artificial worldview (Alibašić, Rose), similar to the "high" spheres of life. Influence of programs *Званый ужин* (*Dinner party*) (Ukrainian and Russian programs), *Едим дома (Eat at Home)*, *Завтрак с Юлией Высоцкой (Breakfast with Yulia Vysotskaya)*, *Кулинарные путешествия с Юлией Высоцкой (Culinary* 

**85**

lations in these programs.

meaning.

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

*Journeys with Yulia Vysotskaya)*, *Паломник с половником* (*Pilgrim with ladle*) (Russian programs), *Baking Tips from Anna Olson, Fresh with Anna Olson, Barefoot Countessa, Dinner at Tiffani, Private Chef Neill Anthony, Giada at Home, Everyday Italian*, *Giada's Weekend Getaways*, *Siba's Table*, *The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummond*, *Kitchen*, *Southern at Heart*, *Girl Meets Farm, Yes to the Dress, Tiny house, big dreams* at the mindset and behavior patterns of an ordinary person are notably. At the same time information which they have been provided about products, wines, recipes, methods of preparation, design of kitchens, living rooms, dining tables, cafe halls, restaurants, methods of building small houses, renovating old houses, etc. has based on knowledge and on experience of everyday life. An ordinary person in general knows about those things, products, situations that are discussed in reality programs, and at the same time receives new information about them, their possibilities and ways of application. It is important to take into account that the hosts of the programs are famous and popular personalities of show business, motion picture industry, business. Consequently, all things, products, situations, skills, clothes of presenters, heroes in the genres of reality have a direct and increased ideological and symbolic

This is how a certain way of life (urban, rural, "green", secular, healthy, slowly food) is created and set, which is offered to an ordinary person as an ideal and model. In addition, value preferences and behavioral models are accented through individual points that are purposefully emphasized in various reality projects. For example, presenters, heroes of programs create certain connotations for spices, products, recipes, dishes. Cinnamon is warmth and a feeling of home, comfort; greens of spinach, mint, leaf celery, parsley is the taste of freshness and a sense of joy, fullness of a healthy life; raspberries, strawberries is the taste of sweetness and feelings of pleasure, happiness, family vacations with children, romantic mood; vanillin is refinement in everything and refinement of the atmosphere; graceful fruit bowls are a sign of a sincere friendly/love meeting; a large dish is a sign of a family holiday, a party of a cheerful company of friends; chocolate cake with creamy cherry or strawberry filling is dessert for Valentine's Day, pasta options is family dinner. This is reinforced both through verbal repetition, and through a kind of careless, fleeting glance of the camera at products, spices, objects, flowers, glancing around the kitchen, living room in such a way as to create from fragments a hint of a holistic, flawless and harmonious world. The design of the table, choice of dishes, places for breakfast/lunch/dinner/picnic/party are thoroughly commented on by the hosts, guests, heroes. It sets and gently promotes value images of places and situations. Scaling, abrupt or smooth change with the help of playing with plans, cadres of the images of the face, hands of the host, products, cooking process, dishes, combined with constant explanations of the hosts, guests create the sensation of simultaneously stable, pleasant, familiar and newly discovered through the nuances and images of tastes and smells of the world. Additionally they fill him with strangely elusive memories of things, emotions, smells, tastes, and strongly seduce him with the desire to repeat/embody all this in life. In this regard, the montage of media text also plays a key role. In this regard, the montage of media text also plays a key role. Similar techniques are actively used in lifestyle genre varieties dedicated to home design, the art of make-up, a healthy lifestyle, fashion for small houses, vintage kitchens and the ability to make and restore furniture. It is apparently that advertising and PR of goods and services are gently and carefully interwoven into these programs through an emphasis on comfort, beauty, usefulness of a particular thing, device, spice, product. There is no obvious deception or forgery here, but this does not mean that there are no fake information and manipu-

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

*Journeys with Yulia Vysotskaya)*, *Паломник с половником* (*Pilgrim with ladle*) (Russian programs), *Baking Tips from Anna Olson, Fresh with Anna Olson, Barefoot Countessa, Dinner at Tiffani, Private Chef Neill Anthony, Giada at Home, Everyday Italian*, *Giada's Weekend Getaways*, *Siba's Table*, *The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummond*, *Kitchen*, *Southern at Heart*, *Girl Meets Farm, Yes to the Dress, Tiny house, big dreams* at the mindset and behavior patterns of an ordinary person are notably. At the same time information which they have been provided about products, wines, recipes, methods of preparation, design of kitchens, living rooms, dining tables, cafe halls, restaurants, methods of building small houses, renovating old houses, etc. has based on knowledge and on experience of everyday life. An ordinary person in general knows about those things, products, situations that are discussed in reality programs, and at the same time receives new information about them, their possibilities and ways of application. It is important to take into account that the hosts of the programs are famous and popular personalities of show business, motion picture industry, business. Consequently, all things, products, situations, skills, clothes of presenters, heroes in the genres of reality have a direct and increased ideological and symbolic meaning.

This is how a certain way of life (urban, rural, "green", secular, healthy, slowly food) is created and set, which is offered to an ordinary person as an ideal and model. In addition, value preferences and behavioral models are accented through individual points that are purposefully emphasized in various reality projects. For example, presenters, heroes of programs create certain connotations for spices, products, recipes, dishes. Cinnamon is warmth and a feeling of home, comfort; greens of spinach, mint, leaf celery, parsley is the taste of freshness and a sense of joy, fullness of a healthy life; raspberries, strawberries is the taste of sweetness and feelings of pleasure, happiness, family vacations with children, romantic mood; vanillin is refinement in everything and refinement of the atmosphere; graceful fruit bowls are a sign of a sincere friendly/love meeting; a large dish is a sign of a family holiday, a party of a cheerful company of friends; chocolate cake with creamy cherry or strawberry filling is dessert for Valentine's Day, pasta options is family dinner. This is reinforced both through verbal repetition, and through a kind of careless, fleeting glance of the camera at products, spices, objects, flowers, glancing around the kitchen, living room in such a way as to create from fragments a hint of a holistic, flawless and harmonious world. The design of the table, choice of dishes, places for breakfast/lunch/dinner/picnic/party are thoroughly commented on by the hosts, guests, heroes. It sets and gently promotes value images of places and situations. Scaling, abrupt or smooth change with the help of playing with plans, cadres of the images of the face, hands of the host, products, cooking process, dishes, combined with constant explanations of the hosts, guests create the sensation of simultaneously stable, pleasant, familiar and newly discovered through the nuances and images of tastes and smells of the world. Additionally they fill him with strangely elusive memories of things, emotions, smells, tastes, and strongly seduce him with the desire to repeat/embody all this in life. In this regard, the montage of media text also plays a key role. In this regard, the montage of media text also plays a key role. Similar techniques are actively used in lifestyle genre varieties dedicated to home design, the art of make-up, a healthy lifestyle, fashion for small houses, vintage kitchens and the ability to make and restore furniture. It is apparently that advertising and PR of goods and services are gently and carefully interwoven into these programs through an emphasis on comfort, beauty, usefulness of a particular thing, device, spice, product. There is no obvious deception or forgery here, but this does not mean that there are no fake information and manipulations in these programs.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

and development, the successful existence of the lifestyle genre is associated with the everyday life of an ordinary person. P.M. Jensen describes it this way: "Lifestyle television deals with ordinary people's everyday lives. <…> The genre, together with reality, falls into the factual entertainment category, and programs are most often didactical at their core and give practical advice and inspiration on food, fashion, body, garden and house, all of which are phenomena through which we express and develop our identities" ([15], p. 38). As a result, a phenomenon develops, which researchers (Kate Soper, Lyn Thomas, Robert Caruana, Sarah Glozer, Giana M. Eckhardt [32–34]) refer to as "alternative hedonism": "'Alternative hedonism' is here theorized as an immanent critique of 'consumerism', and the impulse behind a new 'political imaginary' or vision of the 'good life' that might influence (along with other developments) the move to a more socially just and environmentally sustainable and enjoyable future" ([33], p. 1). This phenomenon is directly related to the genres of reality: "In lifestyle television we identified four sub-genres where the representation of the joys of consumption is tempered by anxieties about quality of life, and desires for other pleasures: narratives of 'relocation' from urban noise and pollution to rural community and natural beauty; cookery programmes focusing on quests for authentic, wild or local food; programmes focusing on spiritual journeys motivated by disillusionment with material success; and finally, 'ecoreality' programmes, where the protagonists are challenged to adopt a new and 'greener'

Thirdly, the inevitable fusion of lifestyle with reality shows, as well as the purposeful use of melodrama and documentary drama techniques, first of all, to improve the image of reality. Although lifestyle, according to researchers, is softer, emotionally calmer, kinder, in fact harmless, in contrast to the real show genre. Fourthly, the emergence of various kinds of manipulations, fake news, people

who work for corporations, create a personal image through fictional stories, deception, speculation on vital topics. This creates quasi-social relations: "Lifestyle gurus embody the para-social, trading off the appeal of intimacy, authenticity and integrity. <…> social media have increased the levels of emotional investment, trust and attention capital in para-social relationships by providing ubiquitous access to native experts and creating the platform to achieve influence and micro-celebrity status. <…> the growing number of lifestyle gurus providing the public with health advice and scientific knowledge points to the need to examine critically the social and cultural landscape that enables micro-celebrities to emerge" [35]. However, in such cases of manipulations, deceptions, their exposure, the same ideas, advice, approaches work for the reality genres as for other fake news. We are interested in a completely different aspect, which, as a rule, is not taken into account by

It is important to understand: what kind of transformations and distortions of social-everyday reality genres of reality produce; how these distorted views are formed; why they should be interpreted in the problematic field of fake news and

The social-everyday sphere of life, as the development of reality genres has shown, is no less saturated with news and events than the political, social and economic. In this sphere of life, no less than in the sphere of civil rights and freedoms, moral and ethical principles, trust, foundations and values for identity and self-identity are important. News about the "simple" private sphere of life actively, but gently, unobtrusively forms an artificial worldview (Alibašić, Rose), similar to the "high" spheres of life. Influence of programs *Званый ужин* (*Dinner party*) (Ukrainian and Russian programs), *Едим дома (Eat at Home)*, *Завтрак с Юлией Высоцкой (Breakfast with Yulia Vysotskaya)*, *Кулинарные путешествия с Юлией Высоцкой (Culinary* 

understand the full extent of the threats they pose.

**84**

researchers.

lifestyle" ([33], p. 2).

An ordinary person falls under the influence of that information that he cannot, even with a critical attitude, actualize with a binary system true/false. On the one hand, there is nothing deceiving, fake in taste such as of cinnamon, chili, frittata from zucchini, bacon baked with maple syrup or a tiny house, a wedding dress from a famous couturier. This is not deception or fake information. This, as emphasized in the programs, is being a matter of personal taste/choice/favorite preferences.

On the other hand, all this can only be verified by personal experience, having tried to cook a dish, organize a party for friends, restore the kitchen, put the house in perfect order, and choose the wedding dress of your dreams. The reality show's presenters and guests of also constantly and persistently call for such an experience. However, it is important to take into account that genres reality TV is grouped into problem-thematic blocks and focused on one, local, way of life. Reality-project is propagandized of conceptual components this concrete, local way of life. Nevertheless, there are many such concrete, local ways of life. They endeavor to form simultaneously a holistic picture of social-everyday reality, and created information, semantic, ethical and esthetic chaos. Each of the ideological and semantic lifestyles claims to be unique, correct. Although this seems to be the basis and condition for the plurality and variety of choices for every person, social group, this is not the case. Each problem-thematic group of reality television genres is focused on the creation and soft promotion of the same value meanings and images, which can and should only have shades just to maintain the illusion of diversity. This is evidently, for example, when comparing programs like *The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummond* and *Girl Meets Farm*. In these reality-projects, the farming lifestyle is contemporaneously realized through general, constant schemes, ideas, values, and through their detailing with recipe options, the nuances of the images of the presenter, their family life, house designs. All this leads to various kinds of distortions, first of all, the simplification of social-everyday reality, which is under the influence of ideas, images of media reality. Moreover, the proposed lifestyle appears in its kind of "ceremonial" form, when the external appearance of the presenters, guests, heroes of programs, situations, processes are shown from a side ideally designed for public representation. In this regard, they are close to the advertising world and its heroes, who are oriented, imitate social-everyday reality, but are not it.

On the third hand, an ordinary person falls under the influence of the image of "star" presenters, guests of programs, under the charm and pressure of ordinary people – participants in projects – who were able to realize their dreams of "simple" joys of life.

This is how reality genres set and sell not only an integral way of life, but also creates an idea of the value, importance, meaning of simple basic things, services, concepts, situations, as well as ways of articulating them. In the genres of reality stable set of models of behaviors and accompanying emotions is proposed. In the genres of reality, there are always a lot of smiles, laughter, emotions of happiness, pleasure. They constantly and persistently frame the stories of the presenters, the heroes of the programs about their families, past, failures, sufferings, dreams, desires, aspirations. The reality genres are always based on a certain minimal everyday situation, which is repeated from episode to episode in each season. This, too, inevitably leads to a simplified and lightened image of social-everyday reality. Especially when you consider that in the lifestyle genre, as a rule, all stories end up happily. All this actively contributes to the creation of identity, self-identity of the ordinary person, social groups, society as a whole, and, consequently, the formation of a collective and *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur).

Consequently, one should not neglect the study of fake news and artificial worldview in this sphere of life of an ordinary person. It is no less important with what, how and due to what dominant models of communication an ordinary

**87**

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

**4. Lightweight and simplified truth and places of formation and** 

Social-everyday reality is extremely saturated with various *places of formation and existence of common senses*, about which wrote J.-L. Nancy. They are created, in particular, through active communication, discussion of problems, phenomena, situations, including from the world of reality TV. This is evidenced by the popularity of reality genres, of comments on program sites and sociological research. These *places of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy) are always and invariably filled with ideological values. At the same time, they undergo qualitative transformations in the era of the dominance of propaganda and post-truth. J.-L. Nancy, in a conversation with M. Ryklin, insisted: "… in the era of domination of the masses …" "… material force cannot hold out for more than a certain, very short time, if it fails to legitimize itself with the help of symbolic ties" ([36], p. 117). Manipulations, fake news from the "high" spheres of social culture are based on the chain of power, on the importance of social hierarchy. For a "simple" social-everyday reality, such mechanisms are not so effective due to the fact that people are used to protecting their private space from external intrusions. This requires other approaches, which are actually used by reality TV. According to J.-L. Nancy, the modern "world ceases to be grasped in the form of a figure, the chain of power, the chain of existence disappears, there remains only a constantly growing ideology in which the masses are trained and which has its own rationality. The masses themselves may be irrational, but the mechanisms that take possession of them and that use them are rational" ([36], p. 113). Media communications continue to play one of the key roles in this process. This is especially important from the point of view of the development of reality genres, which smoothly push social-everyday reality to change with the help of temptation. Reality genres neutralize the opposition power/person, outside world/ private space. But they, through the techniques of seduction, give the masses rational mechanisms, which will gently control an ordinary person, social groups. This is a temptation, firstly, by the ease and speed of achieving the dream of comfort, prestige, affordability and, which is extremely important, personal conformity with generally accepted ethical and social norms. In the genres of reality, this is always emphasized: "You deserve it", "It's simple and easy", "It won't take much time and effort", "The efforts made will pay off with the joy of your loved ones", "It's so tasty, healthy, great …" that "you and your friends will not regret about … ","We managed to do it"," It was all worth it". This kind of verbal suggestion is always supported and enhanced by the appropriate musical accompaniment, video images, what in general creates and launches the rational mechanisms of symbolic connections, about which wrote J.-L. Nancy. Secondly, this is a temptation a diverse stable set of television lifestyles, through which the *places of formation and existence of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy). It is important that these lifestyles are only touching each other in passing. For example, cooking reality shows will not show how difficult and laborious it is to wash the dishes, the kitchen, the living room after lunch, dinner, what is emphasized in reality-projects about the love of cleanliness. How

person, social group, society correlates himself after consuming stable sets of lifestyles, their components, heroes, ideas from reality genres. The types and methods of organizing the narrative, the peculiarities of the language of these genres gently set those models, meanings, ideas, values that will serve as the basis for the life of an ordinary person for a long time. An ordinary person usually is striving to inherit, imitate various lifestyles from reality TV. He will be building his life, social ties,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

**existence of common senses**

relationships, values focusing on the resulting models.

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

person, social group, society correlates himself after consuming stable sets of lifestyles, their components, heroes, ideas from reality genres. The types and methods of organizing the narrative, the peculiarities of the language of these genres gently set those models, meanings, ideas, values that will serve as the basis for the life of an ordinary person for a long time. An ordinary person usually is striving to inherit, imitate various lifestyles from reality TV. He will be building his life, social ties, relationships, values focusing on the resulting models.

#### **4. Lightweight and simplified truth and places of formation and existence of common senses**

Social-everyday reality is extremely saturated with various *places of formation and existence of common senses*, about which wrote J.-L. Nancy. They are created, in particular, through active communication, discussion of problems, phenomena, situations, including from the world of reality TV. This is evidenced by the popularity of reality genres, of comments on program sites and sociological research. These *places of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy) are always and invariably filled with ideological values. At the same time, they undergo qualitative transformations in the era of the dominance of propaganda and post-truth. J.-L. Nancy, in a conversation with M. Ryklin, insisted: "… in the era of domination of the masses …" "… material force cannot hold out for more than a certain, very short time, if it fails to legitimize itself with the help of symbolic ties" ([36], p. 117). Manipulations, fake news from the "high" spheres of social culture are based on the chain of power, on the importance of social hierarchy. For a "simple" social-everyday reality, such mechanisms are not so effective due to the fact that people are used to protecting their private space from external intrusions. This requires other approaches, which are actually used by reality TV. According to J.-L. Nancy, the modern "world ceases to be grasped in the form of a figure, the chain of power, the chain of existence disappears, there remains only a constantly growing ideology in which the masses are trained and which has its own rationality. The masses themselves may be irrational, but the mechanisms that take possession of them and that use them are rational" ([36], p. 113). Media communications continue to play one of the key roles in this process. This is especially important from the point of view of the development of reality genres, which smoothly push social-everyday reality to change with the help of temptation. Reality genres neutralize the opposition power/person, outside world/ private space. But they, through the techniques of seduction, give the masses rational mechanisms, which will gently control an ordinary person, social groups.

This is a temptation, firstly, by the ease and speed of achieving the dream of comfort, prestige, affordability and, which is extremely important, personal conformity with generally accepted ethical and social norms. In the genres of reality, this is always emphasized: "You deserve it", "It's simple and easy", "It won't take much time and effort", "The efforts made will pay off with the joy of your loved ones", "It's so tasty, healthy, great …" that "you and your friends will not regret about … ","We managed to do it"," It was all worth it". This kind of verbal suggestion is always supported and enhanced by the appropriate musical accompaniment, video images, what in general creates and launches the rational mechanisms of symbolic connections, about which wrote J.-L. Nancy. Secondly, this is a temptation a diverse stable set of television lifestyles, through which the *places of formation and existence of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy). It is important that these lifestyles are only touching each other in passing. For example, cooking reality shows will not show how difficult and laborious it is to wash the dishes, the kitchen, the living room after lunch, dinner, what is emphasized in reality-projects about the love of cleanliness. How

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

heroes, who are oriented, imitate social-everyday reality, but are not it.

of a collective and *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur).

On the third hand, an ordinary person falls under the influence of the image of "star" presenters, guests of programs, under the charm and pressure of ordinary people – participants in projects – who were able to realize their dreams of "simple"

This is how reality genres set and sell not only an integral way of life, but also creates an idea of the value, importance, meaning of simple basic things, services, concepts, situations, as well as ways of articulating them. In the genres of reality stable set of models of behaviors and accompanying emotions is proposed. In the genres of reality, there are always a lot of smiles, laughter, emotions of happiness, pleasure. They constantly and persistently frame the stories of the presenters, the heroes of the programs about their families, past, failures, sufferings, dreams, desires, aspirations. The reality genres are always based on a certain minimal everyday situation, which is repeated from episode to episode in each season. This, too, inevitably leads to a simplified and lightened image of social-everyday reality. Especially when you consider that in the lifestyle genre, as a rule, all stories end up happily. All this actively contributes to the creation of identity, self-identity of the ordinary person, social groups, society as a whole, and, consequently, the formation

Consequently, one should not neglect the study of fake news and artificial worldview in this sphere of life of an ordinary person. It is no less important with what, how and due to what dominant models of communication an ordinary

An ordinary person falls under the influence of that information that he cannot, even with a critical attitude, actualize with a binary system true/false. On the one hand, there is nothing deceiving, fake in taste such as of cinnamon, chili, frittata from zucchini, bacon baked with maple syrup or a tiny house, a wedding dress from a famous couturier. This is not deception or fake information. This, as emphasized in the programs, is being a matter of personal taste/choice/favorite preferences. On the other hand, all this can only be verified by personal experience, having tried to cook a dish, organize a party for friends, restore the kitchen, put the house in perfect order, and choose the wedding dress of your dreams. The reality show's presenters and guests of also constantly and persistently call for such an experience. However, it is important to take into account that genres reality TV is grouped into problem-thematic blocks and focused on one, local, way of life. Reality-project is propagandized of conceptual components this concrete, local way of life. Nevertheless, there are many such concrete, local ways of life. They endeavor to form simultaneously a holistic picture of social-everyday reality, and created information, semantic, ethical and esthetic chaos. Each of the ideological and semantic lifestyles claims to be unique, correct. Although this seems to be the basis and condition for the plurality and variety of choices for every person, social group, this is not the case. Each problem-thematic group of reality television genres is focused on the creation and soft promotion of the same value meanings and images, which can and should only have shades just to maintain the illusion of diversity. This is evidently, for example, when comparing programs like *The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummond* and *Girl Meets Farm*. In these reality-projects, the farming lifestyle is contemporaneously realized through general, constant schemes, ideas, values, and through their detailing with recipe options, the nuances of the images of the presenter, their family life, house designs. All this leads to various kinds of distortions, first of all, the simplification of social-everyday reality, which is under the influence of ideas, images of media reality. Moreover, the proposed lifestyle appears in its kind of "ceremonial" form, when the external appearance of the presenters, guests, heroes of programs, situations, processes are shown from a side ideally designed for public representation. In this regard, they are close to the advertising world and its

**86**

joys of life.

will it not be in reality about the restoration of old furniture or the construction of a small dream house close-up to show broken nails, scratched, cut hands, bruises on the legs, dirty clothes, fatigue, as they do in reality, dedicated to the transformation of the body, its correspondence to ideas about beauty and glamor. They will not show in reality about the importance of a small house of the financial difficulties associated with its construction or purchase, the rough going of finding a place for its long-term parking. Together, in the reality they do not lie about real difficulties, problems associated with this or that lifestyle, but only gloss over them. Together, in the reality they do not lie about real difficulties, problems associated with this or that lifestyle, but only obscured, blur over them. Sometimes they are given a beautiful frame through the stories of the presenters and heroes about the importance and joy of overcoming these objective difficulties and problems, thereby making them seem insignificant, simplifying their sense. Consequently, to what extent the meanings and values from reality lifestyles correspond to the facts and possibilities of social-everyday reality is a significant question. It would seem that sets of lifestyles create and represent an integral, systemic social world and its key meanings. It would seem that the lifestyles offered by reality are an unconditional reflection of the objective social-everyday reality. It would seem that advice on improving the way of life, physicality softly offered with a smile and benevolently – these are just good, sincere, visual recommendations for achieving a model, a dream. It would seem that the variety of sets of lifestyles, situations and models, options for their solution is the proposed freedom of choice. It would seem that these are the *places of existence of common senses are formed and developed* (J.-L. Nancy), which the mass media wants to help people improve. It would seem that there is no point in talking about distorting the truth in this regard. But on this gap between simultaneously soft, insistent advice and seduction, the transformation and various kinds of distortions of social-everyday reality, as well as the formation of new and largely artificial places of existence of common meaning, are based. These places turn out to be representatives of the lightweight and simplified truth about social-everyday reality, its peculiar of fragments, claiming to be central and fully reliable knowledge about the world.

A person, trusting a smile, the benevolence of the world of reality shows and especially lifestyle becomes dependent on given and persistently, lucidly, imperatively explained for him places of common meaning. That is why the didactic aspect is so important in the genres of reality. This moment is simultaneously allows the heightened emotionality to be fully realized, which is important from the point of view of the introduction of inaccurate information, distortion of reality, and focuses on the purely positive nature of this emotionality, which neutralizes the critical attitude to information. In this regard, the tasks for manipulating personal and public consciousness are simplified; their impact is become more effective. J.-L. Nancy in book "Unproductive Community" (1986, 1990) defines the essence of the fate of a modern person as an atom, a part of society as follows: we must not forget that "… the fate of the atom is the fate of the world" ([37], p. 27). In genres reality persevere of the attachment is cultivated to idealized society. Moreover this society understood is as the "… loss or degradation of social (and communicative) intimacy …" ([37], p. 35). A value emphasis is placed on this systematically and purposefully. So, in all genres of reality there are presenters surrounded by guests and/or heroes of the program. The world that is created in reality is always densely populated with participants. And in this world always there are also many stories about the upcoming joyful, pleasant, crowded event In addition, in this world there are always many mentions, allusions, references to past pleasant, happy events, situations conditioned by the general theme of reality and the specific theme of each of its episodes. An ordinary person in reality exists in a stream of memories and anticipations

**89**

landscapes.

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

evaluate their life according to the models shown by the media text.

Such an idealized society and the importance of belonging to it are embedding as values for the collective memory. This happens, for example, by emphasizing attachment to family values: "This is the recipe of my mom, aunt, grandmother", "This is how my dad cooked", "I am (preparing, building a house, choosing this wedding dress, taking part in a competition, going on a culinary journey) because of my mom, uncle …", "We have been going to this cafe since our youth","Let us remember what dishes were fashionable in the era of youth of our mothers and grandmothers". These can be moods of openness to the world of adventures, of tastes: "I have long dreamed of street food in Mexico City", "We are building a tiny house so that we can always travel freely, at will", "I want to feel the taste of all the capitals of the world". This is all amplified and constantly supported by musical accompaniment and images of handsome, well-groomed, happy people, kitchens, living rooms, cafes, restaurants, street food and always different beautiful

It is fundamentally impossible to update this with the usual binary coordinate system for fake news: true/false, genuine/invented. It is fundamentally impossible actualized this with the usual binary coordinate system for fake news: true/ false, genuine/invented. Reality genres use typical stories from everyday life and the corresponding emotions, feelings that could really happen to the presenters, guests, heroes of the programs, or could be skillfully acted by them. But this is not a deception in its usual interpretation. His exposure will not significantly affect the worldview of people, but only change their attitude towards the presenter of the program. For example, if it turns out that the presenter's grandmother (aunt, mother) never knew how to cook well and did not keep a culinary diary with family recipes, tips that are shared with the audience. However, this kind of discloses will not cancel people's beliefs in family values, love, friendship, and even more so in sauce, pasta or fried chicken. Consequently, the information that is introduced through the genres of reality should be considered in a coordinate system not true/ false, genuine/fictional, but in a different one. This coordinate system is as follows: naturally relevant, important for society/artificially relevant, significant for society. Through the activation and scaling of positive emotions, feelings of affection, idealization, the importance of compliance with generally accepted ethical standards in the genres of reality, ideologically, value-marked meanings are created and maintained. In counterweight to this, the voice, the position of an ordinary person and social groups move to the marginal area for it is used traditional, standard techniques propaganda methods and techniques. First of all, this is the technique on which all reality is built: *Ad nauseam* is the tireless repetition of an idea. In reality and in general, and in each problem-thematic group, and in each specific episode, sets of general ideas are repeated, which are tirelessly promoted with the

of joyful, sweet, kind, friendly communication. And cooking breakfast/lunch, party planning, renovating the kitchen, purchasing a wedding dress, cleaning the living room are an ordinary, necessary and also quite pleasant component of this everyday stream. Moreover, the audience is told stories about the private life of the presenters, guests of the programs, another's to them. This kind of narration is built according to a typical monotonous scheme: the memory of good events, moods, friends, relatives; a confidential story about supposedly very personal moments; moral and ethical conclusion in relation to the story; a clearly substantiated connection between the memory of good, kind events, people and how this influenced the choice of this particular recipe, dress, house; general conclusion about the importance of links between the past/present/future. This scheme is based on positive emotions, is aimed at ethical moments and is designed to activate similar moods and actions in the audience. Furthermore, the audience is actually asked to build,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

#### *Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

of joyful, sweet, kind, friendly communication. And cooking breakfast/lunch, party planning, renovating the kitchen, purchasing a wedding dress, cleaning the living room are an ordinary, necessary and also quite pleasant component of this everyday stream. Moreover, the audience is told stories about the private life of the presenters, guests of the programs, another's to them. This kind of narration is built according to a typical monotonous scheme: the memory of good events, moods, friends, relatives; a confidential story about supposedly very personal moments; moral and ethical conclusion in relation to the story; a clearly substantiated connection between the memory of good, kind events, people and how this influenced the choice of this particular recipe, dress, house; general conclusion about the importance of links between the past/present/future. This scheme is based on positive emotions, is aimed at ethical moments and is designed to activate similar moods and actions in the audience. Furthermore, the audience is actually asked to build, evaluate their life according to the models shown by the media text.

Such an idealized society and the importance of belonging to it are embedding as values for the collective memory. This happens, for example, by emphasizing attachment to family values: "This is the recipe of my mom, aunt, grandmother", "This is how my dad cooked", "I am (preparing, building a house, choosing this wedding dress, taking part in a competition, going on a culinary journey) because of my mom, uncle …", "We have been going to this cafe since our youth","Let us remember what dishes were fashionable in the era of youth of our mothers and grandmothers". These can be moods of openness to the world of adventures, of tastes: "I have long dreamed of street food in Mexico City", "We are building a tiny house so that we can always travel freely, at will", "I want to feel the taste of all the capitals of the world". This is all amplified and constantly supported by musical accompaniment and images of handsome, well-groomed, happy people, kitchens, living rooms, cafes, restaurants, street food and always different beautiful landscapes.

It is fundamentally impossible to update this with the usual binary coordinate system for fake news: true/false, genuine/invented. It is fundamentally impossible actualized this with the usual binary coordinate system for fake news: true/ false, genuine/invented. Reality genres use typical stories from everyday life and the corresponding emotions, feelings that could really happen to the presenters, guests, heroes of the programs, or could be skillfully acted by them. But this is not a deception in its usual interpretation. His exposure will not significantly affect the worldview of people, but only change their attitude towards the presenter of the program. For example, if it turns out that the presenter's grandmother (aunt, mother) never knew how to cook well and did not keep a culinary diary with family recipes, tips that are shared with the audience. However, this kind of discloses will not cancel people's beliefs in family values, love, friendship, and even more so in sauce, pasta or fried chicken. Consequently, the information that is introduced through the genres of reality should be considered in a coordinate system not true/ false, genuine/fictional, but in a different one. This coordinate system is as follows: naturally relevant, important for society/artificially relevant, significant for society.

Through the activation and scaling of positive emotions, feelings of affection, idealization, the importance of compliance with generally accepted ethical standards in the genres of reality, ideologically, value-marked meanings are created and maintained. In counterweight to this, the voice, the position of an ordinary person and social groups move to the marginal area for it is used traditional, standard techniques propaganda methods and techniques. First of all, this is the technique on which all reality is built: *Ad nauseam* is the tireless repetition of an idea. In reality and in general, and in each problem-thematic group, and in each specific episode, sets of general ideas are repeated, which are tirelessly promoted with the

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

will it not be in reality about the restoration of old furniture or the construction of a small dream house close-up to show broken nails, scratched, cut hands, bruises on the legs, dirty clothes, fatigue, as they do in reality, dedicated to the transformation of the body, its correspondence to ideas about beauty and glamor. They will not show in reality about the importance of a small house of the financial difficulties associated with its construction or purchase, the rough going of finding a place for its long-term parking. Together, in the reality they do not lie about real difficulties, problems associated with this or that lifestyle, but only gloss over them. Together, in the reality they do not lie about real difficulties, problems associated with this or that lifestyle, but only obscured, blur over them. Sometimes they are given a beautiful frame through the stories of the presenters and heroes about the importance and joy of overcoming these objective difficulties and problems, thereby making them seem insignificant, simplifying their sense. Consequently, to what extent the meanings and values from reality lifestyles correspond to the facts and possibilities of social-everyday reality is a significant question. It would seem that sets of lifestyles create and represent an integral, systemic social world and its key meanings. It would seem that the lifestyles offered by reality are an unconditional reflection of the objective social-everyday reality. It would seem that advice on improving the way of life, physicality softly offered with a smile and benevolently – these are just good, sincere, visual recommendations for achieving a model, a dream. It would seem that the variety of sets of lifestyles, situations and models, options for their solution is the proposed freedom of choice. It would seem that these are the *places of existence of common senses are formed and developed* (J.-L. Nancy), which the mass media wants to help people improve. It would seem that there is no point in talking about distorting the truth in this regard. But on this gap between simultaneously soft, insistent advice and seduction, the transformation and various kinds of distortions of social-everyday reality, as well as the formation of new and largely artificial places of existence of common meaning, are based. These places turn out to be representatives of the lightweight and simplified truth about social-everyday reality, its peculiar of fragments, claiming to be central and fully reliable knowledge

A person, trusting a smile, the benevolence of the world of reality shows and especially lifestyle becomes dependent on given and persistently, lucidly, imperatively explained for him places of common meaning. That is why the didactic aspect is so important in the genres of reality. This moment is simultaneously allows the heightened emotionality to be fully realized, which is important from the point of view of the introduction of inaccurate information, distortion of reality, and focuses on the purely positive nature of this emotionality, which neutralizes the critical attitude to information. In this regard, the tasks for manipulating personal and public consciousness are simplified; their impact is become more effective. J.-L. Nancy in book "Unproductive Community" (1986, 1990) defines the essence of the fate of a modern person as an atom, a part of society as follows: we must not forget that "… the fate of the atom is the fate of the world" ([37], p. 27). In genres reality persevere of the attachment is cultivated to idealized society. Moreover this society understood is as the "… loss or degradation of social (and communicative) intimacy …" ([37], p. 35). A value emphasis is placed on this systematically and purposefully. So, in all genres of reality there are presenters surrounded by guests and/or heroes of the program. The world that is created in reality is always densely populated with participants. And in this world always there are also many stories about the upcoming joyful, pleasant, crowded event In addition, in this world there are always many mentions, allusions, references to past pleasant, happy events, situations conditioned by the general theme of reality and the specific theme of each of its episodes. An ordinary person in reality exists in a stream of memories and anticipations

**88**

about the world.

help of significant details, clarifications, explanations. The technique of *beautiful people* is especially important, which in reality is complicated and deepened by the technique of *beautiful things*, *situations*, *utensil*, *food, landscapes*. This is a well-known technique of *labeling*, when, for example, Greek yogurt is promoted as ideal for many dishes and people, and mayonnaise is declared unfashionable, unhealthy. Although recently in many programs you can see how dishes with mayonnaise are prepared, and the presenters, guests of the projects admit that they love this product very much and ask to put it in a larger dressing. The technique of *brilliant uncertainty* is also used, when, for example, a crunchy layer on pies without explanation, just is enveloped in a flavor of emotionally attractive words, expressions and pronouns. Also important are the methods of *appeals to authority*, the *bandwagon, "inevitable-victory"* and *join the crowd*, the *common man*, when the opinion, tastes of an ordinary person, of a social group purposefully and gently switch to the necessary meanings and goals. We can also say that in the reality genres they are actively developed the *cherry picking* or the *fallacy of incomplete evidence* technique, when they give a certain stable set of truths about the social-everyday reality, but and giving it mixed up with some meanings, ideas, images the audience wants to hear. As a result, positive emotions and stereotypical didactic maxims from reality genres begin to actively play the same role as whipping up negative emotions, aggression and deception in fake news. They distort the social-everyday reality and actively manipulate the mindset and worldview. However, in relation to reality, the advice and methods of traditional exposing of fake news fundamentally do not work. This is due to the fact that reality is initially aimed at more complex and subtle layers of senses: constant socio-cultural values. In consequence of the reality, it is important to present the socially everyday world in a lightened and simplified way, so that it been more natural, familiar and people are easier to believe in it.

So *the place of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy) are gently prescribed to society through the distortion of a person's relations, his desires, opportunities and social-everyday reality. There is a gradual distortion of ideas about the complexity, diversity and reliability of social-everyday reality, its basic general meanings. This distortion is based on purely positive meanings, feelings, values and emotions, which, after repeated reproduction, acquire the features of exaggerated hyperreality. Everything in it is always good, easy, simple and cute, and the opposite sides of life, the variety of its shades are not important. More precisely, they are subordinated to ethically generally accepted joy, comfort, pleasures. Then this distorted view is introduced into the foundations of person's identity and social groups. Behind the seemingly simple, lovable, native desires to make people's lives happy and comfortable in society, something else is revealed. They display meanings, ideas, values, which, similar to news from "high" spheres of social culture, can be trivial manipulation and distortion of reality.

However, this kind of manipulations carries more threats and is stronger than false information from the "high" spheres of social life. They purposefully, insistently place an excessive emotional emphasis on a lightweight and simplified image of the world. In this world cooking, cleaning the house, choosing a wedding dress, fashionable makeup, plastic surgery, purchasing, building a dream house, culinary journey contemporaneously are the right moral-ethical choice and of a series of joyful pleasures. At the same time, moments that do not completely fit into the concept of the projects are still demonstrated. For example, these are the most timeconsuming, difficult, requiring time, skills, unpleasant, painful, disgusting, fearful moments of cooking, cleaning, repairing, building a house, the first days after plastic surgery etc. But they move to the margins and are leveled by the stories of the presenters, guests, heroes of reality about joy, pride, satisfaction, new opportunities because of what has been done, what has been achieved. So reality, by means

**91**

about *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur).

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

of the temptation of the ease, simplicity and speed of achieving a dream which can be realized, distorts the basic ideas, meanings, processes, situations, and values of social-everyday reality. They level, and gradually destroy, the notions of complex and always systemic social, economic, political, household ties and personal, collec-

The soft introduction of distortions based on a lightweight and simplified truth into social-everyday reality will inevitably lead to a revolution in everyday life. A. Heller has been thinking about this problem for half a century, starting with the book *Towards a Sociology of Knowledge of Everyday Life*. Developing these ideas, she already in an interview in 2001 emphasized, "… that a revolution cannot be political or economic, but can only be a revolution of everyday life" ([38], p. 161). The increase of media communications, the activation of reality genres in them proved the correctness of A. Heller, for whom it was important to show the perniciousness of the ideas of communism, the common good and the need to sacrifice of personal happiness and pleasure and life in his name. She rightly insisted that the ideology of self-sacrifice was initially false and distorted the relationship between a person and society, perverted the very idea of society. In counterweight to this distortion, A. Heller put forward the idea of everyday life as the value basis of society. Similar ideas are characteristic of J.-L. Nancy. He too reflects on the importance of maintaining an intimate and trusting relationship between a person and society. This kind of relationship contributes to the design of a long, natural life of the *places of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy). However, in the XXI century the development of reality genres has shown that the world of everyday life can also be successfully colonized by the mass media, which through the networks of soft temptation will begin to make a "quiet" revolution of everyday life in it. This "quiet" revolution is based not on aggression and the demand for personal sacrifice in the name of the common good, but on the contrary. A person voluntarily gives his tastes, desires, ideas, principles at the disposal of foreign, external, ready-made meanings. A person and society, not realizing themselves as victims of propaganda and manipulation, become such, first of all, betraying their own private life. Such a revolution of everyday life is based on an increased, systemic and deliberate exploitation of positive emotions and perceptions of social-everyday reality as a set of easily and quickly attainable goals. But this will be an artificial revolution of everyday life, built on the soft and strong manipulation of emotions and moods. But it will be an artificial revolution of everyday life, built on the soft and strong manipulation of desires, dreams, emotions, moods. It is clear that this will lead to a distortion of the collective mindset and memory. It is also clear that in this case it is impossible to talk

Thus, it is inappropriate to limit fake news and information to the topological range of deception, disinformation and forgery. Although difficult, they can and should be exposed. It is possible and necessary to oppose them with the truth, reliable information. In genres of reality this kind of binary relationship does not work. Social-everyday reality in these genres is presented as it is, as it is own copy. Socialeveryday reality in these genres is presented as authentic, reliable, indisputably, documentary image of oneself. However, this is a reflection with seemingly insignificant semantic and emotional accents on the everyday situation that is important for this project and for a specific episode of the show. But these accents are also false. They reflect real, natural reactions for a given situation, albeit exaggerated, scaled up to meet the goals of leisure's, entertainment programs. Emotions and stories, descriptions of situations, events in reality are true. But this is a kind of truth, representing a one-dimensional world in which you can achieve a result (cooking a delicious dinner, buying a dream wedding dress, a successful life on a farm) outside the complex system of social-everyday relationships. In this one-dimensional world

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

tive moral and ethical responsibility for the choice made.

#### *Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

of the temptation of the ease, simplicity and speed of achieving a dream which can be realized, distorts the basic ideas, meanings, processes, situations, and values of social-everyday reality. They level, and gradually destroy, the notions of complex and always systemic social, economic, political, household ties and personal, collective moral and ethical responsibility for the choice made.

The soft introduction of distortions based on a lightweight and simplified truth into social-everyday reality will inevitably lead to a revolution in everyday life. A. Heller has been thinking about this problem for half a century, starting with the book *Towards a Sociology of Knowledge of Everyday Life*. Developing these ideas, she already in an interview in 2001 emphasized, "… that a revolution cannot be political or economic, but can only be a revolution of everyday life" ([38], p. 161). The increase of media communications, the activation of reality genres in them proved the correctness of A. Heller, for whom it was important to show the perniciousness of the ideas of communism, the common good and the need to sacrifice of personal happiness and pleasure and life in his name. She rightly insisted that the ideology of self-sacrifice was initially false and distorted the relationship between a person and society, perverted the very idea of society. In counterweight to this distortion, A. Heller put forward the idea of everyday life as the value basis of society. Similar ideas are characteristic of J.-L. Nancy. He too reflects on the importance of maintaining an intimate and trusting relationship between a person and society. This kind of relationship contributes to the design of a long, natural life of the *places of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy). However, in the XXI century the development of reality genres has shown that the world of everyday life can also be successfully colonized by the mass media, which through the networks of soft temptation will begin to make a "quiet" revolution of everyday life in it. This "quiet" revolution is based not on aggression and the demand for personal sacrifice in the name of the common good, but on the contrary. A person voluntarily gives his tastes, desires, ideas, principles at the disposal of foreign, external, ready-made meanings. A person and society, not realizing themselves as victims of propaganda and manipulation, become such, first of all, betraying their own private life. Such a revolution of everyday life is based on an increased, systemic and deliberate exploitation of positive emotions and perceptions of social-everyday reality as a set of easily and quickly attainable goals. But this will be an artificial revolution of everyday life, built on the soft and strong manipulation of emotions and moods. But it will be an artificial revolution of everyday life, built on the soft and strong manipulation of desires, dreams, emotions, moods. It is clear that this will lead to a distortion of the collective mindset and memory. It is also clear that in this case it is impossible to talk about *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur).

Thus, it is inappropriate to limit fake news and information to the topological range of deception, disinformation and forgery. Although difficult, they can and should be exposed. It is possible and necessary to oppose them with the truth, reliable information. In genres of reality this kind of binary relationship does not work. Social-everyday reality in these genres is presented as it is, as it is own copy. Socialeveryday reality in these genres is presented as authentic, reliable, indisputably, documentary image of oneself. However, this is a reflection with seemingly insignificant semantic and emotional accents on the everyday situation that is important for this project and for a specific episode of the show. But these accents are also false. They reflect real, natural reactions for a given situation, albeit exaggerated, scaled up to meet the goals of leisure's, entertainment programs. Emotions and stories, descriptions of situations, events in reality are true. But this is a kind of truth, representing a one-dimensional world in which you can achieve a result (cooking a delicious dinner, buying a dream wedding dress, a successful life on a farm) outside the complex system of social-everyday relationships. In this one-dimensional world

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

been more natural, familiar and people are easier to believe in it.

trivial manipulation and distortion of reality.

So *the place of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy) are gently prescribed to society through the distortion of a person's relations, his desires, opportunities and social-everyday reality. There is a gradual distortion of ideas about the complexity, diversity and reliability of social-everyday reality, its basic general meanings. This distortion is based on purely positive meanings, feelings, values and emotions, which, after repeated reproduction, acquire the features of exaggerated hyperreality. Everything in it is always good, easy, simple and cute, and the opposite sides of life, the variety of its shades are not important. More precisely, they are subordinated to ethically generally accepted joy, comfort, pleasures. Then this distorted view is introduced into the foundations of person's identity and social groups. Behind the seemingly simple, lovable, native desires to make people's lives happy and comfortable in society, something else is revealed. They display meanings, ideas, values, which, similar to news from "high" spheres of social culture, can be

However, this kind of manipulations carries more threats and is stronger than false information from the "high" spheres of social life. They purposefully, insistently place an excessive emotional emphasis on a lightweight and simplified image of the world. In this world cooking, cleaning the house, choosing a wedding dress, fashionable makeup, plastic surgery, purchasing, building a dream house, culinary journey contemporaneously are the right moral-ethical choice and of a series of joyful pleasures. At the same time, moments that do not completely fit into the concept of the projects are still demonstrated. For example, these are the most timeconsuming, difficult, requiring time, skills, unpleasant, painful, disgusting, fearful moments of cooking, cleaning, repairing, building a house, the first days after plastic surgery etc. But they move to the margins and are leveled by the stories of the presenters, guests, heroes of reality about joy, pride, satisfaction, new opportunities because of what has been done, what has been achieved. So reality, by means

help of significant details, clarifications, explanations. The technique of *beautiful people* is especially important, which in reality is complicated and deepened by the technique of *beautiful things*, *situations*, *utensil*, *food, landscapes*. This is a well-known technique of *labeling*, when, for example, Greek yogurt is promoted as ideal for many dishes and people, and mayonnaise is declared unfashionable, unhealthy. Although recently in many programs you can see how dishes with mayonnaise are prepared, and the presenters, guests of the projects admit that they love this product very much and ask to put it in a larger dressing. The technique of *brilliant uncertainty* is also used, when, for example, a crunchy layer on pies without explanation, just is enveloped in a flavor of emotionally attractive words, expressions and pronouns. Also important are the methods of *appeals to authority*, the *bandwagon, "inevitable-victory"* and *join the crowd*, the *common man*, when the opinion, tastes of an ordinary person, of a social group purposefully and gently switch to the necessary meanings and goals. We can also say that in the reality genres they are actively developed the *cherry picking* or the *fallacy of incomplete evidence* technique, when they give a certain stable set of truths about the social-everyday reality, but and giving it mixed up with some meanings, ideas, images the audience wants to hear. As a result, positive emotions and stereotypical didactic maxims from reality genres begin to actively play the same role as whipping up negative emotions, aggression and deception in fake news. They distort the social-everyday reality and actively manipulate the mindset and worldview. However, in relation to reality, the advice and methods of traditional exposing of fake news fundamentally do not work. This is due to the fact that reality is initially aimed at more complex and subtle layers of senses: constant socio-cultural values. In consequence of the reality, it is important to present the socially everyday world in a lightened and simplified way, so that it

**90**

of one dominant situation, truth does not oppose lies or false information and knowledge. Truth is opposed to itself in the sense that exaggeration, distortion, strengthening by positive emotions of the familiar, recognizable, but differentiated by sets of ways of life of the world, is the creation of an image of truth. There is no problem of lies, falsehood/truth. More important is the problem of the plurality of images of situations and the truths corresponding to them, which do not require self-sacrifice from an ordinary person in the name of society, suffering and submission. They, it would seem, do not pretend to be unique, absolute rightness, but offer good options for a comfortable world and the right to choose. However, it is precisely clear sets of lifestyles that distort the truth about social-everyday reality, replacing it with ready-made private meanings, ideas, types of heroes and values that are conditioned, subordinate to a specific everyday situation. The common thing that unites and connects these sets of lifestyles is desire, dominance of positive emotions, a life-affirming worldview, simplified beauty and comfort. The common thing that unites and connects these sets of lifestyles is the desire to live happily, easily, ethically of dignity; dominance of positive emotions; life-affirming worldview, simplistic interpretation of beauty and comfort. In this regard reality distorts social-everyday reality like all ideologically marked phenomena, when, according to J.-L. Nancy: "This is a simple and dangerous logic, implying that the absolutely separate contains, in its separation, something more than just the separate, or that the separation itself should be closed, and the closeness should not be limited to the territory <…>, but should be limited by itself closeness" ([37], p. 28). This determines the creation of artificial *places of formation and existence of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy), and it too is lead the distortion of social-everyday reality, and a change in cultural attitudes and collective memory. This kind of information, knowledge in the social-everyday sphere is based on a lightweight and simplified truth about a particular event, situation, phenomenon, ways, possibilities and ways to achieve the desired result.

But, in this case, there is no reason to talk about the possibilities of forming *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) and its implementation of moral, ethical and social tasks to create the foundations and principles of the natural identity of an ordinary person, social groups, and society as a whole. The languages of the mass media, the narration in the media text, are based on a simplified, lightened image of social-everyday reality, create, and set artificial of models everyday situations and of languages for a person and society.

#### **5. The character and essence of the lightweight and simplified truth: the main conclusions and research prospects**

The development of media communications, propaganda technologies and their fusion with social-everyday reality could not but lead to a number of fundamental changes. These changes, first of all, are aimed at the private space of an ordinary person and the cultivation in it of an irresponsible attitude towards their own private life, everyday life, and corporeality. This kind of sentiment is supported and encouraged by the media through reality genres: reality and lifestyle. These genres primarily produce are formation of an image of a lightweight and simplified truth about social-everyday reality.

The lightweight, simplified truth is a deliberate distortion of ideas about socialeveryday reality, its basic models, and principles of existence. The lightweight, simplified truth is the desire to create the illusion of the possibility of a happy society in which ordinary people live comfortably, joyfully, cozily in harmony with friends, family, themselves and without violating the moral and ethical generally

**93**

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

events, which are traditional techniques and methods of propaganda.

perceive himself and socially everyday reality.

The lightweight, simplified truth is both a perfectly acceptable embellishment of reality, and a desire to remove labor-consuming, difficult, unpleasant, disgusting moments, things on the margin, to pass them by in silence, or to present them in a playful light. This is initially and irreparably laid down in programs of leisure, entertainment nature, which are based not on deception, but on the exploitation of the means and methods of fiction, theatrical culture. However, this moment of the playing, and of some permissible conventionality, is made deliberately obvious to the viewer for several purposes. Firstly, in order to draw attention to the positive emotions, positive aspects of situations as central and value-determining, and to present difficult, disadvantageous moments as self-evident, well-known, and therefore do not require attention. Secondly, in order for didactic moments, which are ideologically significant, to be realized not due to obvious mentoring and edification, but due to the conventionality of the playing world, the active involvement of all communication participants in it. Thus, the lightweight, simplified truth gradually teaches an ordinary person, in a conventionally playful way of theatrical culture, to

In addition, in the genres of reality, especially lifestyle, the simplification of the model lifestyle is important from the point of view of its visibility and persuasiveness for the audience. This is, as it were, not a deception, but not the real truth, but its idealized version. This kind of truth about social-everyday reality presupposes the gradual creation and protection of a uniformity worldview and attitude. They

accepted ideas. The lightweight, simplified truth is not a lie, not a deception of the audience by means of traditional methods and techniques of propaganda, but also not a genuine representation of the completeness, integrity of social-everyday reality. The lightweight, simplified truth is a complex kind of falsification, distortion through the cultivation and propaganda of a "one-dimensional" world order, a worldview based on the ideas and values of "everyday hedonism". The lightweight, simplified truth is the desire of the mass media to break up a complex socialeveryday reality into separate independent problem-thematic sets (cooking, sports, housing design, bodily beauty …) and present them as an illusion of the fullness of life and of the possibilities of choice for an ordinary person. The lightweight, simplified truth is the desire to seduce an ordinary person with what he can collect, as in a supermarket or a restaurant, his own version of a comfortable, pleasant world from various sets. For example, such a comfortable and pleasant world may consist of genre varieties of culinary reality shows, lifestyle about fashion trends in living room design and makeup. But this image of the world may not include programs about travel, a healthy lifestyle. Consequently, distortion of social-everyday reality inevitably occurs simultaneously due, firstly, to the fact that in reality, through problem-thematic sets, its numerous variants are created. These options are easily, quickly constructed into a "ready-made" picture of social-everyday reality in accordance with the desires of an ordinary person. Similarly, any of the sets in such a world can be removed, replaced by a new one, which is fundamentally impossible in social-everyday reality. Secondly, all problem-thematic sets are based on positive emotions and on the desire to assure an ordinary person that he can achieve, try, get everything that is described and show in the program. The only condition is to want and not be afraid to repeat in your real life what was discussed in the program. Thirdly, reality TV distorts the truth about the necessary skills, abilities; material conditions opportunities so that, for example, an ordinary person can restore a vintage kitchen himself, build a tiny house, Thai chicken coconut curry, buy a designer wedding dress of his dreams, or dramatically change your lifestyle and move to a farm/small town. Fourthly, this kind of distortion is possible with the help of temptation by beautiful faces, things, landscapes, stories about successful

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

#### *Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

accepted ideas. The lightweight, simplified truth is not a lie, not a deception of the audience by means of traditional methods and techniques of propaganda, but also not a genuine representation of the completeness, integrity of social-everyday reality. The lightweight, simplified truth is a complex kind of falsification, distortion through the cultivation and propaganda of a "one-dimensional" world order, a worldview based on the ideas and values of "everyday hedonism". The lightweight, simplified truth is the desire of the mass media to break up a complex socialeveryday reality into separate independent problem-thematic sets (cooking, sports, housing design, bodily beauty …) and present them as an illusion of the fullness of life and of the possibilities of choice for an ordinary person. The lightweight, simplified truth is the desire to seduce an ordinary person with what he can collect, as in a supermarket or a restaurant, his own version of a comfortable, pleasant world from various sets. For example, such a comfortable and pleasant world may consist of genre varieties of culinary reality shows, lifestyle about fashion trends in living room design and makeup. But this image of the world may not include programs about travel, a healthy lifestyle. Consequently, distortion of social-everyday reality inevitably occurs simultaneously due, firstly, to the fact that in reality, through problem-thematic sets, its numerous variants are created. These options are easily, quickly constructed into a "ready-made" picture of social-everyday reality in accordance with the desires of an ordinary person. Similarly, any of the sets in such a world can be removed, replaced by a new one, which is fundamentally impossible in social-everyday reality. Secondly, all problem-thematic sets are based on positive emotions and on the desire to assure an ordinary person that he can achieve, try, get everything that is described and show in the program. The only condition is to want and not be afraid to repeat in your real life what was discussed in the program. Thirdly, reality TV distorts the truth about the necessary skills, abilities; material conditions opportunities so that, for example, an ordinary person can restore a vintage kitchen himself, build a tiny house, Thai chicken coconut curry, buy a designer wedding dress of his dreams, or dramatically change your lifestyle and move to a farm/small town. Fourthly, this kind of distortion is possible with the help of temptation by beautiful faces, things, landscapes, stories about successful events, which are traditional techniques and methods of propaganda.

The lightweight, simplified truth is both a perfectly acceptable embellishment of reality, and a desire to remove labor-consuming, difficult, unpleasant, disgusting moments, things on the margin, to pass them by in silence, or to present them in a playful light. This is initially and irreparably laid down in programs of leisure, entertainment nature, which are based not on deception, but on the exploitation of the means and methods of fiction, theatrical culture. However, this moment of the playing, and of some permissible conventionality, is made deliberately obvious to the viewer for several purposes. Firstly, in order to draw attention to the positive emotions, positive aspects of situations as central and value-determining, and to present difficult, disadvantageous moments as self-evident, well-known, and therefore do not require attention. Secondly, in order for didactic moments, which are ideologically significant, to be realized not due to obvious mentoring and edification, but due to the conventionality of the playing world, the active involvement of all communication participants in it. Thus, the lightweight, simplified truth gradually teaches an ordinary person, in a conventionally playful way of theatrical culture, to perceive himself and socially everyday reality.

In addition, in the genres of reality, especially lifestyle, the simplification of the model lifestyle is important from the point of view of its visibility and persuasiveness for the audience. This is, as it were, not a deception, but not the real truth, but its idealized version. This kind of truth about social-everyday reality presupposes the gradual creation and protection of a uniformity worldview and attitude. They

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

of one dominant situation, truth does not oppose lies or false information and knowledge. Truth is opposed to itself in the sense that exaggeration, distortion, strengthening by positive emotions of the familiar, recognizable, but differentiated by sets of ways of life of the world, is the creation of an image of truth. There is no problem of lies, falsehood/truth. More important is the problem of the plurality of images of situations and the truths corresponding to them, which do not require self-sacrifice from an ordinary person in the name of society, suffering and submission. They, it would seem, do not pretend to be unique, absolute rightness, but offer good options for a comfortable world and the right to choose. However, it is precisely clear sets of lifestyles that distort the truth about social-everyday reality, replacing it with ready-made private meanings, ideas, types of heroes and values that are conditioned, subordinate to a specific everyday situation. The common thing that unites and connects these sets of lifestyles is desire, dominance of positive emotions, a life-affirming worldview, simplified beauty and comfort. The common thing that unites and connects these sets of lifestyles is the desire to live happily, easily, ethically of dignity; dominance of positive emotions; life-affirming worldview, simplistic interpretation of beauty and comfort. In this regard reality distorts social-everyday reality like all ideologically marked phenomena, when, according to J.-L. Nancy: "This is a simple and dangerous logic, implying that the absolutely separate contains, in its separation, something more than just the separate, or that the separation itself should be closed, and the closeness should not be limited to the territory <…>, but should be limited by itself closeness" ([37], p. 28). This determines the creation of artificial *places of formation and existence of common senses* (J.-L. Nancy), and it too is lead the distortion of social-everyday reality, and a change in cultural attitudes and collective memory. This kind of information, knowledge in the social-everyday sphere is based on a lightweight and simplified truth about a particular event, situation, phenomenon, ways, possibilities and ways

But, in this case, there is no reason to talk about the possibilities of forming *a fair memory* (P. Ricoeur) and its implementation of moral, ethical and social tasks to create the foundations and principles of the natural identity of an ordinary person, social groups, and society as a whole. The languages of the mass media, the narration in the media text, are based on a simplified, lightened image of social-everyday reality, create, and set artificial of models everyday situations and of languages for a

**5. The character and essence of the lightweight and simplified truth:** 

The development of media communications, propaganda technologies and their fusion with social-everyday reality could not but lead to a number of fundamental changes. These changes, first of all, are aimed at the private space of an ordinary person and the cultivation in it of an irresponsible attitude towards their own private life, everyday life, and corporeality. This kind of sentiment is supported and encouraged by the media through reality genres: reality and lifestyle. These genres primarily produce are formation of an image of a lightweight and simplified truth

The lightweight, simplified truth is a deliberate distortion of ideas about socialeveryday reality, its basic models, and principles of existence. The lightweight, simplified truth is the desire to create the illusion of the possibility of a happy society in which ordinary people live comfortably, joyfully, cozily in harmony with friends, family, themselves and without violating the moral and ethical generally

**the main conclusions and research prospects**

**92**

to achieve the desired result.

about social-everyday reality.

person and society.

are based on the ideals of a simplified understanding of beauty, ethics, social harmony, the meaning of which is offered as ready-made ideas and beliefs. They are methodically and repetitively explained in each of the sets of life and each specific episode. In reality, it's simple. In reality, it's simple. After all, a person can buy, judging by the assurances of the presenters, guests, heroes of the programs, this or that sort of cheese, wine, bread, meat, dress, a set for the restoration of the kitchen in any supermarket, bakery, salon of wedding dresses. It is clear that along with these products, things, he cannot and should not receive the promised comfort, prestige, and joy. It is conspicuous that along with these products, things, he cannot and should not receive the promised comfort, prestige, and joy. An ordinary person acquires only a minimum condition, a basis for trying to enjoy food, beautiful clothes, and a home. The semantic and moral-ethical emphasis is carefully transferred to the ordinary person: this is your choice, do not be afraid to make a choice, and do not be afraid to try. However, at the same time, complex cause-andeffect relationships, characteristic of social-everyday reality, and the seriousness of responsibility for the choice made are leveled. In counterweight to this, a lightweight, simplified truth about life is proposed, which in reality is formed through a system of symbolic connections. So, in different problem-thematic sets of reality between meanings, ideas, situations, emotions, both general and private connections are established and fixed. For example, nuances such as burning candles and small flower arrangements on tables create the image of a romantic date. Through the fashion for Greek yogurt, spinach, cinnamon is fixed the possibility of a variety of tastes and need to take care of one's health and the happiness of the family. The question is, are there in fact such kindred, friendly, social relationships, connections that imply and describe in reality of the situations of a dinner party, a good meal, a fun party, a wedding dress, a new home?

Another is important group of questions. How is a person seeking to obtain one or the other way of life from reality, responsible for the choice they make in socialeveryday reality? Can an ordinary person, facing an obstacle in the reality of his life, create his own identity and be responsible for his choices and actions, which is what *fair memory* suggests (P. Ricoeur)? Are these kinds of senses and techniques effective for fostering a *fair memory* (P. Ricoeur)? They are essential for building collective mindsets and memories. But the lightweight, simplified truth about social-everyday reality, based on separate sets of situations that can be quickly constructed in any set, does not prepare an ordinary person, social groups, society as a whole for complex problems of choice, for the difficulties of finding identity. It does not prepare for the inevitable responsibility of interactions between collective and individual memory. Lightweight, simplistic truth offers "ready-made" lifestyles and "ready-made" ways, ways to acquire them. In this sense, the lightweight, simplified truth turns out to be more harmful, pathogenic for the social-everyday reality than traditional fake news. Considering that a kind of mutual transition of media reality and social-everyday reality is gradually being established, and then it is necessary to ask the following questions. If an ordinary person and society as a whole get used to the world of the lightweight, simplified truth, then will not this destroy their ability and desire to distinguish lies from truth, fake from the original, the convention of a playing from the complexity of social-everyday reality? If the lightweight, simplified truth introduces into the world of a person, a social group, society, seemingly insignificant distortions, small erroneous ideas about reality, then will this not form a persistent desire to build, have, live in such a simple world in which there is no place for serious social, political, economic problems, and civil rights and freedoms are less valuable than the comfort and hedonism of everyday life?

This kind of lightweight, simplified truth and its purposeful cultivation of mass media lead to serious socio-cultural worldview consequences. A person and

**95**

**Author details**

Shestakova Eleonora Donetsk, Ukraine

\*Address all correspondence to: shestakova\_eleonora@mail.ru

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

society lose the ability of critical consciousness and gradually get used to living in a simple, one-dimensional, joyful, comfortable world, lose the ability and desire to be serious, analytically inclined to all news, situations, events. This gradually, but invariably, forms a community of not individuals, but their opposites: those whom J. Lacan called dividuals, videlicet disintegrated, fragmented people. Consequently, a comprehensive study of a lightweight, simplified truth in the context of the problems of false information, information chaos is a promising and productive

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

direction.

#### *Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

society lose the ability of critical consciousness and gradually get used to living in a simple, one-dimensional, joyful, comfortable world, lose the ability and desire to be serious, analytically inclined to all news, situations, events. This gradually, but invariably, forms a community of not individuals, but their opposites: those whom J. Lacan called dividuals, videlicet disintegrated, fragmented people. Consequently, a comprehensive study of a lightweight, simplified truth in the context of the problems of false information, information chaos is a promising and productive direction.

### **Author details**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

a fun party, a wedding dress, a new home?

are based on the ideals of a simplified understanding of beauty, ethics, social harmony, the meaning of which is offered as ready-made ideas and beliefs. They are methodically and repetitively explained in each of the sets of life and each specific episode. In reality, it's simple. In reality, it's simple. After all, a person can buy, judging by the assurances of the presenters, guests, heroes of the programs, this or that sort of cheese, wine, bread, meat, dress, a set for the restoration of the kitchen in any supermarket, bakery, salon of wedding dresses. It is clear that along with these products, things, he cannot and should not receive the promised comfort, prestige, and joy. It is conspicuous that along with these products, things, he cannot and should not receive the promised comfort, prestige, and joy. An ordinary person acquires only a minimum condition, a basis for trying to enjoy food, beautiful clothes, and a home. The semantic and moral-ethical emphasis is carefully transferred to the ordinary person: this is your choice, do not be afraid to make a choice, and do not be afraid to try. However, at the same time, complex cause-andeffect relationships, characteristic of social-everyday reality, and the seriousness of responsibility for the choice made are leveled. In counterweight to this, a lightweight, simplified truth about life is proposed, which in reality is formed through a system of symbolic connections. So, in different problem-thematic sets of reality between meanings, ideas, situations, emotions, both general and private connections are established and fixed. For example, nuances such as burning candles and small flower arrangements on tables create the image of a romantic date. Through the fashion for Greek yogurt, spinach, cinnamon is fixed the possibility of a variety of tastes and need to take care of one's health and the happiness of the family. The question is, are there in fact such kindred, friendly, social relationships, connections that imply and describe in reality of the situations of a dinner party, a good meal,

Another is important group of questions. How is a person seeking to obtain one or the other way of life from reality, responsible for the choice they make in socialeveryday reality? Can an ordinary person, facing an obstacle in the reality of his life, create his own identity and be responsible for his choices and actions, which is what *fair memory* suggests (P. Ricoeur)? Are these kinds of senses and techniques effective for fostering a *fair memory* (P. Ricoeur)? They are essential for building collective mindsets and memories. But the lightweight, simplified truth about social-everyday reality, based on separate sets of situations that can be quickly constructed in any set, does not prepare an ordinary person, social groups, society as a whole for complex problems of choice, for the difficulties of finding identity. It does not prepare for the inevitable responsibility of interactions between collective and individual memory. Lightweight, simplistic truth offers "ready-made" lifestyles and "ready-made" ways, ways to acquire them. In this sense, the lightweight, simplified truth turns out to be more harmful, pathogenic for the social-everyday reality than traditional fake news. Considering that a kind of mutual transition of media reality and social-everyday reality is gradually being established, and then it is necessary to ask the following questions. If an ordinary person and society as a whole get used to the world of the lightweight, simplified truth, then will not this destroy their ability and desire to distinguish lies from truth, fake from the original, the convention of a playing from the complexity of social-everyday reality? If the lightweight, simplified truth introduces into the world of a person, a social group, society, seemingly insignificant distortions, small erroneous ideas about reality, then will this not form a persistent desire to build, have, live in such a simple world in which there is no place for serious social, political, economic problems, and civil rights and freedoms

are less valuable than the comfort and hedonism of everyday life?

This kind of lightweight, simplified truth and its purposeful cultivation of mass media lead to serious socio-cultural worldview consequences. A person and

**94**

Shestakova Eleonora Donetsk, Ukraine

\*Address all correspondence to: shestakova\_eleonora@mail.ru

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

### **References**

[1] Teague L, Stories Are the New Social Media Newsfeed [Internet]. 2017. https://www.convinceandconvert.com/ social-media-strategy/stories-are-thenew-social-media-newsfeed

[2] Gotter A, How Social Media Stories Are Changing the Face of Social Video [Internet]. April 28, 2020. https://www. business2community.com/social-media/ how-social-media-stories-are-changingthe-face-of-social-video-02305367

[3] Rheingold H, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing [Internet]. 2002. http://informationr.net/ir/reviews/ revs086.html

[4] Рикёр П. Интервью с профессором Полем Рикёром 26.09.2000. В: Рикёр П. Память, история, забвение/Пер. с франц. Москва: Издательство гуманитарной литературы, 2004. C. 7-15

[5] Niklewicz K, Corbin Liz: Fight Fake News with Quality Journalism [Internet]. 01. 2018. https://www. aspeninstitutece.org/article/2018/lizcorbin-fight-fake-news-quality-journal ism/?gclid=CjwKCAjw88v3BRBFEiwAp wLevZtMleGgahlKH1xkHPCwG6YDy U7lEYWoULHUyeCHox84aJBnkwxCK hoC\_GAQAvD\_BwE.

[6] Tandoc Ed, Ling R, Defining "fake news" A typology of scholarly definitions Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Zheng Wei Lim and Richard Ling in Digital Journalism. 2017. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143 [Internet]. August https:// www.researchgate.net/ publication/319383049\_Defining\_ Fake\_News\_A\_typology\_of\_scholarly\_ definitions

[7] Soroush V, Deb R, Sinan A, The spread of true and false connection to the actual veracity of the information

presented, rendering it meaningless for use news DOI: 10.1126/science.aap9559 [Internet]. Online 09 Mar 2018. https:// science.sciencemag.org/content/359/ 6380/1146?app=true

[8] Denise-Marie O, Fake news and the spread of misinformation: A research roundup [Internet]. September 1, 2017 https://journalistsresource.org/studies/ society/internet/fake-news-conspiracytheories-journalism-research/

[9] Brewer, Paul R.; Young, Dannagal Goldthwaite; Morreale M, The Impact of Real News about 'Fake News': Intertextual Processes and Political Satire in International Journal of Public Opinion Research DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edt015 [Internet]. 2013. https://academic.oup.com/ijpor/ article-abstract/25/3/323/786961

[10] Sylvie Douglis Fake News: How To Spot Misinformation [Internet]. October 31, 2019 12:01 AM ET https:// www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774541010/ fake-news-is-scary-heres-how-to-spotmisinformation

[11] Journalism, 'Fake news' & disinformation. Handbook for Journalism Education and Training Editors: Cherilyn Ireton and Julie Posetti [Internet]. 2018. https://en.unesco.org/ fightfakenews

[12] Ovadya Av, What's Worse Than Fake News? The Distortion Of Reality Itself DOI: 10.1111/npqu.12143 [Internet]. 23 April 2018. https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/npqu.12143

[13] Alibašić, Haris & Rose, Jonathan Fake News in Context: Truth and Untruths, Public Integrity, 21:5, 2019 p. 463-468. DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2019.1622359 [Internet]. https://www.tandfonline. com/doi/full/10.1080/10999922.2019.1 622359

**97**

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality*

[Internet]. 2015. http://www. tandfonline.com/loi/hmcs20.

and Class (Palgrave MacMillan, London). P. 104-116. [Internet]. 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Television-Class-Beverley-Skeggs/

[21] Lewis T, and Huber A, (prepublished version of Tania Lewis and Alison Huber), 'A revolution in an eggcup? Supermarket wars, celebrity chefs, and ethical consumption' in Food, Culture and Society. 18 (2): P. 289-308. [Internet]. 2015. https:// www.academia.edu/11154167/ Tania\_Lewis\_and\_Alison\_Huber\_A\_ revolution\_in\_an\_eggcup\_Supermarket\_ wars\_celebrity\_chefs\_and\_ethical\_ consumption\_Food\_Culture\_and\_ Society\_2015\_18\_2\_289-308

[22] Lewis T, Transforming

iew

citizens? Green politics and ethical consumption on lifestyle television in Journal of Media &Cultural Studies (special issue on environmental sustainability) 22(2). P. 227-240. DOI: 10.1080/10304310701864394. [Internet]. 2008. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ abs/10.1080/10304310701864394#prev

[23] Lynch B, Australian Culinary Television: Visions of the Real in MEDIANZ. Vol. 16. N. 2. P. 51-64. DOI: 10.11157/medianz-vol16iss2id208

org/10.11157/medianz-vol17iss2id208.

[24] Oren T, Format, Cooking and Competition as Television Values. DOI: 10.7227/CST.8.2.3 [Internet]. 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/

[25] Lundahl O, Fashionalising Sustainable Consumption in Lifestyle

Media. Advances in consumer

[Internet]. 2016. https://doi.

publication/271276495

dp/1844573974

[20] Lewis T, 'You've put yourselves on a plate': The Labours of Selfhood on MasterChef Australia in Reality Television

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

[14] Хабермас Ю, Расколотый Запад. Москва: «Весь мир», 2008. 192 с.

[15] Jensen P.M, The International Extent and Elasticity of Lifestyle Television in MEDIEKULTUR 45. journal of media and communication [Internet]. Research December 2008. https://www.researchgate. net/publication/265668940\_The\_ International\_Extent\_and\_Elasticity\_of\_

[16] de Solier Is, Foodie makeovers: Public service television and lifestyle guidance in: Exposing Lifestyle Television: The Big Reveal. Palmer, G, ed. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Aldershot, England, pp. 65-81. [Internet]. 2008. https://www.researchgate. net/publication/286112716\_Foodie\_ makeovers\_Public\_service\_television\_

Lifestyle\_Television.

and\_lifestyle\_guidance/

[17] de Solier Is, The Foodie Lifestyle: Gastronomic Education, Serious Consumption, and

Creative Production. University of Melbourne, School of Culture and Communication. 234 p. [Internet]. 2010. https://books.google.com.ua/ books/about/The\_Foodie\_Lifestyle. html?id=YyX5ewEACAAJ&redir\_esc=y.

[18] Exposing Lifestyle Television. The Big Reveal, Edited By Gareth Palmer. 206 p. [Internet]. 2008. https://books.google.com.ua/ books/about/The\_Foodie\_Lifestyle. html?id=YyX5ewEACAAJ&redir\_ esc=y.https://www.fishpond.com. au/Books/Exposing-Lifestyle-Television-Gareth-Palmer-Edited-by/9780754674306.

[19] Lewallen Jen., Miller Br.,

Behm-Morawitz E., Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Celebrity Media Diet and the Cultivation of Emerging Adults' Materialism in Mass Communication and Society. №13. P. 253-274. DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2015.1096945

*Lightweight and Simplified Truth as a Kind of Distortion of Social-Everyday Reality DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93862*

[14] Хабермас Ю, Расколотый Запад. Москва: «Весь мир», 2008. 192 с.

[15] Jensen P.M, The International Extent and Elasticity of Lifestyle Television in MEDIEKULTUR 45. journal of media and communication [Internet]. Research December 2008. https://www.researchgate. net/publication/265668940\_The\_ International\_Extent\_and\_Elasticity\_of\_ Lifestyle\_Television.

[16] de Solier Is, Foodie makeovers: Public service television and lifestyle guidance in: Exposing Lifestyle Television: The Big Reveal. Palmer, G, ed. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Aldershot, England, pp. 65-81. [Internet]. 2008. https://www.researchgate. net/publication/286112716\_Foodie\_ makeovers\_Public\_service\_television\_ and\_lifestyle\_guidance/

[17] de Solier Is, The Foodie Lifestyle: Gastronomic Education, Serious Consumption, and Creative Production. University of Melbourne, School of Culture and Communication. 234 p. [Internet]. 2010. https://books.google.com.ua/ books/about/The\_Foodie\_Lifestyle. html?id=YyX5ewEACAAJ&redir\_esc=y.

[18] Exposing Lifestyle Television. The Big Reveal, Edited By Gareth Palmer. 206 p. [Internet]. 2008. https://books.google.com.ua/ books/about/The\_Foodie\_Lifestyle. html?id=YyX5ewEACAAJ&redir\_ esc=y.https://www.fishpond.com. au/Books/Exposing-Lifestyle-Television-Gareth-Palmer-Edited-by/9780754674306.

[19] Lewallen Jen., Miller Br., Behm-Morawitz E., Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Celebrity Media Diet and the Cultivation of Emerging Adults' Materialism in Mass Communication and Society. №13. P. 253-274. DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2015.1096945

[Internet]. 2015. http://www. tandfonline.com/loi/hmcs20.

[20] Lewis T, 'You've put yourselves on a plate': The Labours of Selfhood on MasterChef Australia in Reality Television and Class (Palgrave MacMillan, London). P. 104-116. [Internet]. 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Television-Class-Beverley-Skeggs/ dp/1844573974

[21] Lewis T, and Huber A, (prepublished version of Tania Lewis and Alison Huber), 'A revolution in an eggcup? Supermarket wars, celebrity chefs, and ethical consumption' in Food, Culture and Society. 18 (2): P. 289-308. [Internet]. 2015. https:// www.academia.edu/11154167/ Tania\_Lewis\_and\_Alison\_Huber\_A\_ revolution\_in\_an\_eggcup\_Supermarket\_ wars\_celebrity\_chefs\_and\_ethical\_ consumption\_Food\_Culture\_and\_ Society\_2015\_18\_2\_289-308

[22] Lewis T, Transforming citizens? Green politics and ethical consumption on lifestyle television in Journal of Media &Cultural Studies (special issue on environmental sustainability) 22(2). P. 227-240. DOI: 10.1080/10304310701864394. [Internet]. 2008. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ abs/10.1080/10304310701864394#prev iew

[23] Lynch B, Australian Culinary Television: Visions of the Real in MEDIANZ. Vol. 16. N. 2. P. 51-64. DOI: 10.11157/medianz-vol16iss2id208 [Internet]. 2016. https://doi. org/10.11157/medianz-vol17iss2id208.

[24] Oren T, Format, Cooking and Competition as Television Values. DOI: 10.7227/CST.8.2.3 [Internet]. 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/271276495

[25] Lundahl O, Fashionalising Sustainable Consumption in Lifestyle Media. Advances in consumer

**96**

definitions

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

presented, rendering it meaningless for use news DOI: 10.1126/science.aap9559 [Internet]. Online 09 Mar 2018. https:// science.sciencemag.org/content/359/

[8] Denise-Marie O, Fake news and the spread of misinformation: A research roundup [Internet]. September 1, 2017 https://journalistsresource.org/studies/ society/internet/fake-news-conspiracy-

theories-journalism-research/

[9] Brewer, Paul R.; Young, Dannagal Goldthwaite; Morreale M, The Impact of Real News about 'Fake News': Intertextual Processes and Political Satire in International Journal of Public Opinion Research DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edt015 [Internet]. 2013. https://academic.oup.com/ijpor/ article-abstract/25/3/323/786961

[10] Sylvie Douglis Fake News: How To Spot Misinformation [Internet]. October 31, 2019 12:01 AM ET https:// www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774541010/ fake-news-is-scary-heres-how-to-spot-

[11] Journalism, 'Fake news' & disinformation. Handbook for Journalism Education and Training Editors: Cherilyn Ireton and Julie Posetti [Internet]. 2018. https://en.unesco.org/

[12] Ovadya Av, What's Worse Than Fake News? The Distortion Of Reality Itself DOI: 10.1111/npqu.12143 [Internet]. 23 April 2018. https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/npqu.12143

[13] Alibašić, Haris & Rose, Jonathan

Fake News in Context: Truth and Untruths, Public Integrity, 21:5, 2019 p. 463-468. DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2019.1622359 [Internet]. https://www.tandfonline. com/doi/full/10.1080/10999922.2019.1

misinformation

fightfakenews

622359

6380/1146?app=true

[1] Teague L, Stories Are the New Social Media Newsfeed [Internet]. 2017. https://www.convinceandconvert.com/ social-media-strategy/stories-are-the-

[2] Gotter A, How Social Media Stories Are Changing the Face of Social Video [Internet]. April 28, 2020. https://www. business2community.com/social-media/ how-social-media-stories-are-changingthe-face-of-social-video-02305367

[3] Rheingold H, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing [Internet]. 2002. http://informationr.net/ir/reviews/

new-social-media-newsfeed

revs086.html

**References**

[4] Рикёр П. Интервью с профессором Полем Рикёром 26.09.2000. В: Рикёр П. Память, история, забвение/Пер. с франц. Москва: Издательство гуманитарной

литературы, 2004. C. 7-15

hoC\_GAQAvD\_BwE.

[5] Niklewicz K, Corbin Liz: Fight Fake News with Quality Journalism [Internet]. 01. 2018. https://www. aspeninstitutece.org/article/2018/lizcorbin-fight-fake-news-quality-journal ism/?gclid=CjwKCAjw88v3BRBFEiwAp wLevZtMleGgahlKH1xkHPCwG6YDy U7lEYWoULHUyeCHox84aJBnkwxCK

[6] Tandoc Ed, Ling R, Defining "fake news" A typology of scholarly definitions Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Zheng Wei Lim and Richard Ling in Digital Journalism. 2017. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143 [Internet]. August https:// www.researchgate.net/

publication/319383049\_Defining\_ Fake\_News\_A\_typology\_of\_scholarly\_

[7] Soroush V, Deb R, Sinan A, The spread of true and false connection to the actual veracity of the information

research. Association for Consumer Research (U.S.) №42. [Internet]. 2014. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/325757537\_Fashionalising\_ Sustainable\_Consumption\_in\_Lifestyle\_ Media.

[26] Patrick St, 'But She Doesn't DO Anything!: Framing and Containing Female Celebrity in the Age of Reality Television. University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. [Internet]. 2013. https://ruor.uottawa.ca/ bitstream/10393/26300/1/Patrick\_ Stephanie\_2013\_Thesis.pdf.

[27] Phillipov M, Escaping to the country: Media, nostalgia, and the new food industries in Popular Communication. The International Journal of Media and Culture. P. 111-122. DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2015.1084620 [Internet]. 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.10 80/15405702.2015.1084620.

[28] Rosenberg B.C, Dangerous Houses: Scientific Lifestyle Television and Risk Management in Home Cultures, № 9 (2), p.173-194. DOI: 10.2752/1751742 12X13325123562269 [Internet]. July 2012. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/272273499\_Dangerous\_ Houses\_Scientific\_Lifestyle\_Television\_ and\_Risk\_Management;

[29] The Cultural Intermediaries Reader. [Internet]. 2014. https:// uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/thecultural-intermediaries-reader/ book236720

[30] Colas Al, Edwards J, Levi J, Zubaida S, Food, Politics, and Society. Social Theory and the Modern Food System [Internet]. 2018 https://www. ucpress.edu/book/9780520291959/ food-politics-and-society

[31] Mazel A, Governing Food: Media, Politics and Pleasure UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare. uva.nl) [Internet]. Download date: 2019. https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/33261761/ Thesis\_.pdf.

[32] Soper K, Alternative Hedonism, culture theory and the role of aesthetic revisioning in Cultural Studies 22(5):567-587 · September DOI: 10.1080/09502380802245829 [Internet]. 2008. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/240530870\_Alternative\_ Hedonism\_culture\_theoty\_and\_the\_ role\_of\_aesthetic\_revisioning

[33] Soper K, Thomas L, Alternative Hedonism: a theory and politics of consumption Canadian in journal Adbusters [Internet]. http://www. consume.bbk.ac.uk/researchfindings/ althedonism.pdf

[34] Caruana R, Glozer S, Eckhardt G.M, 'Alternative Hedonism': Exploring the Role of Pleasure in Moral Markets in Journal of Business Ethics Published: 27 February 2019 in Journal of Business Ethics volume 166, pages143- 158 (2020). [Internet]. 2019. https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/33139 1842\_'Alternative\_Hedonism'\_Exploring\_ the\_Role\_of\_Pleasure\_in\_Moral\_Markets

[35] The Belle Gibson scandal: The rise of lifestyle gurus as microcelebrities in low-trust societies in Articlein Journal of Sociology. DOI: 10.1177/1440783319846188. [Internet]. May 2019 with 46. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ abs/10.1177/1440783319846188

[36] Рыклин М, Деконструкция и деструкция. Беседы с философами. Москва: Логос, 2002. 270 c.

[37] Нанси Ж.-Л., Непроизводимое сообщество: Новое издание, пересмотренное и дополненное. / Пер. с фр. Москва: Водолей, 2011. 208 c.

[38] Интервью с Агнесс Хеллер В: Вопросы философии №5 2001. С. 159-169.

**99**

**Chapter 5**

*Elena Danescu*

artificial intelligence.

**1. Introduction**

worldwide.

Union, Interdisciplinarity, Digital humanities

**Abstract**

Democracy, Freedom and Truth at

a Time of Digital Disruption: An

Equation with Three Unknowns?

Knowledge-based societies rely to a large extent on intangible outputs and digital technologies, and these are having a growing influence on information systems, media, governance and citizenship. At the same time, the increasing role played by online platforms in manipulating transnational public debates, legitimising algorithmic non-transparent decision-making and inciting hate speech and violence through misinformation, disinformation and propaganda are warning signs of the negative repercussions such digital ecosystem can have on rule of law, political systems, free thought and critical awareness. There is a clear need for international regulation in this area. Rooted in an interdisciplinary approach, this chapter combines an examination of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological frameworks with an analysis of various relevant public and private archives. The aim is threefold: to outline the issues and challenges in terms of human (and labour) rights, freedom and democracy; to identify the regulatory provisions adopted at European and international level to promote accountability, civil participation, and digital literacy; and to identify future prospects, risks and uncertainties in the era of

**Keywords:** Knowledge-based societies, Democracy, Human and labour rights, Citizenship, Critical awareness, Algorithmic ecosystems, Artificial Intelligence, Digital misinformation and disinformation, Education and Media literacy, European

The pattern of a knowledge-based society relies to a large extent on digital technologies and intangible outputs and generates considerable transnational financial flows and gains. These technologies also play a key role in providing free access to data and information, encouraging citizen participation in public decision-making, fostering transparency and scrutiny of government action and mobilising new players capable of identifying alternative means of civic and political participation

At the same time, the increasing impact of online platforms in manipulating transnational public debates and the surge in extremist groups using the digital ecosystem to incite hatred, hostility and violence are warning signs that these modes of communication may be having an adverse effect on democracy and that

#### **Chapter 5**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/33261761/

[32] Soper K, Alternative Hedonism, culture theory and the role of aesthetic

10.1080/09502380802245829 [Internet]. 2008. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/240530870\_Alternative\_ Hedonism\_culture\_theoty\_and\_the\_ role\_of\_aesthetic\_revisioning

[33] Soper K, Thomas L, Alternative Hedonism: a theory and politics of consumption Canadian in journal Adbusters [Internet]. http://www. consume.bbk.ac.uk/researchfindings/

[34] Caruana R, Glozer S, Eckhardt G.M, 'Alternative Hedonism': Exploring the Role of Pleasure in Moral

Markets in Journal of Business Ethics Published: 27 February 2019 in Journal of Business Ethics volume 166, pages143- 158 (2020). [Internet]. 2019. https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/33139 1842\_'Alternative\_Hedonism'\_Exploring\_ the\_Role\_of\_Pleasure\_in\_Moral\_Markets

[35] The Belle Gibson scandal: The rise of lifestyle gurus as microcelebrities in low-trust societies in Articlein Journal of Sociology. DOI: 10.1177/1440783319846188. [Internet]. May 2019 with 46. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ abs/10.1177/1440783319846188

[36] Рыклин М, Деконструкция и деструкция. Беседы с философами.

[37] Нанси Ж.-Л., Непроизводимое сообщество: Новое издание, пересмотренное и дополненное. / Пер. с фр. Москва: Водолей, 2011.

[38] Интервью с Агнесс Хеллер В: Вопросы философии №5 2001. С.

Москва: Логос, 2002. 270 c.

208 c.

159-169.

revisioning in Cultural Studies 22(5):567-587 · September DOI:

Thesis\_.pdf.

althedonism.pdf

research. Association for Consumer Research (U.S.) №42. [Internet]. 2014. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/325757537\_Fashionalising\_ Sustainable\_Consumption\_in\_Lifestyle\_

[26] Patrick St, 'But She Doesn't DO Anything!: Framing and Containing Female Celebrity in the Age of Reality Television. University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. [Internet].

2013. https://ruor.uottawa.ca/ bitstream/10393/26300/1/Patrick\_ Stephanie\_2013\_Thesis.pdf.

[27] Phillipov M, Escaping to the country: Media, nostalgia, and the new food industries in Popular Communication. The International Journal of Media and Culture. P. 111-122. DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2015.1084620 [Internet]. 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.10

80/15405702.2015.1084620.

and\_Risk\_Management;

book236720

[29] The Cultural Intermediaries Reader. [Internet]. 2014. https:// uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/thecultural-intermediaries-reader/

[30] Colas Al, Edwards J, Levi J, Zubaida S, Food, Politics, and Society. Social Theory and the Modern Food System [Internet]. 2018 https://www. ucpress.edu/book/9780520291959/

[31] Mazel A, Governing Food: Media, Politics and Pleasure UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare. uva.nl) [Internet]. Download date: 2019.

food-politics-and-society

[28] Rosenberg B.C, Dangerous Houses: Scientific Lifestyle Television and Risk Management in Home Cultures, № 9 (2), p.173-194. DOI: 10.2752/1751742 12X13325123562269 [Internet]. July 2012. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/272273499\_Dangerous\_ Houses\_Scientific\_Lifestyle\_Television\_

Media.

**98**

## Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three Unknowns?

*Elena Danescu*

#### **Abstract**

Knowledge-based societies rely to a large extent on intangible outputs and digital technologies, and these are having a growing influence on information systems, media, governance and citizenship. At the same time, the increasing role played by online platforms in manipulating transnational public debates, legitimising algorithmic non-transparent decision-making and inciting hate speech and violence through misinformation, disinformation and propaganda are warning signs of the negative repercussions such digital ecosystem can have on rule of law, political systems, free thought and critical awareness. There is a clear need for international regulation in this area. Rooted in an interdisciplinary approach, this chapter combines an examination of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological frameworks with an analysis of various relevant public and private archives. The aim is threefold: to outline the issues and challenges in terms of human (and labour) rights, freedom and democracy; to identify the regulatory provisions adopted at European and international level to promote accountability, civil participation, and digital literacy; and to identify future prospects, risks and uncertainties in the era of artificial intelligence.

**Keywords:** Knowledge-based societies, Democracy, Human and labour rights, Citizenship, Critical awareness, Algorithmic ecosystems, Artificial Intelligence, Digital misinformation and disinformation, Education and Media literacy, European Union, Interdisciplinarity, Digital humanities

#### **1. Introduction**

The pattern of a knowledge-based society relies to a large extent on digital technologies and intangible outputs and generates considerable transnational financial flows and gains. These technologies also play a key role in providing free access to data and information, encouraging citizen participation in public decision-making, fostering transparency and scrutiny of government action and mobilising new players capable of identifying alternative means of civic and political participation worldwide.

At the same time, the increasing impact of online platforms in manipulating transnational public debates and the surge in extremist groups using the digital ecosystem to incite hatred, hostility and violence are warning signs that these modes of communication may be having an adverse effect on democracy and that the boundary between fact and fiction is not as clear as we may like to think. The misleading stories about the EU in 2015 following Russia's hybrid war campaign in Ukraine, the US presidential election campaign and the Brexit referendum in 2016, the theories about COVID-19 that have flooded the web since 2019, the terrorist attack against French teacher Samuel Paty on 16 October 2020 and the cyber-attack against Microsoft which seriously affected the European Banking Authority in March 2021 are just some examples that highlight these trends.

Considering that a significant proportion of the world's citizens now use online media as their main source of information, the proliferation of disinformation and the related threat of radicalism and extremism have led to a growing awareness of these issues at international and European Union (EU) level. What can be done to tackle the situation? How should democratic states with new forms of private power intervene in an algorithmic society? Where should the line be drawn between freedom of expression and media pluralism on the one hand, and intrusion and censorship of dissenting opinions on the other? How should information be defended as a fundamental right? Is there a moral or ethical code when it comes to information? How can we create an environment that is conducive to inclusive, pluralistic public debate? How can we equip citizens to develop a critical approach and take informed decisions? How can we balance innovation with the need to ensure transparency and fairness? Could we be witnessing a situation in which algorithms are "dissolving" democracy?

Drawing on the archives of international and European multilateral organisations (UN/UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the G7 and G20, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the EU Union) and several public and private stakeholders worldwide (including the International Fact Checking Network, the Ethical Journalism Network, the Future Today Institute, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies and the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services), as well as an interdisciplinary interpretation of the specialist literature (especially in the fields of history, political and legal science, sociology, economics and computer studies), this chapter sets out to answer the research questions enumerated above from a threefold perspective: a) by analysing the issues and challenges raised by the proliferation of fake news, social media and algorithms and their impact on human rights, freedom and democracy; b) by highlighting the regulatory provisions implemented in this area at European and international level and identifying their strengths and weaknesses; and c) by identifying future prospects, risks and uncertainties.

#### **2. Freedom of information and freedom of expression: a conceptual and legal framework**

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in 1946 [1] and by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose article 19 states that ["Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers [2]"].

Freedom of expression is inseparable from the principle of freedom of information, as enshrined in many international legal instruments, including the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (1945), which calls for the "promot[ion of] the free flow of ideas by word and image [3]" the International Covenant on Civil and Political

**101**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

Rights (1966) [4] and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966). [5] Regional regulatory frameworks recognising freedom of expression have also emerged, such as the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (1967) [6], the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) [7] and the African Charter

On the European continent, the Council of Europe (CoE), a multilateral intergovernmental organisation founded in 1949 with the aim of "fostering and maintaining a European state of mind [9]" was the forerunner in the defence of freedom of information and expression as an integral part of human rights. This principle was reflected in the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) [10] and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), set up in 1959, whose work helped harmonise national notions of such freedoms and gradually laid the foundations for a European case law and standard in this area. In 1954, the CoE also adopted a convention to promote a European consciousness and the free movement of ideas; later, in 1961, the European Social Charter guaranteed several rights for workers, including the fundamental right to information (about working conditions, social

With the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) [12] in 1951 and the European Economic Community (EEC) [13] and Euratom in 1957, Europe as a supranational polity was initially based around a "de facto solidarity" (to borrow Jean Monnet's expression) and interests related to economic integration; the question of human rights was not directly addressed. Nevertheless, the four fundamental freedoms of the internal market – where goods, people, services and capital are allowed to circulate freely – necessarily result in freedom of information. From 1969 onwards, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC), based in Luxembourg, made a point of interpreting Community law in the light of both fundamental rights common to the Member States and international instruments such as those of the CoE, thereby forging a Community case law and clearly confirming that human rights come under the aegis of European law. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the enlargement of the Community to include the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, together with growing Community intervention in areas requiring the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, encouraged the EU to adopt its own protective mechanisms. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty [14] converted the obligation to respect the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, previously applied by the European Court of Justice, into a treaty obligation for the EU and for Member States by virtue of their membership. The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) [15] stated that ["The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States. [16]"] In 1999, the EU set out to draw up a Charter of Fundamental Rights, which was solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by Parliament, the Commission and the Council, then proclaimed again on 12 December 2007 after being amended. [17] Its preamble clearly states that ["the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It places the individual at the heart of its activities, by establishing the citizenship of the Union and by creating an area of freedom, security and justice."] Article 11 of the Charter, entitled "Freedom of expression and information", stipulates that: ["1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. 2) The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected. [18]" The Treaty of Lisbon (2007) [19] gave the Charter "the same legal value as the Treaties", thereby making it binding for the Member States. [20]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

on Human and Peoples' Rights (1987). [8]

protection, etc.). [11]

#### *Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

Rights (1966) [4] and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966). [5] Regional regulatory frameworks recognising freedom of expression have also emerged, such as the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (1967) [6], the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) [7] and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1987). [8]

On the European continent, the Council of Europe (CoE), a multilateral intergovernmental organisation founded in 1949 with the aim of "fostering and maintaining a European state of mind [9]" was the forerunner in the defence of freedom of information and expression as an integral part of human rights. This principle was reflected in the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) [10] and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), set up in 1959, whose work helped harmonise national notions of such freedoms and gradually laid the foundations for a European case law and standard in this area. In 1954, the CoE also adopted a convention to promote a European consciousness and the free movement of ideas; later, in 1961, the European Social Charter guaranteed several rights for workers, including the fundamental right to information (about working conditions, social protection, etc.). [11]

With the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) [12] in 1951 and the European Economic Community (EEC) [13] and Euratom in 1957, Europe as a supranational polity was initially based around a "de facto solidarity" (to borrow Jean Monnet's expression) and interests related to economic integration; the question of human rights was not directly addressed. Nevertheless, the four fundamental freedoms of the internal market – where goods, people, services and capital are allowed to circulate freely – necessarily result in freedom of information. From 1969 onwards, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC), based in Luxembourg, made a point of interpreting Community law in the light of both fundamental rights common to the Member States and international instruments such as those of the CoE, thereby forging a Community case law and clearly confirming that human rights come under the aegis of European law. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the enlargement of the Community to include the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, together with growing Community intervention in areas requiring the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, encouraged the EU to adopt its own protective mechanisms. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty [14] converted the obligation to respect the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, previously applied by the European Court of Justice, into a treaty obligation for the EU and for Member States by virtue of their membership. The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) [15] stated that ["The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States. [16]"] In 1999, the EU set out to draw up a Charter of Fundamental Rights, which was solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by Parliament, the Commission and the Council, then proclaimed again on 12 December 2007 after being amended. [17] Its preamble clearly states that ["the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It places the individual at the heart of its activities, by establishing the citizenship of the Union and by creating an area of freedom, security and justice."] Article 11 of the Charter, entitled "Freedom of expression and information", stipulates that: ["1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. 2) The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected. [18]" The Treaty of Lisbon (2007) [19] gave the Charter "the same legal value as the Treaties", thereby making it binding for the Member States. [20]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

March 2021 are just some examples that highlight these trends.

the boundary between fact and fiction is not as clear as we may like to think. The misleading stories about the EU in 2015 following Russia's hybrid war campaign in Ukraine, the US presidential election campaign and the Brexit referendum in 2016, the theories about COVID-19 that have flooded the web since 2019, the terrorist attack against French teacher Samuel Paty on 16 October 2020 and the cyber-attack against Microsoft which seriously affected the European Banking Authority in

Considering that a significant proportion of the world's citizens now use online media as their main source of information, the proliferation of disinformation and the related threat of radicalism and extremism have led to a growing awareness of these issues at international and European Union (EU) level. What can be done to tackle the situation? How should democratic states with new forms of private power intervene in an algorithmic society? Where should the line be drawn between freedom of expression and media pluralism on the one hand, and intrusion and censorship of dissenting opinions on the other? How should information be defended as a fundamental right? Is there a moral or ethical code when it comes to information? How can we create an environment that is conducive to inclusive, pluralistic public debate? How can we equip citizens to develop a critical approach and take informed decisions? How can we balance innovation with the need to ensure transparency and fairness? Could we be witnessing a situation in which algorithms are "dissolving"

Drawing on the archives of international and European multilateral organisations (UN/UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the G7 and G20, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the EU Union) and several public and private stakeholders worldwide (including the International Fact Checking Network, the Ethical Journalism Network, the Future Today Institute, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies and the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services), as well as an interdisciplinary interpretation of the specialist literature (especially in the fields of history, political and legal science, sociology, economics and computer studies), this chapter sets out to answer the research questions enumerated above from a threefold perspective: a) by analysing the issues and challenges raised by the proliferation of fake news, social media and algorithms and their impact on human rights, freedom and democracy; b) by highlighting the regulatory provisions implemented in this area at European and international level and identifying their strengths and weaknesses; and c) by identifying future prospects, risks

**2. Freedom of information and freedom of expression: a conceptual and** 

Freedom of expression is inseparable from the principle of freedom of information, as enshrined in many international legal instruments, including the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (1945), which calls for the "promot[ion of] the free flow of ideas by word and image [3]" the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in 1946 [1] and by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose article 19 states that ["Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any

**100**

democracy?

and uncertainties.

**legal framework**

media and regardless of frontiers [2]"].

It is also worth noting that the Merger Treaty (1965) [21] gave the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom (the "European Communities") shared institutions – the Commission, Council of Ministers, European Parliament and Court of Justice – which now had a duty to comply with transparency, accessibility and integrity, considered as "principles of good administration". With the Declaration on the right of access to information annexed to the Treaty of Maastricht, the EU entrenched its policy of institutional transparency, affirming ["that transparency of the decision-making process strengthens the democratic nature of the institutions and the public's confidence in the administration. The Conference accordingly recommends that the Commission submit to the Council no later than 1993 a report on measures designed to improve public access to the information available to the institutions [22]"].

The principle of freedom of information, whose origins can be traced back to the 18th century is an integral characteristic of pluralist democratic societies. [23] It states that all information held by governments and their various institutions must be public and generally accessible, and may only be withheld for a "legitimate reason" such as respect for privacy or safety issues. Some restrictions are therefore admissible, as long as they are regulated and comply with international law.

In recent decades, the right to information has been increasingly recognised worldwide and implemented by means of specific legislative instruments. This trend has been driven in particular by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which recently launched an "Open Government" initiative with the aim of implementing legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks that encourage transparency, participation and access to information in member countries. [24] For the OECD, the right of access to information is both a driver for inclusive growth and a challenge for democracy and public governance, with the potential to promote interest in public policy issues and encourage citizens to get involved in decision-making in this area. [25] While only 13 countries had national laws on freedom of information in 1990, now some 127 countries have adopted laws on access to information. Recognising the importance of improving universal access to information and knowledge, the 2015 UNESCO General Conference, followed by the 2019 United Nations General Assembly, proclaimed an International Day for Universal Access to Information, held every year on 28 September, with the aim of strengthening open science, multilingualism, ICT and media and information literacy, and reaffirming press freedom.

As demonstrated above, freedom of information and the free circulation of ideas are inherent to respect for human rights and central to the notion of democracy. Exercising the right to access information has a twofold impact: it encourages all citizens – civil society as a whole – to get involved in the public sphere, to participate in decision-making on public policy, to scrutinise and evaluate the performances of institutions and leaders, the economic system and the use of public money (and to identify instances of corruption); and it also prompts public authorities to be more transparent and open in the exercise of public governance, more responsive to signals from citizens, more attentive to the needs and criticism of society and therefore more open to reform. One of the most effective ways of tackling poor governance is open, enlightened debate with civil society – hence the importance of easy access to comprehensive, wide-ranging and accurate information for all citizens. Freedom of information can also lead to increased accountability and efficacy in governance and can bolster public confidence.

The need to adopt legislation to ensure freedom of information represents a major challenge in democratic countries worldwide. At the same time, the mere existence of international and national legislative and regulatory frameworks guaranteeing freedom of information does not mean that these will necessarily be applied

**103**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

the importance of more rigorous standards when it comes to information.

In the contemporary cross-disciplinary sense, the concept of democracy has several interdependent dimensions, three of which are seen as foundational: citizenship, the representativeness of political leaders, and the limitation of state power by

In this context, citizenship serves as a leaven for democracy, reflecting the desire of citizens (states, districts, communities, even the world – "global citizens [28]") "to act responsibly in public life [29]" to exercise their right to contribute to the way in which society is managed, and also to share their stories, culture and general

The exercise of citizenship implies first and foremost the existence of a "public space", the structure of which may be considered from four angles: 1) a(n) (intangible) political space where citizens discuss, debate, share their ideas and compare their arguments in order to try to reach a consensus on questions of general and/or overall interest [31]; 2) a social space, which gives rise to "ways of living together" and fosters a "recognition of the other [32]"; 3) an economic space, represented by "the market", governed in principle by objective rules and mechanisms, but which may nevertheless be a sphere for collective action with a political objective [33]; 4) a (tangible) physical space, which can be divided into different spatial levels, centered around multiple networks and where multiple "possible futures" can be

Over the past three decades, the physical space has gradually become a space for citizenship and politics, insofar as social, political, protest and even revolutionary movements have emerged in the streets and taken over symbolic sites (squares, parks, gardens, etc.), with the aim not only of achieving physical visibility but also of expressing ideas, exchanging experiences, spreading messages and creating symbols. As well as serving as the *agora*, the public space has therefore also become a space of public opposition. [35] Examples of this phenomenon include the Tiananmen Square protests (Beijing, 1989), the University Square/"Golaniad" protests (Bucharest, 1990), the "Arab Spring" (a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in 2010–2011), "Occupy Wall Street" (New York, 2011), the Gezi Park protests (Istanbul, 2013), the Umbrella Movement (Hong Kong, 2014), the Maidan Square protests (Kiev, 2014), the "Nuit debout" movement (Paris, 2016) and the "Yellow

The notion of public space is inseparable from that of civil society, which provides a framework for regular citizen engagement with the aim of reaching collective decisions on matters of public interest. [36] Civil society plays a role in ["ensuring that all content and procedures related to public decision-making are accessible in the public space, and relaying to the political space any demands made

automatically or permanently. The content and scope of laws in this area vary, and their application depends on several factors, including the wider constitutional framework, the level of dedicated funding and human resources, the dynamism of civil society, and the ability of citizens to make use of the law. Even if legal provisions do exist, freedom of information may be hindered by complicated mechanisms to access information, inappropriate management and preservation of information (including archives), excessive bureaucracy and impenetrable systems. It is therefore vital that we move from a "culture of secrecy" to a "culture of transparency" in the public sector, and that efforts are made to raise awareness among civil society of

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

**3. "Information, the key to democracy"**

means of fundamental rights. [26, 27]

Vest" movement (France, 2018–2019).

concerns. [30]

discerned. [34]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

automatically or permanently. The content and scope of laws in this area vary, and their application depends on several factors, including the wider constitutional framework, the level of dedicated funding and human resources, the dynamism of civil society, and the ability of citizens to make use of the law. Even if legal provisions do exist, freedom of information may be hindered by complicated mechanisms to access information, inappropriate management and preservation of information (including archives), excessive bureaucracy and impenetrable systems. It is therefore vital that we move from a "culture of secrecy" to a "culture of transparency" in the public sector, and that efforts are made to raise awareness among civil society of the importance of more rigorous standards when it comes to information.

#### **3. "Information, the key to democracy"**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

to the institutions [22]"].

literacy, and reaffirming press freedom.

and can bolster public confidence.

It is also worth noting that the Merger Treaty (1965) [21] gave the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom (the "European Communities") shared institutions – the Commission, Council of Ministers, European Parliament and Court of Justice – which now had a duty to comply with transparency, accessibility and integrity, considered as "principles of good administration". With the Declaration on the right of access to information annexed to the Treaty of Maastricht, the EU entrenched its policy of institutional transparency, affirming ["that transparency of the decision-making process strengthens the democratic nature of the institutions and the public's confidence in the administration. The Conference accordingly recommends that the Commission submit to the Council no later than 1993 a report on measures designed to improve public access to the information available

The principle of freedom of information, whose origins can be traced back to the 18th century is an integral characteristic of pluralist democratic societies. [23] It states that all information held by governments and their various institutions must be public and generally accessible, and may only be withheld for a "legitimate reason" such as respect for privacy or safety issues. Some restrictions are therefore admissible, as long as they are regulated and comply with international law. In recent decades, the right to information has been increasingly recognised worldwide and implemented by means of specific legislative instruments. This trend has been driven in particular by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which recently launched an "Open Government" initiative with the aim of implementing legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks that encourage transparency, participation and access to information in member countries. [24] For the OECD, the right of access to information is both a driver for inclusive growth and a challenge for democracy and public governance, with the potential to promote interest in public policy issues and encourage citizens to get involved in decision-making in this area. [25] While only 13 countries had national laws on freedom of information in 1990, now some 127 countries have adopted laws on access to information. Recognising the importance of improving universal access to information and knowledge, the 2015 UNESCO General Conference, followed by the 2019 United Nations General Assembly, proclaimed an International Day for Universal Access to Information, held every year on 28 September, with the aim of strengthening open science, multilingualism, ICT and media and information

As demonstrated above, freedom of information and the free circulation of ideas

are inherent to respect for human rights and central to the notion of democracy. Exercising the right to access information has a twofold impact: it encourages all citizens – civil society as a whole – to get involved in the public sphere, to participate in decision-making on public policy, to scrutinise and evaluate the performances of institutions and leaders, the economic system and the use of public money (and to identify instances of corruption); and it also prompts public authorities to be more transparent and open in the exercise of public governance, more responsive to signals from citizens, more attentive to the needs and criticism of society and therefore more open to reform. One of the most effective ways of tackling poor governance is open, enlightened debate with civil society – hence the importance of easy access to comprehensive, wide-ranging and accurate information for all citizens. Freedom of information can also lead to increased accountability and efficacy in governance

The need to adopt legislation to ensure freedom of information represents a major challenge in democratic countries worldwide. At the same time, the mere existence of international and national legislative and regulatory frameworks guaranteeing freedom of information does not mean that these will necessarily be applied

**102**

In the contemporary cross-disciplinary sense, the concept of democracy has several interdependent dimensions, three of which are seen as foundational: citizenship, the representativeness of political leaders, and the limitation of state power by means of fundamental rights. [26, 27]

In this context, citizenship serves as a leaven for democracy, reflecting the desire of citizens (states, districts, communities, even the world – "global citizens [28]") "to act responsibly in public life [29]" to exercise their right to contribute to the way in which society is managed, and also to share their stories, culture and general concerns. [30]

The exercise of citizenship implies first and foremost the existence of a "public space", the structure of which may be considered from four angles: 1) a(n) (intangible) political space where citizens discuss, debate, share their ideas and compare their arguments in order to try to reach a consensus on questions of general and/or overall interest [31]; 2) a social space, which gives rise to "ways of living together" and fosters a "recognition of the other [32]"; 3) an economic space, represented by "the market", governed in principle by objective rules and mechanisms, but which may nevertheless be a sphere for collective action with a political objective [33]; 4) a (tangible) physical space, which can be divided into different spatial levels, centered around multiple networks and where multiple "possible futures" can be discerned. [34]

Over the past three decades, the physical space has gradually become a space for citizenship and politics, insofar as social, political, protest and even revolutionary movements have emerged in the streets and taken over symbolic sites (squares, parks, gardens, etc.), with the aim not only of achieving physical visibility but also of expressing ideas, exchanging experiences, spreading messages and creating symbols. As well as serving as the *agora*, the public space has therefore also become a space of public opposition. [35] Examples of this phenomenon include the Tiananmen Square protests (Beijing, 1989), the University Square/"Golaniad" protests (Bucharest, 1990), the "Arab Spring" (a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in 2010–2011), "Occupy Wall Street" (New York, 2011), the Gezi Park protests (Istanbul, 2013), the Umbrella Movement (Hong Kong, 2014), the Maidan Square protests (Kiev, 2014), the "Nuit debout" movement (Paris, 2016) and the "Yellow Vest" movement (France, 2018–2019).

The notion of public space is inseparable from that of civil society, which provides a framework for regular citizen engagement with the aim of reaching collective decisions on matters of public interest. [36] Civil society plays a role in ["ensuring that all content and procedures related to public decision-making are accessible in the public space, and relaying to the political space any demands made in the public space and the various social spheres. It helps to control and balance the action of instituted powers – not just the state but also economic powers and the religious sphere. In this respect, at least in an ideal world, it represents a key place for the promotion and defence of citizens' civil, political and social rights. […] The workings of our democracies rely to a large extent on the distinction and complementarity between the public space, civil society and political institutions. [37]"].

More recently, civil society has become an integral part of the political decisionmaking process, not only through elections – the expression of direct democracy –, but also through the possibility of being consulted and sharing views on public issues – the expression of collective democracy. But if citizens are to freely form an enlightened viewpoint and make a useful contribution to the democratic process, they need to have access to information – reliable, pluralistic, independent information, drawn from diverse and varied sources and media, which they can absorb, analyse critically on the basis of their value systems, and incorporate into their own judgement. The quality and performance of democracy depends on it – as has become all too clear in the current era of "digital democracy" (**Table 1**).


*Source: Vedel, T. L'idée de démocratie électronique: Origines, visions, questions. In Perrineau P, editor. Le désenchantement démocratique. Editions de l'Aube : La Tour d'Aigues ; 2003 ; 243-246. Here p.251. Our translation.*

**105**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

In 2019, under the aegis of the UN, the International Partnership on Information and Democracy was set up to promote and implement democratic principles in the global information and communication space with the aim of guaranteeing free, pluralistic, "quality reporting despite the changes resulting from

["Politics takes precedence over economics; Parliament is sovereign. The fourth

**3.1 Media – at the intersection of democratic culture and technological progress**

The notions of *information* and *communication* are inseparable from that of *media* (the plural of *medium*), a term whose primary definition – means of communicating information – is surrounded by multiple additional facets relating to the techniques used to process that information, to content itself and the way in which it is organised, presented and formatted, and to the regulatory frameworks govern-

Characterised by varying temporalities, materialities and scales and by specific theoretical and methodological approaches, the many aspects implicit in the notion of *media* have changed considerably over time, as revealed by the emerging field of media archaeology. [41] Following on from the written word (used in the print press and also in telegraphy – the transmission of written messages), audio (for telephony and then radio broadcasts) and images (for cinematography and then television), new processes based on information and communication technologies began to be developed, driven by the emergence (1969) and global spread of the Internet, the arrival of the World Wide Web in the mid-1980s and the advent of the *information society*, bringing about a paradigm shift. [42] Non-instant communication (of written, visual or audio material) was replaced by communication in real time. [43] As new innovations gathered pace, this paved the way for information itself to circulate ever more quickly via new platforms, transforming the use of content (in both technical and social terms) and the way in which information is perceived, assimilated and consumed by the public. At the same time, ["No medium has its meaning or existence alone, but only in constant interplay with other media. […] Radio changed the form of the news story as much as it altered the film image in the talkies. TV caused drastic changes in radio programming, and in the form of the

The notions mentioned above relate to social phenomena: "the media represent an organisational system that takes these notions (information and communication) and incorporates them into various spheres: economic (supporting businesses), technological (boosting the quality and quantity of dissemination) and symbolic (serving citizen democracy). [45]" The following points can therefore be observed: 1) Given that all members of civil society (citizens, politicians, businesspeople, associations, etc.) interact with information, the media can only exist in the public space, where they target both individuals and the community, with an impact that is both global and local, general and specific. In the public space, information becomes a common good, a source of democracy. 2) Over time, information has become more than just a source of knowledge; it is a product in its own right, a commodity that is subject to economic logic and the rules of the market. For example, in the mid-19th century, the print press was able to prosper and become a "press for the masses" precisely for commercial reasons, by printing advertisements that created a link between producers and consumers (at a time when the purchasing power of the working classes was on the rise. [46]) Readers were seen as both citizens and consumers. Even if the press was structured in such a way that there was a clear separation between owners and news writers – resulting in the emergence of the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

new digital communication forms [40]".

thing or documentary novel [44]"].

ing these processes.

power already exists: it is the power of information [39]"].

#### **Table 1.**

*The key trends in electronic democracy [38].*

["Politics takes precedence over economics; Parliament is sovereign. The fourth power already exists: it is the power of information [39]"].

In 2019, under the aegis of the UN, the International Partnership on Information and Democracy was set up to promote and implement democratic principles in the global information and communication space with the aim of guaranteeing free, pluralistic, "quality reporting despite the changes resulting from new digital communication forms [40]".

#### **3.1 Media – at the intersection of democratic culture and technological progress**

The notions of *information* and *communication* are inseparable from that of *media* (the plural of *medium*), a term whose primary definition – means of communicating information – is surrounded by multiple additional facets relating to the techniques used to process that information, to content itself and the way in which it is organised, presented and formatted, and to the regulatory frameworks governing these processes.

Characterised by varying temporalities, materialities and scales and by specific theoretical and methodological approaches, the many aspects implicit in the notion of *media* have changed considerably over time, as revealed by the emerging field of media archaeology. [41] Following on from the written word (used in the print press and also in telegraphy – the transmission of written messages), audio (for telephony and then radio broadcasts) and images (for cinematography and then television), new processes based on information and communication technologies began to be developed, driven by the emergence (1969) and global spread of the Internet, the arrival of the World Wide Web in the mid-1980s and the advent of the *information society*, bringing about a paradigm shift. [42] Non-instant communication (of written, visual or audio material) was replaced by communication in real time. [43] As new innovations gathered pace, this paved the way for information itself to circulate ever more quickly via new platforms, transforming the use of content (in both technical and social terms) and the way in which information is perceived, assimilated and consumed by the public. At the same time, ["No medium has its meaning or existence alone, but only in constant interplay with other media. […] Radio changed the form of the news story as much as it altered the film image in the talkies. TV caused drastic changes in radio programming, and in the form of the thing or documentary novel [44]"].

The notions mentioned above relate to social phenomena: "the media represent an organisational system that takes these notions (information and communication) and incorporates them into various spheres: economic (supporting businesses), technological (boosting the quality and quantity of dissemination) and symbolic (serving citizen democracy). [45]" The following points can therefore be observed: 1) Given that all members of civil society (citizens, politicians, businesspeople, associations, etc.) interact with information, the media can only exist in the public space, where they target both individuals and the community, with an impact that is both global and local, general and specific. In the public space, information becomes a common good, a source of democracy. 2) Over time, information has become more than just a source of knowledge; it is a product in its own right, a commodity that is subject to economic logic and the rules of the market. For example, in the mid-19th century, the print press was able to prosper and become a "press for the masses" precisely for commercial reasons, by printing advertisements that created a link between producers and consumers (at a time when the purchasing power of the working classes was on the rise. [46]) Readers were seen as both citizens and consumers. Even if the press was structured in such a way that there was a clear separation between owners and news writers – resulting in the emergence of the

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

become all too clear in the current era of "digital democracy" (**Table 1**).

*Democracy of debate Democracy of* 

Citizens who discuss, share ideas and compare their views with those of others

Public space closed or hampered by intermediaries

Horizontally Forums Personal pages Email

Cooperative groups Mailing lists

Direct horizontal communication that transcends social, organisational and geographical barriers and creates identity Reduced cost of engagement

Elected representatives as catalysts/leaders Associations

Unequal participation How to move from debates to action or decision-making

*consultation*

Upwards Email

Discussion forums Electronic voting

Quick, direct, more informal access to elected representatives Less costly citizen consultations

Elected representatives in an advisory role Institutional channels for participation

Unequal ability to make

Security, confidentiality, authenticity of communications

requests

Citizens who take part in decision-making Citizens who govern

Leaders who are cut off from citizens and have become autonomous

*Democracy of transparency*

Enlightened citizens who stay informed

Lack of transparency in the workings of political institutions No real right to information

Downwards Websites Mailing lists

Low cost of storage and distribution Potential for custom

Updated information

representatives with the role of informing or educating Alternative press

to lapse into mere provision of practical information Information overload

*Source: Vedel, T. L'idée de démocratie électronique: Origines, visions, questions. In Perrineau P, editor. Le* 

*désenchantement démocratique. Editions de l'Aube : La Tour d'Aigues ; 2003 ; 243-246. Here p.251. Our translation.*

searches

Elected

*Frequent problems* Tendency for model

*The key trends in electronic democracy [38].*

*Type of citizenship promoted*

*Main criticism levelled at current democracy*

*Prevailing direction in which information circulates; online functions given precedence*

*Advantages of the internet*

*Potential for interaction with the political sphere*

in the public space and the various social spheres. It helps to control and balance the action of instituted powers – not just the state but also economic powers and the religious sphere. In this respect, at least in an ideal world, it represents a key place for the promotion and defence of citizens' civil, political and social rights. […] The workings of our democracies rely to a large extent on the distinction and complementarity between the public space, civil society and political institutions. [37]"]. More recently, civil society has become an integral part of the political decisionmaking process, not only through elections – the expression of direct democracy –, but also through the possibility of being consulted and sharing views on public issues – the expression of collective democracy. But if citizens are to freely form an enlightened viewpoint and make a useful contribution to the democratic process, they need to have access to information – reliable, pluralistic, independent information, drawn from diverse and varied sources and media, which they can absorb, analyse critically on the basis of their value systems, and incorporate into their own judgement. The quality and performance of democracy depends on it – as has

**104**

**Table 1.**

profession of *journalist* –, this nevertheless raises questions as to the way in which the media address their readership. How do they reconcile a sound business model (based on profitability, capturing market share, etc.) with the principles of objectivity, transparency and balance that are intrinsic to information? To what extent do commercial obligations and ideological, cultural and societal factors influence the media discourse and products available to the public? Is this discourse neutral or skewed by a biased perspective and a prevailing value judgement which are instilled in members of the public, thereby diverting them from their own reasoning and subjectivity?

When he wrote ["[...] for the eye sees not itself, but by reflection, by some other things [47]"] Shakespeare was making the point that we only perceive reality by the way in which it is represented. The media do not offer us a "mirror of the world" by means of a neutral transposition of a series of facts, but rather a "showcase of the world", in other words a view determined by a specific selection of information that is prioritised and presented in a specific way. These processes ["are governed by the journalist's *habitus*, as stimulated by changing circumstances: an event-driven view of reality, an individualistic view of the social sphere [...] and a relative allegiance to the ruling elites, with which many journalists are in contact, both because of the routines of their profession and because they belong to certain circles for decisionmaking and discussion that shape current events and opinions. [...] Roughly speaking, all we know of the world is what the media tell us [48]"].

#### **3.2 Information and the need for truth**

In a democracy, information is a common good, a resource belonging to the public space and to the realm of public debate, which must be based on a need for truth. But in the past twenty years, the informative role of the media has undergone a number of major shifts, which have had an impact on the very notions of *truth* and *democracy*.

The first shift is technological: digital technologies have prospered at a rate never before witnessed in the history of technology, bringing about changes in the production, management, dissemination and consumption of information – in short, the way in which we relate to information – for society as a whole (information professionals, politicians and citizens.) [49] A second shift involves practices and uses, which have resulted in a new type of relationship between information/media and their audience. ["The rise of social networks and their effect on mediated communication in present societies, as well as mobile communication, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, and transmedia strategies, have encouraged the search for experimental and innovative responses […] which encourages extensions of the person for services, personalisation of content, and [an] updated meaning of place and time. [50]"] A third shift has occurred in the realm of information itself, which has been democratised beyond censorship, is now shared instantly across borders [51] and has been radically liberalised, to such an extent that any individual, often anonymously, can produce and share information and opinions and can judge and take a stance on the basis of their own truths and values. Information now finds itself within a transitional ecosystem in which traditional and innovative media coexist and old concepts are co-opted to deal with new challenges. As algorithms take centre stage – in the absence of any meaningful ethical framework [52] –, information has become horizontal and fragmented; we are faced with an information overload and are rapidly reaching saturation point. ["Allowing every opinion into the public sphere and giving it serious time and consideration, far from resulting in a process that is conducive to knowledge formation, destroys its very possibility. [53]"] At the same time, the instant nature of information, ["the religion

**107**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

of scoops and real time, the imperatives of concision and sensation, are conducive to stereotyped reflection, clichés and spontaneous acceptance of conventional

The proliferation of sources and the phenomena of fake news, "alternative facts", disinformation and misinformation are becoming increasingly prevalent in public discourse, eroding the credibility of information and giving rise to scepticism, relativism and even to a "pandemic of credulous thinking. [55]" Examples include the radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, which was infamously said to have "stopped" at some European borders; the false evidence of weapons of mass destruction which served as a justification for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003; and more recently, in 2016, the pro-Brexit campaign and the US presidential election campaign. Alongside the information crisis, we are also witnessing a crisis of truth, fuelled by the deeply anti-democratic idea that there is no "established truth" and that the source of information may have more value than the information itself. In the "post-truth era" [56] ["a large share of the populace is living in an epistemic space that has abandoned conventional criteria of evidence, internal consistency,

In its 2020 edition, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report– which examines long-term trends in media use worldwide and analyses the role of social media in the context of online news usage – highlights two main observations. [58] The first is that news consumption is changing – news sources on the internet are gaining in importance, especially social media, which plays a vital role among young people. The second is the rise of intermediaries – "brokers of information that position themselves between producers and consumers while altering the flow of information. [59]" An in-depth look reveals that in 2020, in many European countries, the proportion of the population using social media as a news source ranged from about 30 to 60%, and thus algorithms are becoming the dominant news source. These algorithms filter, sort, personalise, recommend and classify news content by prioritising data and opinions that corroborate existing preferences, while at the same time excluding (filtering) other content classified as non-relevant for the user. ["Intermediaries act as 'gatekeepers' by means of these functions. […] This task was traditionally performed by professional mass media (newspapers, television, radio). In the digital media environment [it is] increasingly replaced by algorithmic

At the same time, traditional journalistic criteria (professional assessments, the market and the audience) [62] are gradually giving way to what might be referred to as "news values – such as controversy, conflict, negativity, proximity or elite people. [63]"] While traditional media outlets are aimed at society as a whole in a bid to give citizens access to reliable factual information that is cross-checked, impartial and relevant so that they can make well-considered decisions, algorithms target users/citizens individually. But relatively little is known as yet about the way in which algorithmic systems of intermediaries function – they are often referred to as "black boxes" –, and this makes it difficult to accurately assess their societal

Could we be witnessing a situation in which algorithms are "dissolving"

In an increasingly globalised, competitive geopolitical context, in which innovation is seen as a key driver for economic growth, Europe is keen to give its Single

**4. Europe and "algorithmic democracy"**

Market a strong digital dimension. [65]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

ideas [54]"].

and fact-seeking [57]"].

curation [60, 61]"].

influence. [64]

democracy?

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

of scoops and real time, the imperatives of concision and sensation, are conducive to stereotyped reflection, clichés and spontaneous acceptance of conventional ideas [54]"].

The proliferation of sources and the phenomena of fake news, "alternative facts", disinformation and misinformation are becoming increasingly prevalent in public discourse, eroding the credibility of information and giving rise to scepticism, relativism and even to a "pandemic of credulous thinking. [55]" Examples include the radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, which was infamously said to have "stopped" at some European borders; the false evidence of weapons of mass destruction which served as a justification for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003; and more recently, in 2016, the pro-Brexit campaign and the US presidential election campaign. Alongside the information crisis, we are also witnessing a crisis of truth, fuelled by the deeply anti-democratic idea that there is no "established truth" and that the source of information may have more value than the information itself. In the "post-truth era" [56] ["a large share of the populace is living in an epistemic space that has abandoned conventional criteria of evidence, internal consistency, and fact-seeking [57]"].

In its 2020 edition, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report– which examines long-term trends in media use worldwide and analyses the role of social media in the context of online news usage – highlights two main observations. [58] The first is that news consumption is changing – news sources on the internet are gaining in importance, especially social media, which plays a vital role among young people. The second is the rise of intermediaries – "brokers of information that position themselves between producers and consumers while altering the flow of information. [59]" An in-depth look reveals that in 2020, in many European countries, the proportion of the population using social media as a news source ranged from about 30 to 60%, and thus algorithms are becoming the dominant news source. These algorithms filter, sort, personalise, recommend and classify news content by prioritising data and opinions that corroborate existing preferences, while at the same time excluding (filtering) other content classified as non-relevant for the user. ["Intermediaries act as 'gatekeepers' by means of these functions. […] This task was traditionally performed by professional mass media (newspapers, television, radio). In the digital media environment [it is] increasingly replaced by algorithmic curation [60, 61]"].

At the same time, traditional journalistic criteria (professional assessments, the market and the audience) [62] are gradually giving way to what might be referred to as "news values – such as controversy, conflict, negativity, proximity or elite people. [63]"] While traditional media outlets are aimed at society as a whole in a bid to give citizens access to reliable factual information that is cross-checked, impartial and relevant so that they can make well-considered decisions, algorithms target users/citizens individually. But relatively little is known as yet about the way in which algorithmic systems of intermediaries function – they are often referred to as "black boxes" –, and this makes it difficult to accurately assess their societal influence. [64]

Could we be witnessing a situation in which algorithms are "dissolving" democracy?

#### **4. Europe and "algorithmic democracy"**

In an increasingly globalised, competitive geopolitical context, in which innovation is seen as a key driver for economic growth, Europe is keen to give its Single Market a strong digital dimension. [65]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

ing, all we know of the world is what the media tell us [48]"].

**3.2 Information and the need for truth**

profession of *journalist* –, this nevertheless raises questions as to the way in which the media address their readership. How do they reconcile a sound business model (based on profitability, capturing market share, etc.) with the principles of objectivity, transparency and balance that are intrinsic to information? To what extent do commercial obligations and ideological, cultural and societal factors influence the media discourse and products available to the public? Is this discourse neutral or skewed by a biased perspective and a prevailing value judgement which are instilled in members of the public, thereby diverting them from their own reasoning and

When he wrote ["[...] for the eye sees not itself, but by reflection, by some other things [47]"] Shakespeare was making the point that we only perceive reality by the way in which it is represented. The media do not offer us a "mirror of the world" by means of a neutral transposition of a series of facts, but rather a "showcase of the world", in other words a view determined by a specific selection of information that is prioritised and presented in a specific way. These processes ["are governed by the journalist's *habitus*, as stimulated by changing circumstances: an event-driven view of reality, an individualistic view of the social sphere [...] and a relative allegiance to the ruling elites, with which many journalists are in contact, both because of the routines of their profession and because they belong to certain circles for decisionmaking and discussion that shape current events and opinions. [...] Roughly speak-

In a democracy, information is a common good, a resource belonging to the public space and to the realm of public debate, which must be based on a need for truth. But in the past twenty years, the informative role of the media has undergone a number of major shifts, which have had an impact on the very notions of *truth* and

The first shift is technological: digital technologies have prospered at a rate never before witnessed in the history of technology, bringing about changes in the production, management, dissemination and consumption of information – in short, the way in which we relate to information – for society as a whole (information professionals, politicians and citizens.) [49] A second shift involves practices and uses, which have resulted in a new type of relationship between information/media and their audience. ["The rise of social networks and their effect on mediated communication in present societies, as well as mobile communication, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, and transmedia strategies, have encouraged the search for experimental and innovative responses […] which encourages extensions of the person for services, personalisation of content, and [an] updated meaning of place and time. [50]"] A third shift has occurred in the realm of information itself, which has been democratised beyond censorship, is now shared instantly across borders [51] and has been radically liberalised, to such an extent that any individual, often anonymously, can produce and share information and opinions and can judge and take a stance on the basis of their own truths and values. Information now finds itself within a transitional ecosystem in which traditional and innovative media coexist and old concepts are co-opted to deal with new challenges. As algorithms take centre stage – in the absence of any meaningful ethical framework [52] –, information has become horizontal and fragmented; we are faced with an information overload and are rapidly reaching saturation point. ["Allowing every opinion into the public sphere and giving it serious time and consideration, far from resulting in a process that is conducive to knowledge formation, destroys its very possibility. [53]"] At the same time, the instant nature of information, ["the religion

**106**

subjectivity?

*democracy*.

#### **4.1 Completing the European single market: from digital to data**

In building what it refers to as the Digital Single Market, the EU "has to get to grips with new principles and notions arising from globalisation – such as dematerialisation, deterritorialisation, cyberspace and e-governance – and find answers to new questions about the nature of work, national sovereignty and territoriality, as well as the exercise of power and of democracy. This raises unprecedented social, economic, fiscal, environmental and democratic challenges with the potential to cause societal upheaval [66]".

Europe is facing considerable challenges. First and foremost, despite its size (513.5 million inhabitants, representing 6.9% of the world's population), its level of development (21.8% of global GDP) and its technological ambitions (2.07% of the EU's GDP in 2019), the EU still lags behind the US and China and is struggling to assert itself as a digital power. [67] It also has to grapple with the technological and economic heterogeneity and asymmetry of the Member States in their approach to the digital transition (in which Scandinavian countries and the UK, Germany and France are the leaders). And finally, multiple stakeholders acting on different levels across broad cross-cutting policy areas are generating "contradictions between techno-nationalism and techno-globalism [68]".

At the same time, digital wealth creation is strongly concentrated in the United States and China, which together hold 75% of all patents related to blockchain technologies, 75% of the cloud computing market and 90% of the market capitalisation value of the world's 70 largest digital platforms. [69] The US holds a growing place in the daily lives of Europeans through the pervasiveness of web giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft ("GAFAM"), and this has increased yet further with the arrival of a "new wave" of American giants of the digital economy – Netflix, Airbnb, Tesla and Uber ("NATU") – and by the rise of the three largest Chinese technology companies – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. [70] This phenomenon is leading to new mechanisms for value creation based on knowledge and intangible assets; to the increasing dominance of networks of stakeholders over individual players; and to the emergence of new forms of sharing, creation, collaboration and consumption – especially in the realm of information. "The challenges are not just commercial, but touch the very heart of the future of Europe as a political unit mastering its own destiny [71]".

The EU is currently working to develop a technological ecosystem that will facilitate innovation; it wants to assert its "tech sovereignty" and maintain regulatory sovereignty in key areas. The bloc is cooperating at international level to harmonise rules, standards and policies within a multilateral framework (UN, UNESCO, OECD, G7, G20, CoE). A number of sensitive regulatory issues have emerged recently, all with the potential to influence democracy, including the market size of social media, how to tax intangible assets, personal data management and the question of "ethical algorithms. [72]" The EU's approach reflects its strategic objective to move from a "digital economy" to a "data economy" – its ultimate aim is to develop a single market for data within the European Single Market. [73]

#### **4.2 A fair digital information ecosystem for the EU?**

In the digital transformation of Europe, the question of disinformation (including misleading or outright false information) and its impact on democracy has become a priority for the EU since 2015. [74] The rise of populism and extremism in some countries (Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland) and the campaigns for Brexit in 2016 and for the European elections

**109**

outside the EU.

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

in 2019 – both of which were marred by foreign interference – have led to a growing awareness within the EU and internationally of the harmful effects on public debate, political decision-making and democracy of manipulative communication via content distribution networks, social media services, video-sharing platforms and search engines. Disinformation campaigns led by third countries, cyberattacks and interference in the electoral processall represent threats for the EU's internal security. [75] There are also privacy-related issues regarding the massive volumes of personal data collected by these platforms and the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to prevent third parties from storing and using

Even if powers in the area of information lie with individual Member States, it is clear that the transnational and cross-border dimension of online disinformation makes a coordinated European approach necessary to ensure the protection of the EU's citizens, policies and institutions. In 2015, on the initiative of the European Council, the EU institutions and the European External Action Service set up the East StratCom Task Force "to address Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns. [77]" The 2017 Joint Declaration on "Fake News," Disinformation and Propaganda provides a focused treatment of the application of international human rights standards to the phenomenon of disinformation. [78] It sets out general principles and standards and defines roles and responsibilities for states, digital intermediaries and media outlets. The document emphasises states' "positive obligation" to create an "enabling environment for freedom of expression" and identifies broad strands

In June 2017, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging the European

In March 2018, the European Council addressed the question of social networks and digital platforms, reiterating the need ["to guarantee transparent practices and full protection of citizens' privacy and personal data. [82]"] The European Commission launched a comprehensive online consultation with citizens and stakeholders in 2017–2018 [83] and set up a High-Level Expert Group to advise on this matter. [84] Also worth noting are the adoption of the Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Regulation on Cross-Border Delivery Services. [85] The entry into force of the GDPR (2018) resulted in more stringent obligations for those using personal data and stronger rights for individuals, both within and

In its judgement of 13 May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on a first case of the "right to be forgotten" online. [86] The Court concluded that Google was responsible for the processing of personal data that appeared on its pages. In September 2019, two other judgements handed down by the CJEU on "de-referencing" consolidated the basis of the "right to be forgotten". [87] The first judgement restricted the territorial scope of the right to de-referencing, which is limited to the EU's borders and is not binding for other countries. [88] The second judgement was related to the terms of application of search engines. Under this ruling, the personal data set out in the General Data Protection

Commission to carry out an in-depth review of the legislative and regulatory framework to limit the dissemination and spread of fake content. [80] In 2018, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre carried out a study on fake news and disinformation which revealed that two thirds of consumers of online news prefer to access it through algorithm-driven platforms (search engines, news aggregators, social media websites) and also that market power and revenue streams have shifted from news publishers to platform operators who have the data to match readers,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

them. [76]

of public policy to this end. [79]

articles and advertisements. [81]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

in 2019 – both of which were marred by foreign interference – have led to a growing awareness within the EU and internationally of the harmful effects on public debate, political decision-making and democracy of manipulative communication via content distribution networks, social media services, video-sharing platforms and search engines. Disinformation campaigns led by third countries, cyberattacks and interference in the electoral processall represent threats for the EU's internal security. [75] There are also privacy-related issues regarding the massive volumes of personal data collected by these platforms and the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to prevent third parties from storing and using them. [76]

Even if powers in the area of information lie with individual Member States, it is clear that the transnational and cross-border dimension of online disinformation makes a coordinated European approach necessary to ensure the protection of the EU's citizens, policies and institutions. In 2015, on the initiative of the European Council, the EU institutions and the European External Action Service set up the East StratCom Task Force "to address Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns. [77]" The 2017 Joint Declaration on "Fake News," Disinformation and Propaganda provides a focused treatment of the application of international human rights standards to the phenomenon of disinformation. [78] It sets out general principles and standards and defines roles and responsibilities for states, digital intermediaries and media outlets. The document emphasises states' "positive obligation" to create an "enabling environment for freedom of expression" and identifies broad strands of public policy to this end. [79]

In June 2017, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging the European Commission to carry out an in-depth review of the legislative and regulatory framework to limit the dissemination and spread of fake content. [80] In 2018, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre carried out a study on fake news and disinformation which revealed that two thirds of consumers of online news prefer to access it through algorithm-driven platforms (search engines, news aggregators, social media websites) and also that market power and revenue streams have shifted from news publishers to platform operators who have the data to match readers, articles and advertisements. [81]

In March 2018, the European Council addressed the question of social networks and digital platforms, reiterating the need ["to guarantee transparent practices and full protection of citizens' privacy and personal data. [82]"] The European Commission launched a comprehensive online consultation with citizens and stakeholders in 2017–2018 [83] and set up a High-Level Expert Group to advise on this matter. [84] Also worth noting are the adoption of the Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Regulation on Cross-Border Delivery Services. [85] The entry into force of the GDPR (2018) resulted in more stringent obligations for those using personal data and stronger rights for individuals, both within and outside the EU.

In its judgement of 13 May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on a first case of the "right to be forgotten" online. [86] The Court concluded that Google was responsible for the processing of personal data that appeared on its pages. In September 2019, two other judgements handed down by the CJEU on "de-referencing" consolidated the basis of the "right to be forgotten". [87] The first judgement restricted the territorial scope of the right to de-referencing, which is limited to the EU's borders and is not binding for other countries. [88] The second judgement was related to the terms of application of search engines. Under this ruling, the personal data set out in the General Data Protection

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

**4.1 Completing the European single market: from digital to data**

cause societal upheaval [66]".

techno-nationalism and techno-globalism [68]".

Europe as a political unit mastering its own destiny [71]".

single market for data within the European Single Market. [73]

In the digital transformation of Europe, the question of disinformation (including misleading or outright false information) and its impact on democracy has become a priority for the EU since 2015. [74] The rise of populism and extremism in some countries (Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland) and the campaigns for Brexit in 2016 and for the European elections

**4.2 A fair digital information ecosystem for the EU?**

In building what it refers to as the Digital Single Market, the EU "has to get to grips with new principles and notions arising from globalisation – such as dematerialisation, deterritorialisation, cyberspace and e-governance – and find answers to new questions about the nature of work, national sovereignty and territoriality, as well as the exercise of power and of democracy. This raises unprecedented social, economic, fiscal, environmental and democratic challenges with the potential to

Europe is facing considerable challenges. First and foremost, despite its size (513.5 million inhabitants, representing 6.9% of the world's population), its level of development (21.8% of global GDP) and its technological ambitions (2.07% of the EU's GDP in 2019), the EU still lags behind the US and China and is struggling to assert itself as a digital power. [67] It also has to grapple with the technological and economic heterogeneity and asymmetry of the Member States in their approach to the digital transition (in which Scandinavian countries and the UK, Germany and France are the leaders). And finally, multiple stakeholders acting on different levels across broad cross-cutting policy areas are generating "contradictions between

At the same time, digital wealth creation is strongly concentrated in the United

The EU is currently working to develop a technological ecosystem that will facilitate innovation; it wants to assert its "tech sovereignty" and maintain regulatory sovereignty in key areas. The bloc is cooperating at international level to harmonise rules, standards and policies within a multilateral framework (UN, UNESCO, OECD, G7, G20, CoE). A number of sensitive regulatory issues have emerged recently, all with the potential to influence democracy, including the market size of social media, how to tax intangible assets, personal data management and the question of "ethical algorithms. [72]" The EU's approach reflects its strategic objective to move from a "digital economy" to a "data economy" – its ultimate aim is to develop a

States and China, which together hold 75% of all patents related to blockchain technologies, 75% of the cloud computing market and 90% of the market capitalisation value of the world's 70 largest digital platforms. [69] The US holds a growing place in the daily lives of Europeans through the pervasiveness of web giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft ("GAFAM"), and this has increased yet further with the arrival of a "new wave" of American giants of the digital economy – Netflix, Airbnb, Tesla and Uber ("NATU") – and by the rise of the three largest Chinese technology companies – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. [70] This phenomenon is leading to new mechanisms for value creation based on knowledge and intangible assets; to the increasing dominance of networks of stakeholders over individual players; and to the emergence of new forms of sharing, creation, collaboration and consumption – especially in the realm of information. "The challenges are not just commercial, but touch the very heart of the future of

**108**

Regulation (genetic and biometric data, data on sexual orientation, criminal offence data, etc.) are protected. But a balance needs to be found between the right to access information freely and the fundamental rights of those who request de-referencing. In the European Democracy Plan, which aims to empower citizens and build more resilient democracies across the EU (2020), the Commission sets out measures ["to promote free and fair elections, strengthen media freedom and counter disinformation. [89]"] The plan proposes measures to increase protection for journalists and tackle disinformation and interference, while fully preserving freedom of speech. In 2020, the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), managed by a consortium led by the European University Institute in Florence (EUI), was also set up with the aim of "creating and supporting the work of an independent multidisciplinary community capable of contributing to a deeper understanding of the disinformation phenomenon and [increasing] societal resilience to it [90]".

The debate over the lack of sufficient safeguards, oversight measures and enforcement to adequately deal with information, which is eliciting a response from civil society, politicians, regulators and, more recently, stakeholders of the global digital economy, has given rise to a self-regulatory Code of Practice on Disinformation drafted in 2018 by representatives of online platforms, leading social networks, advertisers and the advertising industry to address the spread of online disinformation and fake news and to protect users from disinformation. [91] The code, which came into force in September 2019, sets out a number of commitments for a more transparent, trustworthy and accountable online ecosystem and includes a list of best practices that the signatories pledge to adopt to implement these commitments. Initial signatories include major online platforms (Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter), software providers (Mozilla), advertisers as well as a number of trade associations representing online platforms and the advertising industry. Microsoft and TikTok have now also signed the code (in May 2019 and June 2020 respectively), and like other companies have devised individual roadmaps with specific measures, methods and tools to combat disinformation that they intend to implement in all EU Member States. [92] The Commission will work in conjunction with the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) to monitor the effectiveness of these commitments (**Figure 1**) [93].

#### **Figure 1.**

*Overview of EU joint and coordinated action against disinformation (2015–2019). Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/tackling-online-disinformation. Source: © European Union, 1995-2021.*

**111**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

At the same time, the Commission is working to raise awareness of the intentions, objectives, sources and tools of disinformation and to highlight our own vulnerability in this area. ["It is essential to understand how and why citizens, and sometimes entire communities, are drawn to disinformation narratives and define a comprehensive answer to this phenomenon. [94]"] In this regard, an independent European network of fact-checkers is working to develop common methods, exchange best practices and achieve the broadest possible coverage of factual corrections EU-wide, in accordance with a strict International Fact Checking Network Code of Principles. [95] A secure European online platform on disinformation will take shape to support the network of fact-checkers and relevant academic researchers with cross-border data collection and analysis, as well as access to data across the

A number of stakeholders, including the Media Pluralism Monitor (run by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in Florence), EDMO and the academic community, are working in synergy to develop a sound scientific methodology which could help identify key EU-wide vulnerabilities. [97] A further step is to empower EU citizens to better identify and deal with disinformation and undesired content (as hate speech, child pornography, elements of pro-terrorism guidance or

proselytism) through online media education and digital literacy. [98]

Information technology and the use of algorithms, big data and AI – all of which have already proved their worth in terms of economic growth, employment, innovation and improving quality of life – are set to play an increasing part in the

While the positive potential of these factors has not yet been fully identified and harnessed, it is important to consider their impact on democracy, human rights (which overlap with wider ethical concerns) and the rule of law [99], as well as their influence on individual behaviour and thought. [100] How can we know, for example, whether a person's vote – the ultimate expression of democracy – reflects a deep individual conviction or merely the influence of algorithms, or even manipulative fake news? If big data produces knowledge that is devoid of concepts and is not based on any preliminary hypothesis, will it merely result in "expertise without experts"? If so, who will take responsibility for it? Won't this deprive citizens of the right to debate and decide? How can we safeguard the integrity of democratic principles? Recommendations by computers may have an air of rationality or infallibility, and people might blindly follow them. ["The human being may often be led to 'rubber stamp' an algorithmically prepared decision, not having the time, context or skills to make an adequate decision in the individual case. [101]"] Although they are portrayed as ["neutral tools of economic progress and social advancement, digital technologies have acquired an aura of ungovernability. […] In a rapidly unfolding datafied world, the integration of digital intelligence needs to be rooted in frameworks of account-

ability, where social intent guides the appropriation of technology [102]"]. In recent years, this issue has been high on the agenda of many European [103] and international multilateral stakeholders [104] which are reflecting on the need for common understanding of concepts and principles, and appropriate transnational regulation in the area of AI, with the participation of all segments of society – governments, public and private key actors, experts, practitioners and citizens. [105] States need to adopt interdisciplinary strategies to address the risks to democracy and human rights – and workers rights - posed by machine learning. [106] They should specifically legislate against forms of "illegitimate interference",

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

Member States. [96]

**5. Charting an uncertain future**

development and workings of society and individuals.

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

At the same time, the Commission is working to raise awareness of the intentions, objectives, sources and tools of disinformation and to highlight our own vulnerability in this area. ["It is essential to understand how and why citizens, and sometimes entire communities, are drawn to disinformation narratives and define a comprehensive answer to this phenomenon. [94]"] In this regard, an independent European network of fact-checkers is working to develop common methods, exchange best practices and achieve the broadest possible coverage of factual corrections EU-wide, in accordance with a strict International Fact Checking Network Code of Principles. [95] A secure European online platform on disinformation will take shape to support the network of fact-checkers and relevant academic researchers with cross-border data collection and analysis, as well as access to data across the Member States. [96]

A number of stakeholders, including the Media Pluralism Monitor (run by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in Florence), EDMO and the academic community, are working in synergy to develop a sound scientific methodology which could help identify key EU-wide vulnerabilities. [97] A further step is to empower EU citizens to better identify and deal with disinformation and undesired content (as hate speech, child pornography, elements of pro-terrorism guidance or proselytism) through online media education and digital literacy. [98]

#### **5. Charting an uncertain future**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

phenomenon and [increasing] societal resilience to it [90]".

commitments (**Figure 1**) [93].

Regulation (genetic and biometric data, data on sexual orientation, criminal offence data, etc.) are protected. But a balance needs to be found between the right to access information freely and the fundamental rights of those who request de-referencing. In the European Democracy Plan, which aims to empower citizens and build more resilient democracies across the EU (2020), the Commission sets out measures ["to promote free and fair elections, strengthen media freedom and counter disinformation. [89]"] The plan proposes measures to increase protection for journalists and tackle disinformation and interference, while fully preserving freedom of speech. In 2020, the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), managed by a consortium led by the European University Institute in Florence (EUI), was also set up with the aim of "creating and supporting the work of an independent multidisciplinary community capable of contributing to a deeper understanding of the disinformation

The debate over the lack of sufficient safeguards, oversight measures and enforcement to adequately deal with information, which is eliciting a response from civil society, politicians, regulators and, more recently, stakeholders of the global digital economy, has given rise to a self-regulatory Code of Practice on Disinformation drafted in 2018 by representatives of online platforms, leading social networks, advertisers and the advertising industry to address the spread of online disinformation and fake news and to protect users from disinformation. [91] The code, which came into force in September 2019, sets out a number of commitments for a more transparent, trustworthy and accountable online ecosystem and includes a list of best practices that the signatories pledge to adopt to implement these commitments. Initial signatories include major online platforms (Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter), software providers (Mozilla), advertisers as well as a number of trade associations representing online platforms and the advertising industry. Microsoft and TikTok have now also signed the code (in May 2019 and June 2020 respectively), and like other companies have devised individual roadmaps with specific measures, methods and tools to combat disinformation that they intend to implement in all EU Member States. [92] The Commission will work in conjunction with the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) to monitor the effectiveness of these

*Overview of EU joint and coordinated action against disinformation (2015–2019). Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/tackling-online-disinformation. Source: © European Union, 1995-2021.*

**110**

**Figure 1.**

Information technology and the use of algorithms, big data and AI – all of which have already proved their worth in terms of economic growth, employment, innovation and improving quality of life – are set to play an increasing part in the development and workings of society and individuals.

While the positive potential of these factors has not yet been fully identified and harnessed, it is important to consider their impact on democracy, human rights (which overlap with wider ethical concerns) and the rule of law [99], as well as their influence on individual behaviour and thought. [100] How can we know, for example, whether a person's vote – the ultimate expression of democracy – reflects a deep individual conviction or merely the influence of algorithms, or even manipulative fake news? If big data produces knowledge that is devoid of concepts and is not based on any preliminary hypothesis, will it merely result in "expertise without experts"? If so, who will take responsibility for it? Won't this deprive citizens of the right to debate and decide? How can we safeguard the integrity of democratic principles? Recommendations by computers may have an air of rationality or infallibility, and people might blindly follow them. ["The human being may often be led to 'rubber stamp' an algorithmically prepared decision, not having the time, context or skills to make an adequate decision in the individual case. [101]"] Although they are portrayed as ["neutral tools of economic progress and social advancement, digital technologies have acquired an aura of ungovernability. […] In a rapidly unfolding datafied world, the integration of digital intelligence needs to be rooted in frameworks of accountability, where social intent guides the appropriation of technology [102]"].

In recent years, this issue has been high on the agenda of many European [103] and international multilateral stakeholders [104] which are reflecting on the need for common understanding of concepts and principles, and appropriate transnational regulation in the area of AI, with the participation of all segments of society – governments, public and private key actors, experts, practitioners and citizens. [105] States need to adopt interdisciplinary strategies to address the risks to democracy and human rights – and workers rights - posed by machine learning. [106] They should specifically legislate against forms of "illegitimate interference", including forms of persuasion and intrusion that compromise democratic principles, and they should encourage public debate on the subject. ["[…]Governments should keep an eye of emerging disruptive technologies such as deep learning and generative adversarial networks (GANs), which make it possible to manipulate images and video so well that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish manipulated them from authentic ones. Apps like FakeApp and Lyrebird have made the production of "deep fakes" accessible to anyone. [107]"] AI needs to be grounded in human rights principles, and states need to update and enforce data protection regulations with respect to machine learning technologies and to promote policies that create a diverse and pluralistic information environment, including the regulation of technology monopolies in the domain of AI. [108]

It is clear that in the years to come, journalism will be permeated by AI – computational journalism and computer-assisted reporting; i-teams for algorithms and data; natural language generation for reading levels; computational photography; and journalism as a service [109] – and ["the advent of deep fakes and generative adversarial networks may accelerate this trend."] This will give rise to new crossdisciplinary challenges – technological, editorial, philosophical and ethical –, which will only be resolved by a combination of research, politics, cybersecurity, moral standards and education.

This new ecosystem raises various long-term issues. First, it may impose a dominant culture, or even a single way of thinking (English is already virtually ubiquitous as the language of communication in this environment, and certain world views are particularly dominant). On the other hand, paradoxically, in this unfettered digital environment, the notion of borders and boundaries may suddenly rear its head in the form of standards and accessibility. In this context, digital education and media literacy are essential. The main responsibility lies with academia, since the key is not just the acquisition of digital know-how, but more importantly the development of a critical approach (not only to identity "fake news" but also to appraise "real" news stories) and a genuine ability for analytical thought, and a willingness to apply these skills. ["Critical thinking and discerning consumption of meaningful content, in a technoscape full of falsehoods remains an important challenge and policies that advocate critical media and digital literacy in schools and institutions in this context will be a positive move [110]"].

#### **6. Conclusion**

The multidimensional paradigm that is emerging in today's competitive geopolitical environment is driven by a number of factors, including the primacy of intangible assets in value creation; the growing transnational and international dimension of production, consumption and innovation; the prevalence of networks of stakeholders over individual players; the transition from human labour to AI; and the need to harmonise rules, standards and policies within a multilateral framework. [111] The development of big data, data mining, algorithmic analysis and predictive profiling raises unique challenges for the rule of law, human rights, sovereignty and democracy.

These structural shifts will have a long-term impact on social and cultural practices, interpersonal and societal relations, the public space, citizenship and the exercise of democracy. In our digital world, there is a gap between the protection of freedom of expression and opinion and the reality of a globalised public space where, in the absence of appropriate regulations, anyone can interfere, often anonymously. Powers that were once the preserve of the state are now delegated to private structures or state entities in other countries.

**113**

**Author details**

Elena Danescu

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

In Europe, traditional media is subject to wide-ranging rules on impartiality, pluralism, cultural diversity and harmful content. Democracy in the EU depends on the existence of free and independent media. The emergence of a virtual media environment, with its arsenal of "fake news", "alternative facts" and disinformation, is generating new risks and uncertainty for society, especially since it is deeply intertwined with the broader digital ecosystem, in which technologies and tactics will continue to evolve. The exposure of citizens to large-scale disinformation

Tackling this phenomenon will require a coordinated effort on the part of governments, institutions, traditional media outlets and social media platforms, users, civil society and the academic community. The EU aim to take the lead in raising public awareness about disinformation. Its long-term action in this area is based on several strands: 1) cooperation between platforms and public authorities, including mobilising and coordinating fact-checkers; 2) an incremental approach to regulation, combining self-regulation (including "citizen regulation") and co-regulation, in a way that supports diversity and pluralism (increased exposure to non-mainstream content) and promotes transparency (e.g. with "cyber nudges") and shared practices; 3) a proactive media policy that encourages responsible behaviour in conveying information to end users and a more sustainable evolution of the online news market; and 4) a long-term strategy for digital education, media

I would like to thank my colleague Sarah Cooper for contributing her linguistic

Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: elena.danescu@uni.lu

provided the original work is properly cited.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

represents a major challenge.

literacy and broad user empowerment.

**Acknowledgements**

expertise to this chapter.

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

In Europe, traditional media is subject to wide-ranging rules on impartiality, pluralism, cultural diversity and harmful content. Democracy in the EU depends on the existence of free and independent media. The emergence of a virtual media environment, with its arsenal of "fake news", "alternative facts" and disinformation, is generating new risks and uncertainty for society, especially since it is deeply intertwined with the broader digital ecosystem, in which technologies and tactics will continue to evolve. The exposure of citizens to large-scale disinformation represents a major challenge.

Tackling this phenomenon will require a coordinated effort on the part of governments, institutions, traditional media outlets and social media platforms, users, civil society and the academic community. The EU aim to take the lead in raising public awareness about disinformation. Its long-term action in this area is based on several strands: 1) cooperation between platforms and public authorities, including mobilising and coordinating fact-checkers; 2) an incremental approach to regulation, combining self-regulation (including "citizen regulation") and co-regulation, in a way that supports diversity and pluralism (increased exposure to non-mainstream content) and promotes transparency (e.g. with "cyber nudges") and shared practices; 3) a proactive media policy that encourages responsible behaviour in conveying information to end users and a more sustainable evolution of the online news market; and 4) a long-term strategy for digital education, media literacy and broad user empowerment.

#### **Acknowledgements**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

ing the regulation of technology monopolies in the domain of AI. [108]

standards and education.

**6. Conclusion**

sovereignty and democracy.

It is clear that in the years to come, journalism will be permeated by AI – computational journalism and computer-assisted reporting; i-teams for algorithms and data; natural language generation for reading levels; computational photography; and journalism as a service [109] – and ["the advent of deep fakes and generative adversarial networks may accelerate this trend."] This will give rise to new crossdisciplinary challenges – technological, editorial, philosophical and ethical –, which will only be resolved by a combination of research, politics, cybersecurity, moral

This new ecosystem raises various long-term issues. First, it may impose a domi-

nant culture, or even a single way of thinking (English is already virtually ubiquitous as the language of communication in this environment, and certain world views are particularly dominant). On the other hand, paradoxically, in this unfettered digital environment, the notion of borders and boundaries may suddenly rear its head in the form of standards and accessibility. In this context, digital education and media literacy are essential. The main responsibility lies with academia, since the key is not just the acquisition of digital know-how, but more importantly the development of a critical approach (not only to identity "fake news" but also to appraise "real" news stories) and a genuine ability for analytical thought, and a willingness to apply these skills. ["Critical thinking and discerning consumption of meaningful content, in a technoscape full of falsehoods remains an important challenge and policies that advocate critical media and digital literacy in schools and

The multidimensional paradigm that is emerging in today's competitive geopolitical environment is driven by a number of factors, including the primacy of intangible assets in value creation; the growing transnational and international dimension of production, consumption and innovation; the prevalence of networks of stakeholders over individual players; the transition from human labour to AI; and the need to harmonise rules, standards and policies within a multilateral framework. [111] The development of big data, data mining, algorithmic analysis and predictive profiling raises unique challenges for the rule of law, human rights,

These structural shifts will have a long-term impact on social and cultural practices, interpersonal and societal relations, the public space, citizenship and the exercise of democracy. In our digital world, there is a gap between the protection of freedom of expression and opinion and the reality of a globalised public space where, in the absence of appropriate regulations, anyone can interfere, often anonymously. Powers that were once the preserve of the state are now delegated to

institutions in this context will be a positive move [110]"].

private structures or state entities in other countries.

including forms of persuasion and intrusion that compromise democratic principles, and they should encourage public debate on the subject. ["[…]Governments should keep an eye of emerging disruptive technologies such as deep learning and generative adversarial networks (GANs), which make it possible to manipulate images and video so well that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish manipulated them from authentic ones. Apps like FakeApp and Lyrebird have made the production of "deep fakes" accessible to anyone. [107]"] AI needs to be grounded in human rights principles, and states need to update and enforce data protection regulations with respect to machine learning technologies and to promote policies that create a diverse and pluralistic information environment, includ-

**112**

I would like to thank my colleague Sarah Cooper for contributing her linguistic expertise to this chapter.

#### **Author details**

Elena Danescu Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

\*Address all correspondence to: elena.danescu@uni.lu

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

### **References**

[1] United Nations. Calling of an international Conference on freedom of information. Reports of the Third and Fifth Committees: Resolution (document A/229 and A/261); 1946 December 14. Available from: https:// undocs.org/fr/A/PV.65

[2] Adopted on 10 December 1948 in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly. Available from: https://www. un.org/en/universal-declarationhuman-rights/

[3] Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, adopted in London on 16 November 1945, Art. I, 2(a). Available from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ ark:/48223/pf0000372956/PDF/ 372956eng.pdf.multi.page=6. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[4] This Covenant, concluded in New York on 16 December 1966, is a complement to the 1948 Charter. Available from: https://treaties.un.org/ doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20 999/volume-999-I-14668-French.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[5] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966. Available from: https:// www.ohchr.org/EN/Professional Interest/Pages/CESCR.aspx. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[6] Since 1967, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has provided the [American] public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. Federal agencies are required to disclose any information requested under the FOIA unless it falls under one of nine exemptions which protect interests such as personal privacy, national security, and law

enforcement. Available from: https:// www.foia.gov/about.html. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[7] Multilateral American Convention on Human Rights. Pact of San José, Costa Rica. Signed at San José, Costa Rica, on 22 November 1969. Available from: https://treaties.un.org/doc/ Publication/UNTS/Volume%201144/ volume-1144-I-17955-French.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[8] This Charter was adopted on 27 June 1981 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the 18th Assembly of the Organisation of African Unity. Available from: https://www. un.org/fr/africa/osaa/pdf/au/afr\_ charter\_human\_people\_rights\_1981f. pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[9] Statement by Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister (London, 5 May 1949), emphasising the need for the nations of Europe to set out on the path of unification of the continent. Archives Nationales du Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Organisations internationales. Conseil de l'Europe – Constitution. Conférence sur la création d'un Conseil de l'Europe – Londres du 3 au 5 mai 1949, AE 12379.

[10] Council of Europe, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed on 4 November 1950. Article 10 *–* Freedom of expression: ["1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2) The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and

**115**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

[18] Ibid.

[17] Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Official Journal of the European Union (C326/391), Luxembourg: OPEU, 2012.

[19] The Treaty of Lisbon (the Reform

[20] The Charter became binding for 25 of the 28 Member States, since Poland, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom (which left the EU on 31 January 2020) were granted an "optout" clause. The British, supported by Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden, also secured that the Charter would not give new powers to the EU.

incorporated into the Treaty of Lisbon; instead it was annexed in the form of a

[21] Treaty establishing a Single Council

European Communities, Brussels; 1965

[22] Treaty on European Union (Treaty of Maastricht). Declaration No 17 on the right of access to information. 1992 February 07. Available from : https:// www.cvce.eu/en/obj/treaty\_on\_

european\_union\_declaration\_no\_17\_on\_ the\_right\_of\_access\_to\_information\_ maastricht\_7\_february\_1992-en-

c93fe321-0e77-43a0-b316-d0d45635ff98.

html. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[23] The European continent was a pioneer in the legal recognition of the right to access information. In 1766, Sweden gave all citizens the right to access public information; this was reaffirmed in 1974 with the Freedom of the Press Act, which guaranteed the right of access to official information and documents. Legislation in other countries is much more recent: the right to information was recognised in the Spanish constitution in 1978, the same year as in France, and subsequently in

and a Single Commission of the

Treaty); 2007 December 13.

The Charter was not legally

declaration.

April 08.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."] Available

from: https://www.echr.coe.int/ Documents/Convention\_ENG.pdf.

[11] Council of Europe, European Social Charter, opened for signature in Turin on 18 October 1961, entered into force on 28 February 1965. Art. 21: The right to information and consultation. The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) is the body responsible for monitoring compliance in the states party to the Charter. The Social Charter was revised in 1996. Available from: http://www.coe.int. [Accessed:

[12] Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (Treaty of

[13] Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (Treaty of

(Maastricht Treaty); 1992 February 07. Available from: https://europa.eu/ european-union/sites/europaeu/files/

[15] Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities

[16] Treaty of Amsterdam, 8. Article F (a), p. 8. Available from: https://europa. eu/european-union/sites/europaeu/ files/docs/body/treaty\_of\_amsterdam\_

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

2021-05-27]

docs/body/

October 02.

Paris); 1951 April 18.

Rome); 1957 March 25.

[14] Treaty on European Union

treaty\_on\_european\_union\_en.pdf

and certain related acts; 1997

en.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."] Available from: https://www.echr.coe.int/ Documents/Convention\_ENG.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[11] Council of Europe, European Social Charter, opened for signature in Turin on 18 October 1961, entered into force on 28 February 1965. Art. 21: The right to information and consultation. The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) is the body responsible for monitoring compliance in the states party to the Charter. The Social Charter was revised in 1996. Available from: http://www.coe.int. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[12] Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (Treaty of Paris); 1951 April 18.

[13] Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (Treaty of Rome); 1957 March 25.

[14] Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty); 1992 February 07. Available from: https://europa.eu/ european-union/sites/europaeu/files/ docs/body/ treaty\_on\_european\_union\_en.pdf

[15] Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts; 1997 October 02.

[16] Treaty of Amsterdam, 8. Article F (a), p. 8. Available from: https://europa. eu/european-union/sites/europaeu/ files/docs/body/treaty\_of\_amsterdam\_ en.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[17] Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Official Journal of the European Union (C326/391), Luxembourg: OPEU, 2012.

[18] Ibid.

[19] The Treaty of Lisbon (the Reform Treaty); 2007 December 13.

[20] The Charter became binding for 25 of the 28 Member States, since Poland, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom (which left the EU on 31 January 2020) were granted an "optout" clause. The British, supported by Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden, also secured that the Charter would not give new powers to the EU. The Charter was not legally incorporated into the Treaty of Lisbon; instead it was annexed in the form of a declaration.

[21] Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities, Brussels; 1965 April 08.

[22] Treaty on European Union (Treaty of Maastricht). Declaration No 17 on the right of access to information. 1992 February 07. Available from : https:// www.cvce.eu/en/obj/treaty\_on\_ european\_union\_declaration\_no\_17\_on\_ the\_right\_of\_access\_to\_information\_ maastricht\_7\_february\_1992-enc93fe321-0e77-43a0-b316-d0d45635ff98. html. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[23] The European continent was a pioneer in the legal recognition of the right to access information. In 1766, Sweden gave all citizens the right to access public information; this was reaffirmed in 1974 with the Freedom of the Press Act, which guaranteed the right of access to official information and documents. Legislation in other countries is much more recent: the right to information was recognised in the Spanish constitution in 1978, the same year as in France, and subsequently in

**114**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

enforcement. Available from: https:// www.foia.gov/about.html. [Accessed:

[7] Multilateral American Convention on Human Rights. Pact of San José, Costa Rica. Signed at San José, Costa Rica, on 22 November 1969. Available from: https://treaties.un.org/doc/ Publication/UNTS/Volume%201144/ volume-1144-I-17955-French.pdf.

[8] This Charter was adopted on 27 June 1981 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the 18th Assembly of the Organisation of African Unity. Available from: https://www. un.org/fr/africa/osaa/pdf/au/afr\_ charter\_human\_people\_rights\_1981f.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister (London, 5 May 1949), emphasising the need for the nations of Europe to set out on the path of unification of the continent. Archives Nationales du Luxembourg,

internationales. Conseil de l'Europe – Constitution. Conférence sur la création d'un Conseil de l'Europe – Londres du 3

[10] Council of Europe, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed on 4 November 1950. Article 10 *–* Freedom of expression: ["1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2) The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and

2021-05-27]

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[9] Statement by Joseph Bech,

Luxembourg. Organisations

au 5 mai 1949, AE 12379.

[1] United Nations. Calling of an

Fifth Committees: Resolution (document A/229 and A/261); 1946 December 14. Available from: https://

undocs.org/fr/A/PV.65

human-rights/

**References**

2021-05-27]

2021-05-27]

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[5] International Covenant on

www.ohchr.org/EN/Professional

[6] Since 1967, the Freedom of

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966. Available from: https://

Interest/Pages/CESCR.aspx. [Accessed:

Information Act (FOIA) has provided the [American] public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. Federal agencies are required to disclose any information requested under the FOIA unless it falls under one of nine exemptions which protect interests such as personal privacy, national security, and law

international Conference on freedom of information. Reports of the Third and

[2] Adopted on 10 December 1948 in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly. Available from: https://www. un.org/en/universal-declaration-

[3] Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, adopted in London on 16 November 1945, Art. I, 2(a). Available from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ ark:/48223/pf0000372956/PDF/

372956eng.pdf.multi.page=6. [Accessed:

[4] This Covenant, concluded in New York on 16 December 1966, is a complement to the 1948 Charter. Available from: https://treaties.un.org/ doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20 999/volume-999-I-14668-French.pdf.

Italy in 1990, in the United Kingdom in 2005 and in Germany in 2006. On the history of freedom of expression, see particularly Morange, J. Histoire et liberté d'expression. Les Cahiers de droit. *53* (4). 2012 ; 715-737. Available from: https://doi.org/10.7202/ 1013004ar. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[24] OECD. Open Government: The Global Context and the Way Forward*.* OECD Publisher: Paris; 2017. Available from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/ governance/open-government\_ 9789264268104-en. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[25] OECD. Government at a Glance 2019. 2019 November 14*.* Available from: https://www.oecd.org/gov/ government-at-a-glance-22214399.htm. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[26] The title of the chapter 3 is taken from the article by Sauvy A. L'information, clef de la démocratie. Revue française de science politique*.* 1(1-2). 1951; 26- 39.

[27] See in particular: Dahl R. A. Democracy and its critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 1989; Fuchs D. The political culture paradigm. In Dalton R J, Klingemann H-D, editors. The Oxford handbook of political behaviour. Oxford University Press: Oxford; 2007; 161-184. Fuchs D, Roller E. Demokratiekonzeptionen der Bürger und demokratische Gemeinschaftsorientierungen. In Schubert S, Weiss A, editors. Demokratie jenseits des Westens. Nomos Verlag: Baden-Baden; 2016; 296-317. Munck, G. L. What is democracy? A reconceptualization of the quality of democracy. Democratization, 23/1 (2016); 1-26.

[28] "A global citizen is someone who identifies with being part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this

community's values and practices."] Ronald C. I. What does it mean to be a global citizen?. Kosmos ; 2012. Available from: http://www.kosmosjournal.org/ article/what-does-it-mean-to-be-aglobal-citizen. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also Torres C T. Global citizenship and global universities: the age of global interdependence and cosmopolitanism. European Journal of Education Research, Development and Policy, vol. 50, no. 3 (2015); 262– 279.

[29] Touraine A. Qu'est-ce que la démocratie? Éditions Fayard : Paris ; 1994 ; 107.

[30] Ibid., p. 102. Touraine distinguishes between the notions of "citizenship" and "nationality". ["The latter means belonging to a national state, while the former establishes the right to participate, directly or indirectly, in the management of society. Nationality creates a solidarity of duty; citizenship confers rights."] See also Leydet D. Citizenship. In Zalta E N, editor. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; 2014. Available from: https://plato. stanford.edu/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[31] Habermans J*.* L'Espace public : archéologie de la publicité comme dimension constitutive de la société bourgeoise. Payot : Paris ; 1978.

[32] Sennett R. Les tyrannies de l'intimité. Payot : Paris ; 1979.

[33] Cf. Pitseys J. Démocratie et citoyenneté. In Dossiers du CRISP, no. 88 (1) ; 2017 ; 9-113. Available from: https://www.cairn.info/revue-dossiersdu-crisp-2017-1-page-9.htm. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Elster J. The Market and the Forum: Three Varieties of Political Theory. In Christiano T. Philosophy and Democracy. An Anthology. Oxford University Press; Oxford; 2003; 140.

[34] Cf. Zepf M. Concerter, gouverner et concevoir les espaces publics urbains. Presses polytechniques universitaires

**117**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

democratic principles in the online public arena. Available from: https:// multilateralism.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/04/internationalpartnership-for-information-anddemocracy.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[41] Parikka J. Media Archeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications. University of California Press: berkeley, 2011; Blandin C, Robinet F, Schafer V. editors. Penser l'histoire des médias. CNRS :Paris ; 2019; Fickers A, Griset P., editors. Communicating Europe. Technologies,

Information, Events. Palgrave Macmillan: London; 2019.

[43] See in particular Mersch D.

and Implication. University of California Press: Berkeley; 2011; 239-255; Zielinski S. Deep Time of the Media: Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means.

MIT Press: Massachusetts; 2006.

[44] McLuhan M. Understanding media: The extensions of man. Ginko Press: New York ; 2003 (1964), [43, 78].

[45] Charaudeau P. Introduction. Les médias et l'information. De Boeck Supérieur : Paris/Louvain-la-Neuve ;

[46] On this subject see Ward K. Mass Communication and the Modern World.

Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing House, 1989; Sloan D W. Perspectives on Mass Communication History, London/New

2011 ; 9-20 [9].

Medientheorien zu Einführung. Juniun-Verlag: Hamburg; 2021; Ernst W. Media Archaeography. Method and Machine versus History and Narrative of Media. In Huhtamo E, Parikka J, editors. Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications,

2010.

[42] Abate J. Inventing Internet. MIT Press: Massachusetts; 1999; Ryan J. A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. Reaktion Books: London;

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

Romandes : Lausanne ; 2004. Callon M, Lascoumes P, Barthe, Y. Agir dans un monde incertain. Essai sur la démocratie

technique. Seuil : Paris ; 2001.

[35] Cf. Négot O. L'espace public oppositionnel. Payot : Paris ; 2007. See also Neumann A. L'espace public oppositionnel: lorsque l'oikos danse à l'agora. Cahiers Sens public, 15-16(1-2) (2013) ; 55-67. Available from: https:// www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-senspublic-2013-1-page-55.htm. [Accessed:

[36] The notion of "civil society", the definition of which has continued to evolve in the light of the ever-changing theoretical and socio-economic contexts of recent decades, relates to ideas of civility, civilisation, counter-power, the voluntary sector, etc. See Pirotte G. La Notion de société civile*.* La Découverte: Paris ; 2007 ; Gutmann A, Thompson D. Democracy and Disagreement. Belknap Press:London; 1998. Hall J A. In Search of Civil Society. In Hall J A, editor. Civil Society. Theory. History. Comparison.

Polity Press: Cambridge, 1996.

journals.openedition.org/ sociologies/3017*.* [Accessed:

2021-05-27]

translation.

démocratie ; 1951 ; 39.

[37] Pirotte G. Engagement citoyen et société civile. *SociologieS [en ligne] ; 2009 ; 68.* Available from: https://

[38] Vedel, T. L'idée de démocratie électronique: Origines, visions, questions. In Perrineau P, editor. Le désenchantement démocratique. Editions de l'Aube : La Tour d'Aigues ; 2003 ; 243-246. Here p.251. Our

[39] Sauvy A. L'information, clef de la

[40] In September 2019, at the 74th UN General Assembly, 38 member states signed this historic inter-governmental commitment initiated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to promote

2021-05-27]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

Romandes : Lausanne ; 2004. Callon M, Lascoumes P, Barthe, Y. Agir dans un monde incertain. Essai sur la démocratie technique. Seuil : Paris ; 2001.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

community's values and practices."] Ronald C. I. What does it mean to be a global citizen?. Kosmos ; 2012. Available from: http://www.kosmosjournal.org/ article/what-does-it-mean-to-be-aglobal-citizen. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also Torres C T. Global citizenship and global universities: the age of global interdependence and cosmopolitanism.

European Journal of Education

[29] Touraine A. Qu'est-ce que la démocratie? Éditions Fayard : Paris ;

former establishes the right to

50, no. 3 (2015); 262– 279.

1994 ; 107.

Research, Development and Policy, vol.

[30] Ibid., p. 102. Touraine distinguishes between the notions of "citizenship" and "nationality". ["The latter means belonging to a national state, while the

participate, directly or indirectly, in the management of society. Nationality creates a solidarity of duty; citizenship confers rights."] See also Leydet D. Citizenship. In Zalta E N, editor. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; 2014. Available from: https://plato. stanford.edu/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[31] Habermans J*.* L'Espace public : archéologie de la publicité comme dimension constitutive de la société bourgeoise. Payot : Paris ; 1978.

[32] Sennett R. Les tyrannies de l'intimité. Payot : Paris ; 1979.

[33] Cf. Pitseys J. Démocratie et citoyenneté. In Dossiers du CRISP, no. 88 (1) ; 2017 ; 9-113. Available from: https://www.cairn.info/revue-dossiersdu-crisp-2017-1-page-9.htm. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Elster J. The Market and the Forum: Three Varieties of Political Theory. In Christiano T. Philosophy and Democracy. An Anthology. Oxford University Press; Oxford; 2003; 140.

[34] Cf. Zepf M. Concerter, gouverner et concevoir les espaces publics urbains. Presses polytechniques universitaires

Italy in 1990, in the United Kingdom in 2005 and in Germany in 2006. On the history of freedom of expression, see particularly Morange, J. Histoire et liberté d'expression. Les Cahiers de droit. *53* (4). 2012 ; 715-737. Available

from: https://doi.org/10.7202/ 1013004ar. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

2021-05-27]

[24] OECD. Open Government: The Global Context and the Way Forward*.* OECD Publisher: Paris; 2017. Available from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/ governance/open-government\_ 9789264268104-en. [Accessed:

[25] OECD. Government at a Glance 2019. 2019 November 14*.* Available from: https://www.oecd.org/gov/ government-at-a-glance-22214399.htm.

[26] The title of the chapter 3 is taken

L'information, clef de la démocratie. Revue française de science politique*.*

[27] See in particular: Dahl R. A. Democracy and its critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 1989;

Bürger und demokratische Gemeinschaftsorientierungen. In Schubert S, Weiss A, editors. Demokratie jenseits des Westens. Nomos Verlag: Baden-Baden; 2016; 296-317. Munck, G. L. What is democracy? A reconceptualization of

the quality of democracy. Democratization, 23/1 (2016);

[28] "A global citizen is someone who identifies with being part of an

emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this

Fuchs D. The political culture paradigm. In Dalton R J, Klingemann H-D, editors. The Oxford handbook of political behaviour. Oxford University Press: Oxford; 2007; 161-184. Fuchs D, Roller E. Demokratiekonzeptionen der

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

1(1-2). 1951; 26- 39.

from the article by Sauvy A.

**116**

1-26.

[35] Cf. Négot O. L'espace public oppositionnel. Payot : Paris ; 2007. See also Neumann A. L'espace public oppositionnel: lorsque l'oikos danse à l'agora. Cahiers Sens public, 15-16(1-2) (2013) ; 55-67. Available from: https:// www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-senspublic-2013-1-page-55.htm. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[36] The notion of "civil society", the definition of which has continued to evolve in the light of the ever-changing theoretical and socio-economic contexts of recent decades, relates to ideas of civility, civilisation, counter-power, the voluntary sector, etc. See Pirotte G. La Notion de société civile*.* La Découverte: Paris ; 2007 ; Gutmann A, Thompson D. Democracy and Disagreement. Belknap Press:London; 1998. Hall J A. In Search of Civil Society. In Hall J A, editor. Civil Society. Theory. History. Comparison. Polity Press: Cambridge, 1996.

[37] Pirotte G. Engagement citoyen et société civile. *SociologieS [en ligne] ; 2009 ; 68.* Available from: https:// journals.openedition.org/ sociologies/3017*.* [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[38] Vedel, T. L'idée de démocratie électronique: Origines, visions, questions. In Perrineau P, editor. Le désenchantement démocratique. Editions de l'Aube : La Tour d'Aigues ; 2003 ; 243-246. Here p.251. Our translation.

[39] Sauvy A. L'information, clef de la démocratie ; 1951 ; 39.

[40] In September 2019, at the 74th UN General Assembly, 38 member states signed this historic inter-governmental commitment initiated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to promote

democratic principles in the online public arena. Available from: https:// multilateralism.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/04/internationalpartnership-for-information-anddemocracy.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[41] Parikka J. Media Archeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications. University of California Press: berkeley, 2011; Blandin C, Robinet F, Schafer V. editors. Penser l'histoire des médias. CNRS :Paris ; 2019; Fickers A, Griset P., editors. Communicating Europe. Technologies, Information, Events. Palgrave Macmillan: London; 2019.

[42] Abate J. Inventing Internet. MIT Press: Massachusetts; 1999; Ryan J. A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. Reaktion Books: London; 2010.

[43] See in particular Mersch D. Medientheorien zu Einführung. Juniun-Verlag: Hamburg; 2021; Ernst W. Media Archaeography. Method and Machine versus History and Narrative of Media. In Huhtamo E, Parikka J, editors. Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implication. University of California Press: Berkeley; 2011; 239-255; Zielinski S. Deep Time of the Media: Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means. MIT Press: Massachusetts; 2006.

[44] McLuhan M. Understanding media: The extensions of man. Ginko Press: New York ; 2003 (1964), [43, 78].

[45] Charaudeau P. Introduction. Les médias et l'information. De Boeck Supérieur : Paris/Louvain-la-Neuve ; 2011 ; 9-20 [9].

[46] On this subject see Ward K. Mass Communication and the Modern World. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing House, 1989; Sloan D W. Perspectives on Mass Communication History, London/New

York: Routledge, 1991; Arnond K, Kinnebrock S, Preston, P, editors. The Handbook of European Communication History, Hoboken NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2019.

[47] Shakespeare W. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2; 1599. Available from: https://www. nosweatshakespeare.com/plays/ modern-julius-caesar/act-1-scene-2/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[48] Durand, P. Comment se réapproprier démocratiquement l'information? 2006 February 23. Available from: https://www.acrimed. org/Comment-se-reapproprierdemocratiquement-l-information. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[49] Bui M N, Moran R E. Making the 21st century mobile journalist: Examining definitions and conceptualizations of mobility and mobile journalism within journalism education. Digital Journalism, 8(1) (2019) ; 145-163; Cabrera Méndez M, Codina L, Salaverría Aliaga R. What is new media? The views of 70 Hispanic experts. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social; (74) 2019; 1506-1520; Witschge T, Anderson C W, Domingo D, Hermida A. The SAGE handbook of digital journalism. SAGE: London; 2016.

[50] García-Orosa B, López-García X, Vázquez-Herrero J. Journalism in Digital Native Media: Beyond Technological Determinism. In Salaverría R, editor. Digital Native News Media: Trends and Challenges, Vol 8/2 (2020); Cogitatio Press: Lisbon; 5-15 [6].

[51] The notion of border may nevertheless resurface in incompatible technological standards and in varying levels of digital knowledge and literacy.

[52] Lo Piano S. Ethical principles in machine learning and artificial

intelligence: cases from the field and possible ways forward. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications; 7, 9 (2020). DOI: 10.1057/s41599-020-0501- 9. ["While reflections around the ethical implications of machines and automation deployment were already put forth in the '50s and '60s, the increasing use of AI in many fields raises new important questions about its suitability. This stems from the complexity of the aspects undertaken and the plurality of views, stakes, and values at play. A fundamental aspect is how and to what extent the values and the perspectives of the involved stakeholders have been taken care of in the design of the decision-making algorithm."] p. 1. See also European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (March 2018). Statement on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and 'Autonomous' Systems. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/research/ege/pdf/ ege\_ai\_statement\_2018.pdf; [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. "The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems" (2017), IEEE Standards Association. Available from: https:// standards.ieee.org/develop/indconn/ec/ autonomous\_systems.html [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Abrams, M. et al. (2017). Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Enhanced Data Stewardship. The Information Accountability Foundation, Plano, Texas.

[53] Stanley J. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Random House: New York; 2018; 70.

[54] Durand P. (23 February 2006); 6.

[55] Thompson D. Counterknowledge. Atlantic Books: New York City; 2008; 1.

[56] "Post-truth" was selected by Oxford Dictionaries as its 2016 international word of the year, reflecting what it termed as a "highly-charged" political 12 months. It defines the concept as a situation in which people respond more

**119**

2021-05-27]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

[62] Schudson M. The Sociology of News. W. W. Norton: New York,

[63] Galtung J, Ruge M H. The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research, *2*(1); 1965; 64-90.

[64] Napoli P M. Social Media and the Public Interest: Media Regulation in the

[65] The term "Europe" is used here to refer to the current European Union (EU), a partnership of 27 Member States that has evolved since 1951 through a

[66] Danescu E. Taxing intangible assets: issues and challenges for a digital Europe. Internet Histories; 2020; 1-21 [3]. DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.

[67] Eurostat. Your Key to European Statistics. Database 2019. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ web/international-trade-in-goods/data/ database. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also International trade in goods in 2018. News release 53/2019 – 20 March 2019. International Monetary Fund (IMF). (Measuring the digital economy. Executive Board Discussions;

[68] Edgerton D. The Contradictions

[69] United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Digital Economy Report 2019. Value Creation

of Techno-Nationalism and Techno-Globalism: A Historical Perspective. New Global Studies, 1(1) 2007; 1-32. DOI: 10.2202/1940-

and Capture: Implications for Developing Countries, UNCTAD/

Disinformation Age. Columbia University Press: New York; 2019.

process of integration and

enlargements.

1749806.

2018.

0004.1013

DER/2019.

London; 2011.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

to feelings and beliefs than to facts. Available from: https://languages.oup.

[57] Lewandowsky S, Ecker U K H, Cook J. Beyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the 'post-truth' era. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition; 6 (2017); 353-369. DOI: 10.1016/j. jarmac.2017.07.008. [360].

com/word-of-the-year/2016/

[58] Newman N, Fletcher R,

countries worldwide.

Kalogeropoulos A, Levy D A L, Nielsen R K. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020*.* Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Oxford*.* Available from: https://www.digitalnewsreport. org/survey/. This study, coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (based in Oxford, UK), has been conducted since 2012 in 40

[59] Jürgens P, Stark B. The Power of Default on Reddit: A General Model to Measure the Influence of Information Intermediaries. Policy & Internet, 9(4) 2017; 395-419 [398]. DOI: 10.1002/ poi3.166. Although the notion of "media

heterogeneous, it particularly includes search engines (e.g. Google), social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) and news aggregators (e.g. Reddit and Google News), and these are now becoming the main news sources of large parts of the population.

[60] Stark B, Stegmann D, Magin M, Jürgens P. Are Algorithms a Threat to Democracy? The Rise of Intermediaries: A Challenge for Public Discourse; 26 May 2020; 1-69 [9]. Available from: https://algorithmwatch.org/en/ governingplatforms. [Accessed:

[61] Thorson K, Wells C. Curated Flows: A Framework for Mapping Media Exposure in the Digital Age.

Communication Theory, *26*(3) 2016; 309-328. DOI: 10.1111/comt.12087

intermediaries" is broad and

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

to feelings and beliefs than to facts. Available from: https://languages.oup. com/word-of-the-year/2016/

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

intelligence: cases from the field and possible ways forward. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications; 7, 9 (2020). DOI: 10.1057/s41599-020-0501- 9. ["While reflections around the ethical

automation deployment were already put forth in the '50s and '60s, the increasing use of AI in many fields raises new important questions about its

implications of machines and

suitability. This stems from the complexity of the aspects undertaken and the plurality of views, stakes, and values at play. A fundamental aspect is how and to what extent the values and the perspectives of the involved stakeholders have been taken care of in the design of the decision-making algorithm."] p. 1. See also European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (March 2018). Statement on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and 'Autonomous' Systems. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/research/ege/pdf/ ege\_ai\_statement\_2018.pdf; [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. "The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems" (2017), IEEE Standards Association. Available from: https:// standards.ieee.org/develop/indconn/ec/ autonomous\_systems.html [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Abrams, M. et al. (2017). Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Enhanced Data Stewardship. The Information Accountability Foundation,

Plano, Texas.

2008; 1.

[53] Stanley J. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Random House: New York; 2018; 70.

[54] Durand P. (23 February 2006); 6.

[55] Thompson D. Counterknowledge. Atlantic Books: New York City;

[56] "Post-truth" was selected by Oxford Dictionaries as its 2016 international word of the year, reflecting what it termed as a "highly-charged" political 12 months. It defines the concept as a situation in which people respond more

York: Routledge, 1991; Arnond K, Kinnebrock S, Preston, P, editors. The Handbook of European Communication History, Hoboken NJ: Wiley-Blackwell

[47] Shakespeare W. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2; 1599. Available from: https://www. nosweatshakespeare.com/plays/ modern-julius-caesar/act-1-scene-2/.

Publishers, 2019.

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

experts. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social; (74) 2019; 1506-1520; Witschge T, Anderson C W, Domingo D, Hermida A. The SAGE handbook of digital journalism. SAGE:

London; 2016.

Press: Lisbon; 5-15 [6].

[51] The notion of border may

levels of digital knowledge and

[52] Lo Piano S. Ethical principles in machine learning and artificial

nevertheless resurface in incompatible technological standards and in varying

[49] Bui M N, Moran R E. Making the 21st century mobile journalist: Examining definitions and

conceptualizations of mobility and mobile journalism within journalism education. Digital Journalism, 8(1) (2019) ; 145-163; Cabrera Méndez M, Codina L, Salaverría Aliaga R. What is new media? The views of 70 Hispanic

[50] García-Orosa B, López-García X, Vázquez-Herrero J. Journalism in Digital Native Media: Beyond Technological Determinism. In Salaverría R, editor. Digital Native News Media: Trends and Challenges, Vol 8/2 (2020); Cogitatio

[48] Durand, P. Comment se réapproprier démocratiquement l'information? 2006 February 23. Available from: https://www.acrimed. org/Comment-se-reapproprierdemocratiquement-l-information.

**118**

literacy.

[57] Lewandowsky S, Ecker U K H, Cook J. Beyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the 'post-truth' era. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition; 6 (2017); 353-369. DOI: 10.1016/j. jarmac.2017.07.008. [360].

[58] Newman N, Fletcher R, Kalogeropoulos A, Levy D A L, Nielsen R K. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020*.* Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Oxford*.* Available from: https://www.digitalnewsreport. org/survey/. This study, coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (based in Oxford, UK), has been conducted since 2012 in 40 countries worldwide.

[59] Jürgens P, Stark B. The Power of Default on Reddit: A General Model to Measure the Influence of Information Intermediaries. Policy & Internet, 9(4) 2017; 395-419 [398]. DOI: 10.1002/ poi3.166. Although the notion of "media intermediaries" is broad and heterogeneous, it particularly includes search engines (e.g. Google), social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) and news aggregators (e.g. Reddit and Google News), and these are now becoming the main news sources of large parts of the population.

[60] Stark B, Stegmann D, Magin M, Jürgens P. Are Algorithms a Threat to Democracy? The Rise of Intermediaries: A Challenge for Public Discourse; 26 May 2020; 1-69 [9]. Available from: https://algorithmwatch.org/en/ governingplatforms. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[61] Thorson K, Wells C. Curated Flows: A Framework for Mapping Media Exposure in the Digital Age. Communication Theory, *26*(3) 2016; 309-328. DOI: 10.1111/comt.12087

[62] Schudson M. The Sociology of News. W. W. Norton: New York, London; 2011.

[63] Galtung J, Ruge M H. The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research, *2*(1); 1965; 64-90.

[64] Napoli P M. Social Media and the Public Interest: Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age. Columbia University Press: New York; 2019.

[65] The term "Europe" is used here to refer to the current European Union (EU), a partnership of 27 Member States that has evolved since 1951 through a process of integration and enlargements.

[66] Danescu E. Taxing intangible assets: issues and challenges for a digital Europe. Internet Histories; 2020; 1-21 [3]. DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020. 1749806.

[67] Eurostat. Your Key to European Statistics. Database 2019. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ web/international-trade-in-goods/data/ database. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also International trade in goods in 2018. News release 53/2019 – 20 March 2019. International Monetary Fund (IMF). (Measuring the digital economy. Executive Board Discussions; 2018.

[68] Edgerton D. The Contradictions of Techno-Nationalism and Techno-Globalism: A Historical Perspective. New Global Studies, 1(1) 2007; 1-32. DOI: 10.2202/1940- 0004.1013

[69] United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Digital Economy Report 2019. Value Creation and Capture: Implications for Developing Countries, UNCTAD/ DER/2019.

#### [70] Danescu E. 2020 [6].

[71] Fickers A, Griset P. Communicating Europe; 2019 [377].

[72] European Parliament. Digital transformation, Mar Negreiro and Tambiama Madiega, Members' Research Service. European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), Brussels, June 2019; 2. See also G7. Artificial Intelligence (Annex 2); 2017. Available from: http://www.g7italy.it/sites/ default/files/documents/ANNEX2- Artificial\_Intelligence\_0.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. G7. Proposal of Discussion toward Formulation of AI R&D Guideline, Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; 2016. Available from: http://www.soumu. go.jp/joho\_kokusai/g7ict/english/index. html. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[73] European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A European Strategy for Data. COM(2020), 66 final, 2020 February 19.

[74] Fighting Fake News – Workshop Report; 2018. Information Society Project. Available from: https://law.yale. edu/system/files/area/center/isp/ documents/fighting\_fake\_news\_-\_ workshop\_report.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[75] "In recent years online manipulation and disinformation tactics were detected during elections in at least 18 countries, and disinformation tactics contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom."] Freedom on the net 2017 report, Freedom House. Available from: https://freedomhouse.org/report/ freedom-net/freedom-net-2017. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[76] In March 2018, the Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed that personal data had been mined from millions of EU social media users and exploited in electoral contexts.

[77] European Council meeting (19 and 20 March 2015). Conclusions. Brussels, 20 March 2015. EUCO 11/15. Available from: https://www.consilium. europa.eu/media/21888/europeancouncil-conclusions-19-20-march-2015-en.pdf

[78] Joint Declaration on Fake News, Disinformation and Propaganda (3 March 2017). The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information; 2017 March 3. Available from: http://www.osce.org/ fom/302796?download=true. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[79] In its Point no. 3*,* the Joint Declaration clearly stipulates: (a) a clear regulatory framework protecting broadcasters against political or commercial interference;(b) an independent and resourced public service media;(c) measures to support media diversity, including subsidies or other support for the production of diverse, quality content;(d) rules addressing media concentration and transparency of media ownership;(e) programmes to support media and digital literacy.

[80] European Parliament (2014-2019). Online platforms and the Digital Single Market. [P8\_TA(2017)0272]. European Parliament resolution of 15 June 2017 on online platforms and the digital single market (2016/2276(INI)). Available from: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/

**121**

revenues (65%).

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

[84] European Commission. Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology. A multi-

independent High level Group on fake news and online disinformation*.* Publications Office of the European

Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Economic

implementation of the Digital Single Market Strategy: A Connected Digital Single Market for All. COM(2017) 228

[86] Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 13 May 2014, Google Spain and Google (C-131/12, EU:C:2014:317). Available from: https://curia.europa.eu/ juris/document/document.jsf?text=&do cid=152065&pageIndex=0&doclang=en &mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1& cid=6190812. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[87] Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 24 September 2019 – Case C-507/17. Reference for a preliminary ruling – Personal data – Protection of

individuals with regard to the processing of such data — Directive 95/46/EC — Regulation (EU) 2016/679 — Internet search engines — Processing of data on web pages — Territorial scope of the right to de-referencing. Available from: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.

jsf?num=C-507/17. [Accessed:

[88] A search engine that receives a request for de-referencing from a European citizen is only obliged to delete the results concerned for its European domain names (e.g. google.fr, google.be, google.de, etc.). But while EU law does not impose the right to be de-referenced worldwide, it does not

2021-05-27]

preclude it either.

dimensional approach to disinformation. Report of the

Union: Luxembourg; 2018.

[85] European Commission.

and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the

Mid-Term Review on the

final, 2017 May 10.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

doceo/document/TA-8-2017-0272\_ EN.pdf?redirect. [Accessed:

[81] European Commission. Joint Research Centre. Martens B, Aguiar L, Gomez-Herrera E, Mueller-Langer F. The digital transformation of news media and the rise of disinformation and fake news. JRC Digital Economy Working Papers 2018-02. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/

[82] European Council meeting (22 March 2018). Conclusions. Brussels, 22 March 2018. EUCO 1/18. Available from: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/ media/33457/22-euco-finalconclusions-en.pdf. [Accessed:

[83] European Commission. Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology (DG COMM "Media Monitoring, Media Analysis and

Eurobarometer 464. Report: Fake News and Disinformation Online; 2018 February. Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/ publicopinion/index.cfm/survey/ getsurveydetail/instruments/flash/ surveyky/2183. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. According to the public consultation among the 28 Member States (before Brexit), 83% of Europeans believe that fake news represents a problem for democracy in general, either

"definitely" (45%) or "to some extent" (38%). Intentional disinformation aimed at influencing elections and immigration policies, followed by disinformation in the fields of health, environment and security policies, were the top categories considered likely to cause harm to society. Respondents linked the prevalence of information dissemination via online media with the fact that it appeals to readers' emotions (88%), can influence the public debate (84%) and is designed to generate

Eurobarometer" Unit). Flash

jrcsh/files/jrc111529.pdf

2021-05-27]

2021-05-27]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

doceo/document/TA-8-2017-0272\_ EN.pdf?redirect. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

that personal data had been mined from millions of EU social media users and exploited in electoral contexts.

[77] European Council meeting (19 and 20 March 2015). Conclusions. Brussels, 20 March 2015. EUCO 11/15. Available from: https://www.consilium. europa.eu/media/21888/europeancouncil-conclusions-19-20-march-

[78] Joint Declaration on Fake News, Disinformation and Propaganda (3 March 2017). The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information; 2017 March 3. Available

from: http://www.osce.org/

[79] In its Point no. 3*,* the Joint

2021-05-27]

digital literacy.

fom/302796?download=true. [Accessed:

Declaration clearly stipulates: (a) a clear regulatory framework protecting broadcasters against political or commercial interference;(b) an independent and resourced public service media;(c) measures to support media diversity, including subsidies or other support for the production of diverse, quality content;(d) rules addressing media concentration and transparency of media ownership;(e) programmes to support media and

[80] European Parliament (2014-2019). Online platforms and the Digital Single Market. [P8\_TA(2017)0272]. European Parliament resolution of 15 June 2017 on online platforms and the digital single market (2016/2276(INI)). Available from: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/

2015-en.pdf

[70] Danescu E. 2020 [6].

Europe; 2019 [377].

[71] Fickers A, Griset P. Communicating

[72] European Parliament. Digital transformation, Mar Negreiro and Tambiama Madiega, Members' Research Service. European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), Brussels, June

2019; 2. See also G7. Artificial

toward Formulation of AI R&D

html. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[73] European Commission.

Intelligence (Annex 2); 2017. Available from: http://www.g7italy.it/sites/ default/files/documents/ANNEX2- Artificial\_Intelligence\_0.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. G7. Proposal of Discussion

Guideline, Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; 2016. Available from: http://www.soumu. go.jp/joho\_kokusai/g7ict/english/index.

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A European Strategy for Data. COM(2020), 66 final, 2020 February 19.

[74] Fighting Fake News – Workshop Report; 2018. Information Society Project. Available from: https://law.yale. edu/system/files/area/center/isp/ documents/fighting\_fake\_news\_-\_ workshop\_report.pdf. [Accessed:

[75] "In recent years online manipulation

and disinformation tactics were detected during elections in at least 18 countries, and disinformation tactics contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom."] Freedom on the net 2017 report, Freedom House. Available from: https://freedomhouse.org/report/ freedom-net/freedom-net-2017.

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[76] In March 2018, the Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed

**120**

2021-05-27]

[81] European Commission. Joint Research Centre. Martens B, Aguiar L, Gomez-Herrera E, Mueller-Langer F. The digital transformation of news media and the rise of disinformation and fake news. JRC Digital Economy Working Papers 2018-02. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/ jrcsh/files/jrc111529.pdf

[82] European Council meeting (22 March 2018). Conclusions. Brussels, 22 March 2018. EUCO 1/18. Available from: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/ media/33457/22-euco-finalconclusions-en.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[83] European Commission. Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology (DG COMM "Media Monitoring, Media Analysis and Eurobarometer" Unit). Flash Eurobarometer 464. Report: Fake News and Disinformation Online; 2018 February. Available from: https:// ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/ publicopinion/index.cfm/survey/ getsurveydetail/instruments/flash/ surveyky/2183. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. According to the public consultation among the 28 Member States (before Brexit), 83% of Europeans believe that fake news represents a problem for democracy in general, either "definitely" (45%) or "to some extent" (38%). Intentional disinformation aimed at influencing elections and immigration policies, followed by disinformation in the fields of health, environment and security policies, were the top categories considered likely to cause harm to society. Respondents linked the prevalence of information dissemination via online media with the fact that it appeals to readers' emotions (88%), can influence the public debate (84%) and is designed to generate revenues (65%).

[84] European Commission. Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology. A multidimensional approach to disinformation. Report of the independent High level Group on fake news and online disinformation*.* Publications Office of the European Union: Luxembourg; 2018.

[85] European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the Mid-Term Review on the implementation of the Digital Single Market Strategy: A Connected Digital Single Market for All. COM(2017) 228 final, 2017 May 10.

[86] Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 13 May 2014, Google Spain and Google (C-131/12, EU:C:2014:317). Available from: https://curia.europa.eu/ juris/document/document.jsf?text=&do cid=152065&pageIndex=0&doclang=en &mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1& cid=6190812. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[87] Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 24 September 2019 – Case C-507/17. Reference for a preliminary ruling – Personal data – Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of such data — Directive 95/46/EC — Regulation (EU) 2016/679 — Internet search engines — Processing of data on web pages — Territorial scope of the right to de-referencing. Available from: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste. jsf?num=C-507/17. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[88] A search engine that receives a request for de-referencing from a European citizen is only obliged to delete the results concerned for its European domain names (e.g. google.fr, google.be, google.de, etc.). But while EU law does not impose the right to be de-referenced worldwide, it does not preclude it either.

[89] European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. "On the European democracy action plan". COM(2020) 790 final. 2020 December 3. Available from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020 %3A790%3AFIN&qid=1607079662423. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[90] https://edmo.eu/edmo-at-a-glance/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] Cf Alemanno A, Brogi J, Fischer-Zernin M, Morrow P. Is the EU Disinformation Review Compliant with EU Law? Complaint to the European Ombudsman About the EU Anti-Fake News Initiative. HEC Paris Research Paper No. LAW-2018- 1273; 2018 March 28. DOI: 10.2139/ ssrn.3151424.

[91] Available from: https://ec.europa. eu/digital-single-market/en/news/ code-practice-disinformation. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[92] Cornils M. Designing platform governance: A normative perspective on needs, strategies, and tools to regulate intermediaries. Algorithm-Watch: Berlin; 2020. Available from: https:// algorithmwatch. org/en/ governingplatforms/legal-study-cornilsmay-2020; See also Batokas et al. Follow the Money: Online Piracy and Self-Regulation in the Advertising Industry; CESifo Working Paper No. 6852; 2018. Available from: https://www.cesifogroup.de/DocDL/cesifo1\_wp6852.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[93] ERGA comprises representatives of all the relevant regulatory bodies in all the Member States. It provides technical advice to the Commission in a number of fields related to the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and facilitates cooperation among national regulatory bodies and between these bodies and the Commission.

[94] European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. "Action Plan against Disinformation". JOIN (2018) 36 final. 2018 December 5.

[95] Available from: https:// ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[96] Barrera Rodriguez O, Guriev S M, Henry E, Zhuravskaya E. Facts, Alternative Facts, and Fact Checking in Times of Post-Truth Politics; 2018. Available from: https://ssrn.com/ abstract=3004631

[97] Bayer J, Bitiukova N, Bárd P, Alemanno A, Szakács J, Uszkiewicz E. Disinformation and Propaganda – Impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States. Brussels: European Union; 2019. Available from: http://www.europarl. europa.eu/thinktank/en/docu-ment. html?reference=IPOL\_STU(2019) 608864. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Egelhofer J L, Lecheler S. Fake news as a two-dimensional phenomenon: a framework and research agenda. Annals of the International Communication Association, 43(2); 2019; 97-116. DOI: 10.1080/23808985.2019.1602782.

[98] Cf. article 33a of the Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018. Available from: https://eur-lex. europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/1808/oj. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. The revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive governs EU-wide coordination of national legislation on all audiovisual media, both traditional TV broadcasts and on-demand services. See Mousave S, Schukat M, Howley, E. Deep reinforcement learning: An overview. ArXiv 1806.08894; 2018. Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.08894.

**123**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

for the Council of Europe; 2018. Available from: https://rm.coe.int/ algorithms-and-human-rights-enrev/16807956b5, p. 8. See also Broeders D, Schrijvers E, Hirsch Ballin E. Big data and security policies: serving security, protecting freedom, WRR-Policy Brief 6 (2017). Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). Available from: https:// www.wrr.nl/binaries/wrr/documenten/ policy-briefs/2017/01/31/big-dataand-security-policies-serving-securityprotecting-freedom/WRR\_PB6\_

BigDataAndSecurityPolicies.pdf; 24-25.

explanation. A*rXiv* 21 November 2017. Available from: https://arxiv.org/ pdf/1711.01134.pdf. [Accessed:

[103] Council of Europe. Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on the manipulative capabilities of algorithmic processes. (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 13 February 2019 at the 1337th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies). Decl (13/02/2019)1. Available from: https://search.coe.int/ cm/pages/result\_details.aspx?objectid= 090000168092dd4b. [Accessed:

[104] On 22 May 2019, the OECD adopted its Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence, a first series of international standards agreed by the member countries to promote the responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI, drawn up with the cooperation of a

multi-stakeholder group of experts. Available from: https:// legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/

instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0449. See also OECD. Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives, OECD Publishing: Paris; 2019. Available from:

[102] Gurumurthy A, Bhartur D. Democracy and the Algorithmic Turn. SUR, 15(27) 2019; 39: 50 [44]. See also Doshi-Velez, F. et al. Accountability of

AI under the law: The role of

2021-05-27]

2021-05-27]

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Smith, M. and S. Neupane. Artificial Intelligence and Human Development: Toward a Research Agenda. International

Development Research Centre: Ottawa; 2018. Available from: https://idl-bnc-

handle/10625/56949. [Accessed:

[99] Human Right Impact Assesment (HRIA) is an indicator set up by the Global Network Initiative (GNI) aiming to ["asses echnology against a wide range of possible human rights impacts, a broad-sweeping approach that is resource-intensive. It can be easier to start with the AI system in question and work outwards. In this way, AI focuses on a limited range of areas where rights challenges appear most likely."] Human rights can help identify vulnerable or at-risk groups or communities in relation to AI. Available from: https:// globalnetworkinitiative.org/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also Cellarius, M. Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Informational Self-determination. The OECD Forum, OECD: Paris; 2017. Available from: https://www.oecdforum.org/users/75927-mathiascellarius/posts/28608-artificialintelligence-and-the-right-toinformational-self-determination.

[100] Borges G. Liability for Machine-Made Decisions: Gaps and Potential Solutions, Presentation at the "AI: Intelligent Machines, Smart Policies". In Conference; Paris 26-27 October 2017. Available from: http://www.oecd.org/ going-digital/ai-intelligent-machinessmart-policies/conference-agenda/ ai-intelligent-machines-smart-policiesborges.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[101] Wagner B. et al. Algorithms and human rights. Study on the human rights dimensions of automated data processing techniques and possible regulatory implications, DGI(2017)12, prepared by the Committee of Experts on internet intermediaries (MSI-NET)

idrc.dspacedirect.org/

2021-05-27]

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Smith, M. and S. Neupane. Artificial Intelligence and Human Development: Toward a Research Agenda. International Development Research Centre: Ottawa; 2018. Available from: https://idl-bncidrc.dspacedirect.org/ handle/10625/56949. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

[94] European Commission.

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of

the Regions. "Action Plan against Disinformation". JOIN (2018) 36 final.

ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org/.

[96] Barrera Rodriguez O, Guriev S M, Henry E, Zhuravskaya E. Facts,

Alternative Facts, and Fact Checking in Times of Post-Truth Politics; 2018. Available from: https://ssrn.com/

phenomenon: a framework and research agenda. Annals of the International Communication Association, 43(2);

[98] Cf. article 33a of the Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018. Available from: https://eur-lex. europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/1808/oj. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. The revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive governs EU-wide coordination of national legislation on all audiovisual media, both traditional TV broadcasts

10.1080/23808985.2019.1602782.

and on-demand services. See

Mousave S, Schukat M, Howley, E. Deep reinforcement learning: An overview. ArXiv 1806.08894; 2018. Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.08894.

[97] Bayer J, Bitiukova N, Bárd P, Alemanno A, Szakács J, Uszkiewicz E. Disinformation and Propaganda – Impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States. Brussels: European Union; 2019. Available from: http://www.europarl. europa.eu/thinktank/en/docu-ment. html?reference=IPOL\_STU(2019) 608864. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. Egelhofer J L, Lecheler S. Fake news as a two-dimensional

[95] Available from: https://

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

2018 December 5.

abstract=3004631

2019; 97-116. DOI:

[89] European Commission.

the Regions. "On the European democracy action plan". COM(2020) 790 final. 2020 December 3. Available from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020 %3A790%3AFIN&qid=1607079662423.

the EU Disinformation Review

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

ssrn.3151424.

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

algorithmwatch. org/en/

[Accessed: 2021-05-27]

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of

[90] https://edmo.eu/edmo-at-a-glance/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] Cf Alemanno A, Brogi J, Fischer-Zernin M, Morrow P. Is

Compliant with EU Law? Complaint to the European Ombudsman About the EU Anti-Fake News Initiative. HEC Paris Research Paper No. LAW-2018- 1273; 2018 March 28. DOI: 10.2139/

[91] Available from: https://ec.europa. eu/digital-single-market/en/news/ code-practice-disinformation.

[92] Cornils M. Designing platform governance: A normative perspective on needs, strategies, and tools to regulate intermediaries. Algorithm-Watch: Berlin; 2020. Available from: https://

governingplatforms/legal-study-cornilsmay-2020; See also Batokas et al. Follow the Money: Online Piracy and Self-Regulation in the Advertising Industry; CESifo Working Paper No. 6852; 2018. Available from: https://www.cesifogroup.de/DocDL/cesifo1\_wp6852.pdf.

[93] ERGA comprises representatives of all the relevant regulatory bodies in all the Member States. It provides technical advice to the Commission in a number of fields related to the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and facilitates cooperation among national regulatory bodies and between these bodies and the Commission.

**122**

[99] Human Right Impact Assesment (HRIA) is an indicator set up by the Global Network Initiative (GNI) aiming to ["asses echnology against a wide range of possible human rights impacts, a broad-sweeping approach that is resource-intensive. It can be easier to start with the AI system in question and work outwards. In this way, AI focuses on a limited range of areas where rights challenges appear most likely."] Human rights can help identify vulnerable or at-risk groups or communities in relation to AI. Available from: https:// globalnetworkinitiative.org/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also Cellarius, M. Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Informational Self-determination. The OECD Forum, OECD: Paris; 2017. Available from: https://www.oecdforum.org/users/75927-mathiascellarius/posts/28608-artificialintelligence-and-the-right-toinformational-self-determination.

[100] Borges G. Liability for Machine-Made Decisions: Gaps and Potential Solutions, Presentation at the "AI: Intelligent Machines, Smart Policies". In Conference; Paris 26-27 October 2017. Available from: http://www.oecd.org/ going-digital/ai-intelligent-machinessmart-policies/conference-agenda/ ai-intelligent-machines-smart-policiesborges.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[101] Wagner B. et al. Algorithms and human rights. Study on the human rights dimensions of automated data processing techniques and possible regulatory implications, DGI(2017)12, prepared by the Committee of Experts on internet intermediaries (MSI-NET) for the Council of Europe; 2018. Available from: https://rm.coe.int/ algorithms-and-human-rights-enrev/16807956b5, p. 8. See also Broeders D, Schrijvers E, Hirsch Ballin E. Big data and security policies: serving security, protecting freedom, WRR-Policy Brief 6 (2017). Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). Available from: https:// www.wrr.nl/binaries/wrr/documenten/ policy-briefs/2017/01/31/big-dataand-security-policies-serving-securityprotecting-freedom/WRR\_PB6\_ BigDataAndSecurityPolicies.pdf; 24-25. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[102] Gurumurthy A, Bhartur D. Democracy and the Algorithmic Turn. SUR, 15(27) 2019; 39: 50 [44]. See also Doshi-Velez, F. et al. Accountability of AI under the law: The role of explanation. A*rXiv* 21 November 2017. Available from: https://arxiv.org/ pdf/1711.01134.pdf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[103] Council of Europe. Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on the manipulative capabilities of algorithmic processes. (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 13 February 2019 at the 1337th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies). Decl (13/02/2019)1. Available from: https://search.coe.int/ cm/pages/result\_details.aspx?objectid= 090000168092dd4b. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[104] On 22 May 2019, the OECD adopted its Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence, a first series of international standards agreed by the member countries to promote the responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI, drawn up with the cooperation of a multi-stakeholder group of experts. Available from: https:// legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/ instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0449. See also OECD. Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives, OECD Publishing: Paris; 2019. Available from:

https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264312012 en. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. On 9 June 2019, the G20 adopted the principles of a human-centred approach to AI, inspired by the OECD's recommendation. Available from: https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2019/06/2 0190610010/20190610010-1.pdf

[105] Such stakeholder groups include : he Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) which launched its Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, and published Ethically Aligned Design principles (2016); the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society (2016); the Future of Life Institute whicht set up the Asilomar AI Principles (2017) – ["a set of research, ethics and values for the safe and socially beneficial development of AI in the near and longer term."] Available from: https://futureoflife.org/ ai-principles/?cn-reloaded=1. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also ITI (2017), AI Policy Principles, Information Technology Industry Council. Available from: https://www.itic.org/resources/ AI-Policy-Principles-FullReport2.pdf.

[106] Cf. Benhamou S, Janin L. Intelligence artificielle et travail, France Stratégie, 2018. Available from: http:// www.strategie.gouv.fr/publications/ intelligence-artificielle-travail. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] Colclough C. Ethical Artificial Intelligence – 10 Essential Ingredients. A.Ideas Series, No. 24 (2017): The Forum Network, OECD: Paris. Available from: https:// www.oecd-forum.org/channels/722 digitalisation/posts/29527-10 principles-for-ethical-artificialintelligence. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] Daugherty P, Wilson H. Human Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, Harvard Business Review Press: Cambridge, MA; 2018; Heiner D, Nguyen C. Amplify Human Ingenuity with Intelligent Technology. Shaping Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. A.Ideas Series, The Forum Network,

OECD: Paris; 2018. Available from: https://www.oecd-forum.org/ users/86008-david-heiner-and-carolynnguyen/posts/30653-shaping-humancentered-artificial-intelligence. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] UNI (2018), 10 Principles for Workers' Data Rights and Privacy, UNI Global Union. Available from: http://www. thefutureworldofwork.org/docs/10 principles-for-workers-data-rights-andprivacy/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. MGI. Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: Workforce Transitions in a Time of Automation; McKinsey Global Institute: New York; 2017.

[107] European Parliament. Renda, A. The legal framework to address "fake news": possible policy actions at the EU level. Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies. Centre for European Policy Studies and College of Europe. Directorate-General for Internal Policies, PE 619.013, June 2018; 29.

[108] Cf. EESC. Artificial Intelligence – The Consequences of Artificial Intelligence on the Digital) Single Market, Production, Consumption, Employment and Society, European Economic and Social Committee: Brussels; 2017. Available from: https:// www.eesc.europa.eu/en/our-work/ opinions-inf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[109] Cf. The Future Today Institute. 2020 – Tech Trends Report. Emerging technology trends that will influence business, government, education, media and society in the coming year*.* Lighting Source Inc.: La Vergne 2020. See also European Parliament. Renda, A. The legal framework to address fake news: possible policy actions at the EU level; 2018.

[110] Cf. Gurumurthy A, Bhartur, D. 2019 [45]. See also Bocher, T. If... Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics. Oxford University Press: New York; 2018. See also Bodó, B., Helberger, N., Eskens, S.,

**125**

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three…*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

& Moeller, J. Interested in diversity: The role of user attitudes, algorithmic feedback loops, and policy in news personalization. Digital Journalism, 7(2) 2019; 206-229. DOI: 10.1080/21670811. 2018.1521292. See also Elliott, S. Computers and the Future of Skill Demand, Educational Research and Innovation. OECD Publishing: Paris; 2017. DOI: 10.1787/9789264284395-en.

[111] Cf. Danescu; 2020; 13-14.

*Democracy, Freedom and Truth at a Time of Digital Disruption: An Equation with Three… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97662*

& Moeller, J. Interested in diversity: The role of user attitudes, algorithmic feedback loops, and policy in news personalization. Digital Journalism, 7(2) 2019; 206-229. DOI: 10.1080/21670811. 2018.1521292. See also Elliott, S. Computers and the Future of Skill Demand, Educational Research and Innovation. OECD Publishing: Paris; 2017. DOI: 10.1787/9789264284395-en.

[111] Cf. Danescu; 2020; 13-14.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

OECD: Paris; 2018. Available from: https://www.oecd-forum.org/

users/86008-david-heiner-and-carolynnguyen/posts/30653-shaping-humancentered-artificial-intelligence.

[Accessed: 2021-05-27] UNI (2018), 10 Principles for Workers' Data Rights and Privacy, UNI Global Union. Available

thefutureworldofwork.org/docs/10 principles-for-workers-data-rights-andprivacy/. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. MGI. Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: Workforce Transitions in a Time of Automation; McKinsey Global Institute: New

[107] European Parliament. Renda, A. The legal framework to address "fake news": possible policy actions at the EU level. Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies. Centre for European Policy Studies and College of Europe. Directorate-General for Internal Policies, PE 619.013, June

[108] Cf. EESC. Artificial Intelligence – The Consequences of Artificial Intelligence on the Digital) Single Market, Production, Consumption, Employment and Society, European Economic and Social Committee: Brussels; 2017. Available from: https:// www.eesc.europa.eu/en/our-work/ opinions-inf. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]

[109] Cf. The Future Today Institute. 2020 – Tech Trends Report. Emerging technology trends that will influence business, government, education, media and society in the coming year*.* Lighting Source Inc.: La Vergne 2020. See also European Parliament. Renda, A. The legal framework to address fake news: possible policy actions at the EU

[110] Cf. Gurumurthy A, Bhartur, D. 2019 [45]. See also Bocher, T. If... Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics. Oxford University Press: New York; 2018. See also Bodó, B., Helberger, N., Eskens, S.,

from: http://www.

York; 2017.

2018; 29.

level; 2018.

https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264312012 en. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. On 9 June 2019, the G20 adopted the principles of a human-centred approach to AI,

recommendation. Available from: https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2019/06/2

0190610010/20190610010-1.pdf

he Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) which launched its Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, and published Ethically Aligned Design principles (2016); the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society (2016); the Future of Life Institute whicht set up the Asilomar AI Principles (2017) – ["a set of research, ethics and values for the safe and socially beneficial development of AI in the near and longer term."] Available from: https://futureoflife.org/

[105] Such stakeholder groups include :

ai-principles/?cn-reloaded=1. [Accessed: 2021-05-27]. See also ITI (2017), AI Policy Principles, Information

Technology Industry Council. Available from: https://www.itic.org/resources/ AI-Policy-Principles-FullReport2.pdf.

Intelligence artificielle et travail, France Stratégie, 2018. Available from: http:// www.strategie.gouv.fr/publications/ intelligence-artificielle-travail. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] Colclough C. Ethical Artificial Intelligence – 10 Essential Ingredients. A.Ideas Series, No. 24 (2017): The Forum Network, OECD: Paris. Available from: https:// www.oecd-forum.org/channels/722 digitalisation/posts/29527-10 principles-for-ethical-artificialintelligence. [Accessed: 2021-05-27] Daugherty P, Wilson H. Human

Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, Harvard Business Review Press: Cambridge, MA; 2018; Heiner D, Nguyen C. Amplify Human Ingenuity with Intelligent Technology. Shaping Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. A.Ideas Series, The Forum Network,

[106] Cf. Benhamou S, Janin L.

inspired by the OECD's

**124**

**127**

**1. Introduction**

**Chapter 6**

Fake News as Aberration in

Estate of the Realm

*Sulaiman A. Osho*

**Abstract**

Journalism Practice: Examining

Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth

The deliberate publication of fake news by any media organisation or online network is an aberration in journalism practice. And such sophist intentions and dissemination of falsehood to the people through the virtual media, social media and old media is a depravity against humanity to spread mischief, acrimony, crises, disease, corruption, and squalor. It is total negation of journalism values and news values. Thus, this chapter seeks to examine the concept of newsworthiness in the wake of resurrection of the ghost of fake news in this digital age, which was the practice in the age of ignorance when unlettered men abound as journalists. It investigates the ideological constructs of news because it is a violation of journalism practice for any organisation to base its ideology on the publication of fake news. This study highlights news production process in tandem with the socio-cultural interests, political philosophy, and economic interests of the sponsors, financiers, and owners of the media. The chapter critically examines factors of news or factors of newsworthiness in relation to the concept of fake news. If the twelve factors of news are frequency, threshold, unambiguity, meaningfulness, consonance, unexpectedness, continuity, composition, reference to elite nations, reference to elite people, reference to elite persons, and reference to something negative, should there be anything fake called News? In narrative and argumentative form, the study concludes that anything fake or any information that is based on falsehood cannot be regarded as News. If it is news, it must be based on Truth and Facts. If it is news, it must be new. If it is news, it must be based on actualities. If it is news, it must be based on evidences. If it is news, it must be fair. If it is news, it must be based on realities. If it is news, it must not be based on vendetta. If it is news, it must not be hoax. If it is news, it must not be fallacy. If it is news, it must not be innuendoes.

**Keywords:** fake news, journalism values, news values, truth, facts

A study of fake news is crucial in this digital age of instant message of news dissemination and interaction globally, when the spread of fabricated news is gaining relevance in the mass media, new media, social media, websites, and blogs. Fake News as form of neologism, is otherwise known as junk news, pseudo-news,

#### **Chapter 6**

## Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth Estate of the Realm

*Sulaiman A. Osho*

#### **Abstract**

The deliberate publication of fake news by any media organisation or online network is an aberration in journalism practice. And such sophist intentions and dissemination of falsehood to the people through the virtual media, social media and old media is a depravity against humanity to spread mischief, acrimony, crises, disease, corruption, and squalor. It is total negation of journalism values and news values. Thus, this chapter seeks to examine the concept of newsworthiness in the wake of resurrection of the ghost of fake news in this digital age, which was the practice in the age of ignorance when unlettered men abound as journalists. It investigates the ideological constructs of news because it is a violation of journalism practice for any organisation to base its ideology on the publication of fake news. This study highlights news production process in tandem with the socio-cultural interests, political philosophy, and economic interests of the sponsors, financiers, and owners of the media. The chapter critically examines factors of news or factors of newsworthiness in relation to the concept of fake news. If the twelve factors of news are frequency, threshold, unambiguity, meaningfulness, consonance, unexpectedness, continuity, composition, reference to elite nations, reference to elite people, reference to elite persons, and reference to something negative, should there be anything fake called News? In narrative and argumentative form, the study concludes that anything fake or any information that is based on falsehood cannot be regarded as News. If it is news, it must be based on Truth and Facts. If it is news, it must be new. If it is news, it must be based on actualities. If it is news, it must be based on evidences. If it is news, it must be fair. If it is news, it must be based on realities. If it is news, it must not be based on vendetta. If it is news, it must not be hoax. If it is news, it must not be fallacy. If it is news, it must not be innuendoes.

**Keywords:** fake news, journalism values, news values, truth, facts

#### **1. Introduction**

A study of fake news is crucial in this digital age of instant message of news dissemination and interaction globally, when the spread of fabricated news is gaining relevance in the mass media, new media, social media, websites, and blogs. Fake News as form of neologism, is otherwise known as junk news, pseudo-news,

alternative news or hoax news to fabricate news with harmful intent to spread lies (Dis-information); to transmit false information without harmful intent (Misinformation); and to convey genuine information with intent to cause harm (Malinformation) [1–3]. The spread of fake news is quite appalling as they are being presented as factually accurate and truthful. Whereas, propaganda, or satire news cannot be disseminated as authentic news, but yellow journalism.

Really, fake news discourse has been popular in recent times due to the manifestation of the 'Global Village' theory, through Online journalism, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al.; Websites, Blogs, and the desperation of people to gain financially and politically. Hence, the Global network and platforms are besieged with sensational, dishonest, outright fabricated news, and headlines to increase readership, advertisement patronages [4, 5].

The post-truth politics has also pushed fake news to the front burner with the easy access to online advertisement revenue, increased political polarisation and the popularity of the social media, especially the Facebook News Feed and Twitter [1]. Meanwhile, the resurrection of the ghost of fake news in various newsrooms has undermined serious media coverage and makes it difficult for journalists to cover significant news events [6].

A survey by BuzzFeed that the top fake news about the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election received more engagement on Facebook than the top 20 election stories from 19 major media outlets [7].

Meanwhile, fake news can be historically traced to the 13th Century B.C., when Ramses the Great spread lies and propaganda portraying the Battle of Kadesh as a stunning victory for the Egyptians. The fake news depicted Ramses the Great himself killing many of his foes at the Battle. Whereas, the Treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites, reveals that the battle was actually a stalemate [8]. Besides, Octavian misinformed the people against his rival Mark Antony, portraying him as a drunkard, a womaniser, and a mere puppet of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII [9].

In fact, MacDonald [10] reveals that Octavian published a fake Will of Mark Antony which caused an outrage among the Roman populace. The fake testament claimed that Mark Antony upon his death wished to be entombed in the mausoleum of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs. However, Biography.com [11] notes that Mark Antony killed himself after his defeat in the Battle of Actium, and after hearing false rumours promoted by Cleopatra herself saying that she had committed a suicide.

In the second and third Centuries A.D., false rumours were spread about Christians claiming that they engaged in rituals and cannibalism, and incest [12, 13]. Also, in the late third Century A.D., David Gwynn [14] discloses that Christian apologist Lactantius invented and exaggerated stories about pagans engaging in acts of immorality and cruelty. And Gillian Clark [15] declares that Porphyry, fabricated similar stories about Christians.

Indeed, the publication of fake news spans through all ages to the present digital age of the 21st Century. During the Medieval period, a significant fake news in 1475 claimed in Trent that the Jewish community had murdered a two-and-half year-old Christian infant named Simonino [16]. The false news triggered the arrest and torture of Jews in the City, where fifteen of them were burned at stake. All attempts by Pope Sixtus IV to suppress the phony news proved abortive. The "blood libel" news had turned tragic as the Jews were claimed to have killed Christians deliberately to use the blood of the children for religions or ritual purposes [17].

In the aftermath of the invention of printing press in 1439, the publication of counterfeit news became widespread. Yet, there was no standard journalistic ethics to follow. In the 17th Century historians started the practice if citing their sources in footnotes. The trial of Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de Galilei, the Italian

**129**

advertisement [23].

Union newspaper [25, 26].

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

astronomer, physicist, and engineer in 1610, actually pushed forward the demand

It is remarkable that in the 18th Century, publishers of fake news were fined and banned in the Netherlands. A publisher, Gerard Lodewijk Van der Macht, was banned and fined four times by Dutch authorities. And he re-established his press four times [18]. Also, Jacob Soll [16] unveils that Benjamin Franklin wrote fake news about murderous 'scalping' Indians in the American colonies. They were working with King George III in an effort to diffuse public opinion in favour of American

Perhaps, as part of American wonders in history is the 1835 fake news on the Great Moon Hoax. The New York Sun published articles about a real-life astronomer and a made-up bizarre life on the moon. According to Brooke Borel [18], the fake news attracted new subscribers, and the penny paper suffered little setback, as it

Also, in the 19th Century, yellow journalism reached its peak in the 1890's as there were circulation war of sensational news between Joseph Pullitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The publishers of fake news inspired US government into the Spanish-American war, which was triggered

Truly, fake news actually expands with the democratisation of communication improved technology as traditional media are in high demand in the 20th Century. It is revealed that Woodrow Wilson, the American 28th President (1913–1921) promoted the phrase, "Fake News" in 1915 [19]. Although, the phrase had been used in the United States in the previous Century, we will appreciate the fact that this is the period of First World War, when there was anti-German atrocity propaganda,

It is crucial to note that Hitler and Nazi Party established the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in 1933 on attaining power, and made Joseph Goebbels the Propaganda Minister [20]. Just as Hitler's Germany was using propaganda to disseminate fake news to fan the embers of Nazi rule, the British propaganda used radio broadcasts and leaflets to publicise phony news to discourage German troops. Also, the American propaganda used The New York Times and

With the global network of information through the World Wide Web (WWW) in the 21st Century, fake news continues to be widespread [22]. It is amazing how fake news is increasing at increasing rate with the emergence of the International Networking (Internet), and creation of untruthful, misleading, and unwanted information which lacked verification. These are disseminated through email, social media, blogs, websites, WhatsApp, and others with the aim of deceiving readers into clicking of the links to maximise the traffic and profit through

Besides, we have satire news, that's not intended to mislead but to inform and share humorous commentaries about real news and the mainstream media [24]. Such satirical news as opposed to fake news reflect in television programmes in United States television shows such as Saturday Night Live's, Weekend Update, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The

Truly, President Donald Trump of America has propagated fake news in the new dispensation with his daily Tweets, dispelling negative news about him and his presidency as fake news [27, 28]. The British government has however decided in October 2018 that it bans the use of the term "Fake News" as it is a "poorly-defined and misleading term that conflates a variety of false information, from genuine

error through to foreign interference in democratic processes" [28].

was meant to entertain readers, and not to mislead them.

as USS Maine attacked the harbour of Havana, Cuba.

and others to outwit one another in the global conflict.

others as propaganda machineries to spread fake news [21].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

for veritable news [16].

Revolution.

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

astronomer, physicist, and engineer in 1610, actually pushed forward the demand for veritable news [16].

It is remarkable that in the 18th Century, publishers of fake news were fined and banned in the Netherlands. A publisher, Gerard Lodewijk Van der Macht, was banned and fined four times by Dutch authorities. And he re-established his press four times [18]. Also, Jacob Soll [16] unveils that Benjamin Franklin wrote fake news about murderous 'scalping' Indians in the American colonies. They were working with King George III in an effort to diffuse public opinion in favour of American Revolution.

Perhaps, as part of American wonders in history is the 1835 fake news on the Great Moon Hoax. The New York Sun published articles about a real-life astronomer and a made-up bizarre life on the moon. According to Brooke Borel [18], the fake news attracted new subscribers, and the penny paper suffered little setback, as it was meant to entertain readers, and not to mislead them.

Also, in the 19th Century, yellow journalism reached its peak in the 1890's as there were circulation war of sensational news between Joseph Pullitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The publishers of fake news inspired US government into the Spanish-American war, which was triggered as USS Maine attacked the harbour of Havana, Cuba.

Truly, fake news actually expands with the democratisation of communication improved technology as traditional media are in high demand in the 20th Century. It is revealed that Woodrow Wilson, the American 28th President (1913–1921) promoted the phrase, "Fake News" in 1915 [19]. Although, the phrase had been used in the United States in the previous Century, we will appreciate the fact that this is the period of First World War, when there was anti-German atrocity propaganda, and others to outwit one another in the global conflict.

It is crucial to note that Hitler and Nazi Party established the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in 1933 on attaining power, and made Joseph Goebbels the Propaganda Minister [20]. Just as Hitler's Germany was using propaganda to disseminate fake news to fan the embers of Nazi rule, the British propaganda used radio broadcasts and leaflets to publicise phony news to discourage German troops. Also, the American propaganda used The New York Times and others as propaganda machineries to spread fake news [21].

With the global network of information through the World Wide Web (WWW) in the 21st Century, fake news continues to be widespread [22]. It is amazing how fake news is increasing at increasing rate with the emergence of the International Networking (Internet), and creation of untruthful, misleading, and unwanted information which lacked verification. These are disseminated through email, social media, blogs, websites, WhatsApp, and others with the aim of deceiving readers into clicking of the links to maximise the traffic and profit through advertisement [23].

Besides, we have satire news, that's not intended to mislead but to inform and share humorous commentaries about real news and the mainstream media [24]. Such satirical news as opposed to fake news reflect in television programmes in United States television shows such as Saturday Night Live's, Weekend Update, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Union newspaper [25, 26].

Truly, President Donald Trump of America has propagated fake news in the new dispensation with his daily Tweets, dispelling negative news about him and his presidency as fake news [27, 28]. The British government has however decided in October 2018 that it bans the use of the term "Fake News" as it is a "poorly-defined and misleading term that conflates a variety of false information, from genuine error through to foreign interference in democratic processes" [28].

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

cannot be disseminated as authentic news, but yellow journalism.

increase readership, advertisement patronages [4, 5].

significant news events [6].

Cleopatra VII [9].

from 19 major media outlets [7].

similar stories about Christians.

alternative news or hoax news to fabricate news with harmful intent to spread lies (Dis-information); to transmit false information without harmful intent (Misinformation); and to convey genuine information with intent to cause harm (Malinformation) [1–3]. The spread of fake news is quite appalling as they are being presented as factually accurate and truthful. Whereas, propaganda, or satire news

Really, fake news discourse has been popular in recent times due to the manifestation of the 'Global Village' theory, through Online journalism, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al.; Websites, Blogs, and the desperation of people to gain financially and politically. Hence, the Global network and platforms are besieged with sensational, dishonest, outright fabricated news, and headlines to

The post-truth politics has also pushed fake news to the front burner with the easy access to online advertisement revenue, increased political polarisation and the popularity of the social media, especially the Facebook News Feed and Twitter [1]. Meanwhile, the resurrection of the ghost of fake news in various newsrooms has undermined serious media coverage and makes it difficult for journalists to cover

A survey by BuzzFeed that the top fake news about the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election received more engagement on Facebook than the top 20 election stories

Meanwhile, fake news can be historically traced to the 13th Century B.C., when Ramses the Great spread lies and propaganda portraying the Battle of Kadesh as a stunning victory for the Egyptians. The fake news depicted Ramses the Great himself killing many of his foes at the Battle. Whereas, the Treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites, reveals that the battle was actually a stalemate [8]. Besides, Octavian misinformed the people against his rival Mark Antony, portraying him as a drunkard, a womaniser, and a mere puppet of the Egyptian Queen

In fact, MacDonald [10] reveals that Octavian published a fake Will of Mark Antony which caused an outrage among the Roman populace. The fake testament claimed that Mark Antony upon his death wished to be entombed in the mausoleum of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs. However, Biography.com [11] notes that Mark Antony killed himself after his defeat in the Battle of Actium, and after hearing false rumours promoted by Cleopatra herself saying that she had committed a suicide. In the second and third Centuries A.D., false rumours were spread about Christians claiming that they engaged in rituals and cannibalism, and incest [12, 13]. Also, in the late third Century A.D., David Gwynn [14] discloses that Christian apologist Lactantius invented and exaggerated stories about pagans engaging in acts of immorality and cruelty. And Gillian Clark [15] declares that Porphyry, fabricated

Indeed, the publication of fake news spans through all ages to the present digital age of the 21st Century. During the Medieval period, a significant fake news in 1475 claimed in Trent that the Jewish community had murdered a two-and-half year-old Christian infant named Simonino [16]. The false news triggered the arrest and torture of Jews in the City, where fifteen of them were burned at stake. All attempts by Pope Sixtus IV to suppress the phony news proved abortive. The "blood libel" news had turned tragic as the Jews were claimed to have killed Christians deliberately to

In the aftermath of the invention of printing press in 1439, the publication of counterfeit news became widespread. Yet, there was no standard journalistic ethics to follow. In the 17th Century historians started the practice if citing their sources in footnotes. The trial of Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de Galilei, the Italian

use the blood of the children for religions or ritual purposes [17].

**128**

The Internet has assisted protagonists of fake news to spread their illicit trade to go viral globally. The inventor of World Wide Web (WWW), Tim Berners-Lee says in 2017, that fake news is one of the most three significant trends that must be checked, if the Internet must truly "serve humanity'. The other two trends to be resolved is the use of Internet by governments for both "citizen-surveillance purposes, and for cyber-warfare purposes" [29]. The Reuters [30] reveals a research finding that 58 per cent of people had less trust in social media news stories as opposed to 24 per cent of people in mainstream media after learning about fake news.

This stems from the fact that fake news websites spread misinformation, falsehood, and misleading news to spread mischief, vendetta, and hatred. According to Michael Radutzky [31], huge patronage of advertisements in fake news websites make it global and spread the fake news. Thus, Jestin Coler, who establishes fake news websites for fun, discloses that Ten Thousand Dollars is earned monthly through advertisements placed on his fake news websites [32].

This study about fake news becomes pertinent as it is gaining more popularity with the social media spreading fake news, which people easily access, as against the traditional media. The Pew Research Center [33] reveals that 62 per cent of American adults gets news on social media, and most of them are fake news, compared to the mass media of radio, television, newspapers and magazines.

#### **2. Exploring the concept of fake news**

It is crucial to explore the true meaning of Fake News, especially as President Donald Trump of America has redefined the term to mean any negative news in the media against him and his presidency [27]. But Fake News is a neologism that means news stories that are untrue, not factual, and deliberate falsehood. Fake news does not mean unfavourable news, but news that were fabricated as a lie to mislead people, and cause chaos and anarchy among people. Fake news are formulated stories that are conjured as vendetta, and spread rumour mongering through the traditional media, social media, fake news websites, blogs, and other media outlets [1].

Fake news are machineries of propaganda strategy to deceive, mislead, confuse, and coerce people to influence and further an agenda, so that they may be psychologically brainwashed to believe the falsehood being promoted for supports. Propaganda use different methods, according to Lee and Lee like name calling, bandwagon, transfer, card stacking, testimonial, plain folks, and glittering generalities to gain support for what Frank Jefkins [34] identifies as "an opinion, creed or belief".

Meanwhile, Claire Wardle [35] identifies seven types of fake news thus: i. satire or parody ("no intention to cause harm but has potential to fool"); ii. false connection ("when headlines, visuals or captions don't support the content") and spread through the traditional media, social media, websites; iii. Misleading content ("misleading use of information to frame an issue or an individual"); iv. false context ("when genuine content is shared with false contextual information"); v. impostor content ("when genuine sources are impersonated" with false, made-up sources); vi. manipulated content ("when genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive", as with a "doctored" photo); and vii. Fabricated content ("new content is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm").

It is through these differentials that we can identify and differentiate fake news from the true news in different media. But the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) gives some tips on how to actually spot

**131**

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

fake news [36]. They are: 1. Consider the source (to understand its mission and purpose); 2. Read beyond the headline (to understand the whole story); 3. Check the authors (to see if they are real and credible); 4. Assess the supporting sources (to ensure they support the claims); 5. Check the date of publication (to see if the story is relevant and up to date); 6. Ask if it is a joke (to determine if it is meant to be satire); 7. Review your own biases (to see if they are affecting your judgement); and 8. Ask experts (to get confirmation from independent people with

The spread of fake news through the social media such as Twitter, Facebook news feed, Websites, and Blogs continues to worry experts in linguistics and the field of mass communications. This manifests in the spread of fake news with over 100 incorrect articles on the 2016 United States presidential election [37]. It is revealed that the fake news articles were disseminated through satirical news Websites, individual Websites, daily Tweets of President Trump, and others to

Prevalence of Fake News seems to be winning against correct news when we realise that it propelled Donald Trump to win 2016 presidential election in America. The election was won through Electoral College and not through majority votes. Donald Trump and Mike Pence of Republican Party won at Electoral College with 304 votes, as against 227 Votes for Hilary Clinton and Tim Kaine of Democratic Party. This is against the popular votes of 65,853,514 won by Hilary Clinton with 48.2 per cent of the votes, as against the 62,984,828 Votes of Donald Trump with 46.1 per cent [38]. And out of 7 faithless electors, 2 pledged to Donald Trump, and 5

But the daily Tweets of Trump dispelling correct negative news against him as fake news, and multiplicity of fake news sponsored in the media to create confusion propelled Trump as glorified candidate against all odds, to mould public opinion wrongly. Thus, steps must be taken urgently to checkmate fake news in the media to save humanity from untruth to pervade the globe against truthful news to elevate

However, scientific efforts are being made to detect fake news in the media. Language techniques, theories, and models such as n-gram encodings and bag of words are being developed to determine the legitimacy, the credibility, and truthfulness of the news. Some Websites such as "Snopes" are developing methods to detect fake news manually, while some universities are developing mathematical

It is hoped such scientific efforts will meet the voracity of desperations being displayed by the protagonists of fake news to spread their illicit trade in the mass media, online media, and social media to create hatred, chaos, and anarchy among

It is apposite to consider the correct meaning of news, and factors determining news values so as to situate it against fake news. News is the reportage of current events or happenings, which may be normal, oddity or calamitous and transmitted through the organs of mass communication of radio, television, cinematography, newspaper, magazine, or the International Network (Internet) to the numerous

The novelty of news makes it a major ingredient of the mass media and the new media which people pursue on daily basis, as it forms the immediate dissemination

of information which is a major function of the media [14, pp. 42–44].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

propagate false information on the elections.

to Hilary Clinton [39, 40].

peoples of the world.

models to detect fake news.

**3. News and news values**

heterogeneous audiences [41, p. 328].

peoples of the world.

knowledge).

#### *Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

fake news [36]. They are: 1. Consider the source (to understand its mission and purpose); 2. Read beyond the headline (to understand the whole story); 3. Check the authors (to see if they are real and credible); 4. Assess the supporting sources (to ensure they support the claims); 5. Check the date of publication (to see if the story is relevant and up to date); 6. Ask if it is a joke (to determine if it is meant to be satire); 7. Review your own biases (to see if they are affecting your judgement); and 8. Ask experts (to get confirmation from independent people with knowledge).

The spread of fake news through the social media such as Twitter, Facebook news feed, Websites, and Blogs continues to worry experts in linguistics and the field of mass communications. This manifests in the spread of fake news with over 100 incorrect articles on the 2016 United States presidential election [37]. It is revealed that the fake news articles were disseminated through satirical news Websites, individual Websites, daily Tweets of President Trump, and others to propagate false information on the elections.

Prevalence of Fake News seems to be winning against correct news when we realise that it propelled Donald Trump to win 2016 presidential election in America. The election was won through Electoral College and not through majority votes. Donald Trump and Mike Pence of Republican Party won at Electoral College with 304 votes, as against 227 Votes for Hilary Clinton and Tim Kaine of Democratic Party. This is against the popular votes of 65,853,514 won by Hilary Clinton with 48.2 per cent of the votes, as against the 62,984,828 Votes of Donald Trump with 46.1 per cent [38]. And out of 7 faithless electors, 2 pledged to Donald Trump, and 5 to Hilary Clinton [39, 40].

But the daily Tweets of Trump dispelling correct negative news against him as fake news, and multiplicity of fake news sponsored in the media to create confusion propelled Trump as glorified candidate against all odds, to mould public opinion wrongly. Thus, steps must be taken urgently to checkmate fake news in the media to save humanity from untruth to pervade the globe against truthful news to elevate peoples of the world.

However, scientific efforts are being made to detect fake news in the media. Language techniques, theories, and models such as n-gram encodings and bag of words are being developed to determine the legitimacy, the credibility, and truthfulness of the news. Some Websites such as "Snopes" are developing methods to detect fake news manually, while some universities are developing mathematical models to detect fake news.

It is hoped such scientific efforts will meet the voracity of desperations being displayed by the protagonists of fake news to spread their illicit trade in the mass media, online media, and social media to create hatred, chaos, and anarchy among peoples of the world.

#### **3. News and news values**

It is apposite to consider the correct meaning of news, and factors determining news values so as to situate it against fake news. News is the reportage of current events or happenings, which may be normal, oddity or calamitous and transmitted through the organs of mass communication of radio, television, cinematography, newspaper, magazine, or the International Network (Internet) to the numerous heterogeneous audiences [41, p. 328].

The novelty of news makes it a major ingredient of the mass media and the new media which people pursue on daily basis, as it forms the immediate dissemination of information which is a major function of the media [14, pp. 42–44].

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

The Internet has assisted protagonists of fake news to spread their illicit trade to go viral globally. The inventor of World Wide Web (WWW), Tim Berners-Lee says in 2017, that fake news is one of the most three significant trends that must be checked, if the Internet must truly "serve humanity'. The other two trends to be resolved is the use of Internet by governments for both "citizen-surveillance purposes, and for cyber-warfare purposes" [29]. The Reuters [30] reveals a research

This stems from the fact that fake news websites spread misinformation, falsehood, and misleading news to spread mischief, vendetta, and hatred. According to Michael Radutzky [31], huge patronage of advertisements in fake news websites make it global and spread the fake news. Thus, Jestin Coler, who establishes fake news websites for fun, discloses that Ten Thousand Dollars is earned monthly

This study about fake news becomes pertinent as it is gaining more popularity with the social media spreading fake news, which people easily access, as against the traditional media. The Pew Research Center [33] reveals that 62 per cent of American adults gets news on social media, and most of them are fake news, com-

It is crucial to explore the true meaning of Fake News, especially as President Donald Trump of America has redefined the term to mean any negative news in the media against him and his presidency [27]. But Fake News is a neologism that means news stories that are untrue, not factual, and deliberate falsehood. Fake news does not mean unfavourable news, but news that were fabricated as a lie to mislead people, and cause chaos and anarchy among people. Fake news are formulated stories that are conjured as vendetta, and spread rumour mongering through the traditional media, social media, fake news websites, blogs, and other media

Fake news are machineries of propaganda strategy to deceive, mislead, confuse,

Meanwhile, Claire Wardle [35] identifies seven types of fake news thus: i. satire or parody ("no intention to cause harm but has potential to fool"); ii. false connection ("when headlines, visuals or captions don't support the content") and spread through the traditional media, social media, websites; iii. Misleading content ("misleading use of information to frame an issue or an individual"); iv. false context ("when genuine content is shared with false contextual information"); v. impostor content ("when genuine sources are impersonated" with false, made-up sources); vi. manipulated content ("when genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive", as with a "doctored" photo); and vii. Fabricated content ("new content is

It is through these differentials that we can identify and differentiate fake news from the true news in different media. But the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) gives some tips on how to actually spot

and coerce people to influence and further an agenda, so that they may be psychologically brainwashed to believe the falsehood being promoted for supports. Propaganda use different methods, according to Lee and Lee like name calling, bandwagon, transfer, card stacking, testimonial, plain folks, and glittering generalities to gain support for what Frank Jefkins [34] identifies as "an opinion, creed or

finding that 58 per cent of people had less trust in social media news stories as opposed to 24 per cent of people in mainstream media after learning about

through advertisements placed on his fake news websites [32].

**2. Exploring the concept of fake news**

100% false, designed to deceive and do harm").

pared to the mass media of radio, television, newspapers and magazines.

**130**

fake news.

outlets [1].

belief".

It is actually through the news that the media unveils the unknown to the people; confirms known information to the public; corrects innuendoes from propaganda devices; confers authority on issues, events, and opinions through reportage; reports opinions which are free; and presents sacred facts to the populace to ward off speculations, gossips, and rumour mongering in the society.

However, news is perceived from conflict point of view by Marshall McLuhan [5, p. 45] as he notes that 'the real news is bad news'. This orchestrates the common definition of news by the American journalist, Charles Anderson Dana (1819–1897), who states that, 'When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news' [42–44].

Meanwhile, Maria Elizabeth Grabe [45] offers an evolutionary psychology explanation for why negative news have higher news value than positive news. According to her,

Human perceptive system and lower level brain functions have difficulty distinguishing between media stimuli and real stimuli…The brain differentiates between negative and positive stimuli and reacts quicker and more automatically to negative stimuli which are also better remembered. Negative media news fall into this category.

News is categorised to hard news; soft news; spot news; developing news; and continuing news or running stories. These differentiations of news by journalists are based on the kind of news content or the subject of events as news. According to Gaye Tuchman [46, p. 179], these are Pres-scheduled event-as-news and the Nonscheduled event-as-news. The former refers to an event that is announced for a future by a convener which may be Congress debate sessions, press conferences, Annual General Meetings, court sitting, and among others. The news of such events is disseminated immediately, because, if it is news, it must be fresh, immediate, and timely.

The latter on Unscheduled event-as-news is an event that occurs unexpectedly such as accidents, fire, flood, or the death of prominent news maker such as a president. Such news is spot news that must be disseminated immediately. Scoops or investigated stories are non-scheduled events-as-news too, which may be disseminated as the editorial board of the news organisation may decide based on the nature of the exclusive news.

The objectives of news are embedded in the institutional framework of news media operations through what Gaye Tuchman [47] calls 'news beat' arrangements, official settings, time rhythms, and the journalistic reports.

In furtherance of the work of Berger and Luckman [48] on social construction of reality through news, Gaye Tuchman [47] stresses that the meaning of news reports is entrenched in this institutional 'newsnet' and 'routinization' of news through objectified methods of news processes.

#### **4. Between news values and journalistic values**

News is compiled by journalists based on the factors of news worthiness. As Boyd [49] notes, the news values or news criteria are often referred to as 'news worthiness', which serves as guide for the news journalists to cover, report, grade, and select news.

In their determinist view of news values, Conley and Lamble [50, p. 42] declare that,

News values will determine whether stories are to be pursued. They will determine whether, if pursued, they will then be published. They will determine, if published, where the stories will be placed in news presentation. Having been placed, new [sic] values will determine to what extent the public will read them.

**133**

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

Indeed, Richardson [52, pp. 91, 92–94, 182] examines news values from language perspectives as one of the professional practices 'that shape journalism as a discourse process and therefore help to account for the products of newspaper discourse', which helps the journalists to 'select, order and prioritise the collection and production of

Meanwhile, Caple and Bednarek [5, p. 55] give three approaches to the discourse

a. a focus on news workers' beliefs or judgements about the newsworthiness of an event in its material reality (a 'material' perspective); b. a focus on news workers' beliefs or judgements about the newsworthiness of an event for their target audience (a 'cognitive' perspective); and c. a focus on how news production texts (press release, interviews, published story…) construct the newsworthiness of an event

There are basic differences between news values and journalistic values, just as functions differ from principles of a phenomenon. And as Johnson and Kelly [53, 54 p. 116] agree, 'news values' differ from 'journalistic values'. They regard journalistic values as 'accuracy and balance', which Fuller [55, 56] describes as 'standards and guidelines' such as 'objectivity, accuracy, fairness, neutrality, intellectual

These journalistic values deal with the ethical standards in the practice of journalism in the print and electronic media as well as the new media. This is because of the need to have self-control in the coverage of events, the writing of the news, and

In their estimation, Caple and Bednarek [4, p. 55] describe news values as 'properties or qualities of events', just as Kepplinger and Ehmig [27, p. 58] note that 'news values are regarded as the 'journalists' judgment about the relevance of factors. While news factors are by definition 'qualities of news stories', which might be the degree of damage reported, the status of people involved, the geographical distance between the event and the place where the recipients of the

This explains the position of Westerstahl and Johansson [57, p. 71] who perceive news values 'as systems of criteria central to the decision-making process as to what will or will not be selected as news', which Stromback et al. [58, p. 719] declares that 'the news values exist in the minds of journalists' to drive coverage and dominate

As 'ideological constructs of news', Curran and Seaton [59, p. 336] note that news values are tacit newsroom culture that determines the framing of news to meet the ideological inclinations and philosophy of the news media, which Golding and

From sociological point of view, news is selected to meet the social sensitivities of the sponsors, and are constructed ideologically to meet certain goals and objectives within the framework of the media establishments, which are influenced by the background and orientation of the journalists to meet corporate goals and

In his declaration, Schulson [62, p. 142] states that 'news is not simply selected but constructed', as by-products of journalistic procedures and ethical practices

Elliot [60, p. 114] describe as 'routine and highly regulated procedures'.

apart from meeting ideological inclination of the sponsors.

In the etymology of news values, Walter Lippmann [51, p. 322] is widely acknowledged as the proponent, and describes it as 'attributes or conventions for

news', based on the 'imagined preferences of the expected audience'.

through language, photography, etc. (a 'discursive' perspective).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

the selection of news items to be published'.

of news values:

**4.1 Journalistic values**

honesty, and degrees of proof'.

the dissemination of the news.

news stories live'.

their practice.

objectives [61, p. 184].

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

In the etymology of news values, Walter Lippmann [51, p. 322] is widely acknowledged as the proponent, and describes it as 'attributes or conventions for the selection of news items to be published'.

Indeed, Richardson [52, pp. 91, 92–94, 182] examines news values from language perspectives as one of the professional practices 'that shape journalism as a discourse process and therefore help to account for the products of newspaper discourse', which helps the journalists to 'select, order and prioritise the collection and production of news', based on the 'imagined preferences of the expected audience'.

Meanwhile, Caple and Bednarek [5, p. 55] give three approaches to the discourse of news values:

a. a focus on news workers' beliefs or judgements about the newsworthiness of an event in its material reality (a 'material' perspective); b. a focus on news workers' beliefs or judgements about the newsworthiness of an event for their target audience (a 'cognitive' perspective); and c. a focus on how news production texts (press release, interviews, published story…) construct the newsworthiness of an event through language, photography, etc. (a 'discursive' perspective).

#### **4.1 Journalistic values**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

off speculations, gossips, and rumour mongering in the society.

man bites a dog that is news' [42–44].

According to her,

this category.

nature of the exclusive news.

It is actually through the news that the media unveils the unknown to the people; confirms known information to the public; corrects innuendoes from propaganda devices; confers authority on issues, events, and opinions through reportage; reports opinions which are free; and presents sacred facts to the populace to ward

However, news is perceived from conflict point of view by Marshall McLuhan

Meanwhile, Maria Elizabeth Grabe [45] offers an evolutionary psychology explanation for why negative news have higher news value than positive news.

Human perceptive system and lower level brain functions have difficulty distinguishing between media stimuli and real stimuli…The brain differentiates between negative and positive stimuli and reacts quicker and more automatically to negative stimuli which are also better remembered. Negative media news fall into

News is categorised to hard news; soft news; spot news; developing news; and continuing news or running stories. These differentiations of news by journalists are based on the kind of news content or the subject of events as news. According to Gaye Tuchman [46, p. 179], these are Pres-scheduled event-as-news and the Nonscheduled event-as-news. The former refers to an event that is announced for a future by a convener which may be Congress debate sessions, press conferences, Annual General Meetings, court sitting, and among others. The news of such events is disseminated immediately, because, if it is news, it must be fresh, immediate, and timely. The latter on Unscheduled event-as-news is an event that occurs unexpectedly

such as accidents, fire, flood, or the death of prominent news maker such as a president. Such news is spot news that must be disseminated immediately. Scoops or investigated stories are non-scheduled events-as-news too, which may be disseminated as the editorial board of the news organisation may decide based on the

official settings, time rhythms, and the journalistic reports.

through objectified methods of news processes.

**4. Between news values and journalistic values**

The objectives of news are embedded in the institutional framework of news media operations through what Gaye Tuchman [47] calls 'news beat' arrangements,

In furtherance of the work of Berger and Luckman [48] on social construction of reality through news, Gaye Tuchman [47] stresses that the meaning of news reports is entrenched in this institutional 'newsnet' and 'routinization' of news

News is compiled by journalists based on the factors of news worthiness. As Boyd [49] notes, the news values or news criteria are often referred to as 'news worthiness', which serves as guide for the news journalists to cover, report, grade,

In their determinist view of news values, Conley and Lamble [50, p. 42]

News values will determine whether stories are to be pursued. They will determine whether, if pursued, they will then be published. They will determine, if published, where the stories will be placed in news presentation. Having been placed, new [sic] values will determine to what extent the public will read them.

[5, p. 45] as he notes that 'the real news is bad news'. This orchestrates the common definition of news by the American journalist, Charles Anderson Dana (1819–1897), who states that, 'When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a

**132**

and select news.

declare that,

There are basic differences between news values and journalistic values, just as functions differ from principles of a phenomenon. And as Johnson and Kelly [53, 54 p. 116] agree, 'news values' differ from 'journalistic values'. They regard journalistic values as 'accuracy and balance', which Fuller [55, 56] describes as 'standards and guidelines' such as 'objectivity, accuracy, fairness, neutrality, intellectual honesty, and degrees of proof'.

These journalistic values deal with the ethical standards in the practice of journalism in the print and electronic media as well as the new media. This is because of the need to have self-control in the coverage of events, the writing of the news, and the dissemination of the news.

In their estimation, Caple and Bednarek [4, p. 55] describe news values as 'properties or qualities of events', just as Kepplinger and Ehmig [27, p. 58] note that 'news values are regarded as the 'journalists' judgment about the relevance of factors. While news factors are by definition 'qualities of news stories', which might be the degree of damage reported, the status of people involved, the geographical distance between the event and the place where the recipients of the news stories live'.

This explains the position of Westerstahl and Johansson [57, p. 71] who perceive news values 'as systems of criteria central to the decision-making process as to what will or will not be selected as news', which Stromback et al. [58, p. 719] declares that 'the news values exist in the minds of journalists' to drive coverage and dominate their practice.

As 'ideological constructs of news', Curran and Seaton [59, p. 336] note that news values are tacit newsroom culture that determines the framing of news to meet the ideological inclinations and philosophy of the news media, which Golding and Elliot [60, p. 114] describe as 'routine and highly regulated procedures'.

From sociological point of view, news is selected to meet the social sensitivities of the sponsors, and are constructed ideologically to meet certain goals and objectives within the framework of the media establishments, which are influenced by the background and orientation of the journalists to meet corporate goals and objectives [61, p. 184].

In his declaration, Schulson [62, p. 142] states that 'news is not simply selected but constructed', as by-products of journalistic procedures and ethical practices apart from meeting ideological inclination of the sponsors.

This also attests to the view of Murdock [63, p. 163] that 'news production process is not random reactions to random events', it is based on the socio-cultural interests, political philosophy, and economic interests of the sponsors, financiers, and owners of the media.

#### **4.2 Types of news values**

The first set of news values were listed by Galtung and Ruge [64, p. 71] who describe them as 'factors of newsworthiness or news factors'. They argue that the 'news factors are a set of selections based on common-sense perception psychology, created through analogy to radio wave signals'.

In their research, Galtung and Ruge [64, p. 66] declare that 'the more an event accessed these criteria, the more likely it was to be reported in the print and broadcast news'.

The 12 factors given by them include:

1. Frequency; 2. Threshold (absolute intensity, intensity increase); 3. Unambiguity; 4. Meaningfulness (cultural proximity, relevance); 5. Consonance (predictability, demand); 6. Unexpectedness (unpredictability, scarcity); 7. Continuity; 8. Composition. These first 8 factors are considered as 'culture-free' that are based on perception. The remaining 4 factors are 'culture-bound'. These are: 9. Reference to elite nations; 10. Reference to Elite people; 11. Reference to persons; 12. Reference to something negative [64, p. 71].

In a review of the Galtung and Ruge study on news values, Tunstall [65, pp. 21, 22] identifies an 'unusual strength of the coherent set of hypotheses' that has the potential of application in a wide range of news contexts, including broadcast news. These hypotheses are:


But in their critique, especially in relation to radio news, Niblock and Machin [66, p. 201] identify some factors of news values that are not covered by Galtung and Ruge.

According to them, the factors are: 'time, procedural requirements and targeting' in relation to selection and running order of radio stories aimed at different markets [66, p. 201].

In his classifications of news values, Bond [44, p. 5], lists the news criteria as: a. Impact of the news to the audiences; b. Proximity or nearness of the news to the people; c. Timeliness or the freshness of the news which must be immediate; d. Prominence which makes the media to sell; e. Novelty nature of the news item to make it attractive to the audiences; f. Conflict such as crises, calamities, fraud, scandals, and others that arrest attention of people; g. Audience, which explains the heterogeneous receivers of news in the media; h. Human interest, which denotes human angle to news events that concerns the puny such as a baby surviving an accident, children being kidnapped, women being abused, and old people being traumatised; i. and Significance, which signifies the importance of the story to the people such as weather forecast.

These values of news serve as the basis for the allocation, selection, and construction of news to suit the ideological foundations, political philosophy, economic

**135**

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

interests, social interactions, and cultural dynamics of the media owners, sponsors,

The dissemination of news carries with it a mythology, which make people regard news as a mirror of the society or as a reality of the scheduled and unsched-

news is socially constructed or framed just like other forms of knowledge.

notion of news bias suggests that a faithful reflection of events is possible.

This perception of news as representing 'the way it is', of various events opens a multilateral range of important questions to research, which brings up the idea that

This concept of news 'frame' or 'construction' is perceived by Erving Goffman [69] as the principles of organisation that govern people's interpretation of and

But Robert Hackett [70] perceives the concept of the framing of news beyond the narrow concern of bias and deviation from an objective standard. According to him, news framing tilt towards a more fruitful view of the ideological character of news, which is thoroughly structured in contents, practices, and relations with society. The framing of news underscores the constructed quality of news, while the

However, Todd Gitlin [71, pp. 7, 21] defines news frames as 'persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and exclusion, by which symbol-handlers routinely organize discourse'. This lays the emphasis on the routine organisation, which transcends any given story and is 'persistent' over time (resistant to change). In the dissemination of information, the framing of news enable journalists to 'recognize it as information, to assign it to cognitive

This gives frames a power, to actively bring otherwise amorphous reality into a meaningful structure, making them more than the simple inclusion or exclusion of

In his estimation of news frame, Entman [73, p. 52] notes that a frame is determined in large part by its outcome or effect, stressing that 'to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation,

In their understanding of news frames, Gamson and Modigliani [72, p. 3] describe frame as a 'central organizing idea…for making sense of relevant events, suggesting what is at issue', signified, by the media 'package' of metaphors and

The duo of Hertog and McLeod [74] however define frames as organising principles that are socially shared and persistent over time and that are working symbolically to provide a meaningful structure for the social world. In their analysis of social movement coverage, they note that if a protest march is framed as a confrontation between police and marchers, the protesters' critique of society may not be part of the story. This is not because there was not room for it, but because it

The centrality of news as major ingredient of the media confers high degree of authority, legitimacy, power, and status on the organs of mass communication to

moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation'.

**6. News as discourse and instrument of surveillance**

uled events, or through which people can perceive the society.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

and financiers [67, 68, p. 298].

subjective involvement with events.

**5. Framing of news**

categories'.

information.

other devices.

was not defined as relevant.

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

interests, social interactions, and cultural dynamics of the media owners, sponsors, and financiers [67, 68, p. 298].

#### **5. Framing of news**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

and owners of the media.

**4.2 Types of news values**

cast news'.

hypotheses are:

and Ruge.

markets [66, p. 201].

people such as weather forecast.

created through analogy to radio wave signals'.

The 12 factors given by them include:

12. Reference to something negative [64, p. 71].

This also attests to the view of Murdock [63, p. 163] that 'news production process is not random reactions to random events', it is based on the socio-cultural interests, political philosophy, and economic interests of the sponsors, financiers,

The first set of news values were listed by Galtung and Ruge [64, p. 71] who describe them as 'factors of newsworthiness or news factors'. They argue that the 'news factors are a set of selections based on common-sense perception psychology,

In their research, Galtung and Ruge [64, p. 66] declare that 'the more an event accessed these criteria, the more likely it was to be reported in the print and broad-

In a review of the Galtung and Ruge study on news values, Tunstall [65, pp. 21, 22] identifies an 'unusual strength of the coherent set of hypotheses' that has the potential of application in a wide range of news contexts, including broadcast news. These

a.'The higher the total score of an event, the higher the probability that it will become news, and even make headlines'. This is 'Additivity Hypothesis'.

b.The second one is 'Complementarity Hypothesis' which is, 'Wherein an event low on one dimension or news factor will have to be high on another 'comple-

But in their critique, especially in relation to radio news, Niblock and Machin [66, p. 201] identify some factors of news values that are not covered by Galtung

According to them, the factors are: 'time, procedural requirements and targeting' in relation to selection and running order of radio stories aimed at different

In his classifications of news values, Bond [44, p. 5], lists the news criteria as: a. Impact of the news to the audiences; b. Proximity or nearness of the news to the people; c. Timeliness or the freshness of the news which must be immediate; d. Prominence which makes the media to sell; e. Novelty nature of the news item to make it attractive to the audiences; f. Conflict such as crises, calamities, fraud, scandals, and others that arrest attention of people; g. Audience, which explains the heterogeneous receivers of news in the media; h. Human interest, which denotes human angle to news events that concerns the puny such as a baby surviving an accident, children being kidnapped, women being abused, and old people being traumatised; i. and Significance, which signifies the importance of the story to the

These values of news serve as the basis for the allocation, selection, and construction of news to suit the ideological foundations, political philosophy, economic

mentary' dimension to make it the news' [64, p. 71].

1. Frequency; 2. Threshold (absolute intensity, intensity increase); 3. Unambiguity; 4. Meaningfulness (cultural proximity, relevance); 5. Consonance (predictability, demand); 6. Unexpectedness (unpredictability, scarcity); 7. Continuity; 8. Composition. These first 8 factors are considered as 'culture-free' that are based on perception. The remaining 4 factors are 'culture-bound'. These are: 9. Reference to elite nations; 10. Reference to Elite people; 11. Reference to persons;

**134**

The dissemination of news carries with it a mythology, which make people regard news as a mirror of the society or as a reality of the scheduled and unscheduled events, or through which people can perceive the society.

This perception of news as representing 'the way it is', of various events opens a multilateral range of important questions to research, which brings up the idea that news is socially constructed or framed just like other forms of knowledge.

This concept of news 'frame' or 'construction' is perceived by Erving Goffman [69] as the principles of organisation that govern people's interpretation of and subjective involvement with events.

But Robert Hackett [70] perceives the concept of the framing of news beyond the narrow concern of bias and deviation from an objective standard. According to him, news framing tilt towards a more fruitful view of the ideological character of news, which is thoroughly structured in contents, practices, and relations with society. The framing of news underscores the constructed quality of news, while the notion of news bias suggests that a faithful reflection of events is possible.

However, Todd Gitlin [71, pp. 7, 21] defines news frames as 'persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and exclusion, by which symbol-handlers routinely organize discourse'. This lays the emphasis on the routine organisation, which transcends any given story and is 'persistent' over time (resistant to change). In the dissemination of information, the framing of news enable journalists to 'recognize it as information, to assign it to cognitive categories'.

This gives frames a power, to actively bring otherwise amorphous reality into a meaningful structure, making them more than the simple inclusion or exclusion of information.

In their understanding of news frames, Gamson and Modigliani [72, p. 3] describe frame as a 'central organizing idea…for making sense of relevant events, suggesting what is at issue', signified, by the media 'package' of metaphors and other devices.

In his estimation of news frame, Entman [73, p. 52] notes that a frame is determined in large part by its outcome or effect, stressing that 'to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation'.

The duo of Hertog and McLeod [74] however define frames as organising principles that are socially shared and persistent over time and that are working symbolically to provide a meaningful structure for the social world. In their analysis of social movement coverage, they note that if a protest march is framed as a confrontation between police and marchers, the protesters' critique of society may not be part of the story. This is not because there was not room for it, but because it was not defined as relevant.

#### **6. News as discourse and instrument of surveillance**

The centrality of news as major ingredient of the media confers high degree of authority, legitimacy, power, and status on the organs of mass communication to

#### *Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

influence public opinion. It actually symbolises the media as privileged social institution in the society to seek information and disseminate it without fear or favour.

From political perspective, news is selected and constructed to meet the dynamics of democratic process, since the media serves as major institution of democracy to ensure free and fair elections, promote people's rights to select and elect their leaders regularly within the framework of political liberty without terror or panic, to expose corruption in the system as surveillance of the environment [75, p. 37; 76, p. 33; 77].

These are carried out based on the political ideology of the media establishment which may be conservative, liberal, or extreme left; and which may be based on the political interests of the sponsor, advertisers, and financiers.

Economically, news is used by the media to enhance the commercial interests of its owners, advertisers, sponsors, and financiers. Thus, the radio and other organs of mass communication construct narratives that use a specific temporal order of events to construct meanings that will further the frontier of economic interests of their promoters [78].

As veritable instrument of socialisation, the radio news and other media organs provide common pool of knowledge to the people to enable them interact effectively in the society; and to foster social cohesion and awareness for active public life [79, p. 14].

As vanguard of cultural promotion, news in the media are ideologically used to disseminate the cultural and artistic products for the purpose of preserving the heritage of the past; further the embracement of advantaged culture by widening the mental horizons and exposure of individuals; awakening the imagination of groups of people; and stimulating the aesthetic needs and creativity of the people [80, p. 296; 81, p. 41; 82, p. 141; 83, p. 154; 84, 85].

Hence, Denis McQuail [86, p. 376] declares that news is 'central ingredient' of the media that,

… It is one of the few original contributions by the media to the range of cultural forms of expression. It is also the core activity according to which a large part of the journalistic (and thus media) occupation defines itself… Media institutions can barely exist without news…

The power of the media to influence public opinion and to serve as surveillance of the environment are being explored and exploited by media owners and the elite in Nigeria to achieve their political, economic, social, and cultural interests [78].

Indeed, this is a universal occurrence as it happens in different countries of the world, which confirms the media to be bias, and which confirms news to be ideological and un-neutral [87–90].

#### **7. Taming of fake news**

The preponderance and rascality of fake news has enveloped the world with the prompt blanket of the International Networking (Internet). There is urgent need to checkmate fake news, so as to save humanity from calamities of promoting hatred, violence, blackmail, and killings through distraught caused by spreading falsehood through deliberate dissemination of fabricated and incorrect news. It is imperative to tame fake news through the following:

1. **Self-Regulation** by the Mass Media; Online Media; Social Media; Blogs; Websites: It is crucial for media captains to strengthen collaboration across countries of the world to check fake news, ban fake news publications, and come up with sanctions against media organisations on the Internet from contravening the self-regulating laws. This is the best form of control, as government controls may be more

**137**

in the world online.

the world.

cinematography, and others.

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

practising, and to withdraw their licences for operations.

devastating where self-control fails. Therefore, media professional associations, unions, and institutes should come up with self-regulatory rules, guidelines, laws, sanctions, and prohibitions against fake news, violators banned from

2.**Government Legislations**: There is increasing concerns on the need to control hate speech, fake news, hacking of election results, and abuse of the Internet in the social media, traditional media, and online media. Hence, there is need for countries of the world to have regulations to ban hate speech, fake news, and others. Acts of parliament should be put in place to sanction those who publish fake news on websites, blogs, and others within the cyber space in their respective territories. The Facebook Chief recently agreed for governments to play a "more active role" in regulating the Internet, urging more countries to adopt versions of sweeping European rules aimed at safeguarding user privacy [91]. This is a good development as Facebook and other Internet giants have long resisted government intervention, but the leading social network has reversed course amid growing calls for regulation, in an apparent bid to help steer the debate. According to Zuckerberg, "I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators. By updating the rules for the Internet, we can preserve what's best about it…the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things -- while also protecting society from broader harms. New regulations are needed in four areas: harmful content, protection of elections, privacy and data portability. Facebook has drawn fire over all four, from hate speech on the platform and the recent live streaming of attacks on mosques in New Zealand, to its use in foreign efforts to meddle in elections and concerns over its collection of personal user data. Facebook would support more countries adopting rules in line with the European Union's sweeping General Data Protection Regulation, which gives regulators sweeping powers to sanction organisations which fail to adhere to heightened standards of security when processing personal data" [91].

3.**International Agencies to ban fake news online**: There is need for United Nations agencies like United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and United Nations Information Service to set machineries in motion to stem the tide of fake news to save humanity from chaos and anarchy caused by deliberate use of lies to create and spread hatred and enmity

4.**Coalition of International Human Rights organisations against fake news and hate speech**: There is need for the coalition of national human rights groups against fake news and hate speech to form international organisation that will sign treaties and regulations against fake news publications online

5.**International Networking (Internet) Regulation Controls**: There is need for Internet regulation controls to ban and remove fake news websites, blogs, and others from the cyber space permanently, and put sanctions in place against perpetrators of such fake news promoters in different countries of

6.**Radical agitations against fake news through**: Music, protests, academic papers, public speeches, lectures, drama sketches, poem, essays, films and

through websites, social media, blogs, and others.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

devastating where self-control fails. Therefore, media professional associations, unions, and institutes should come up with self-regulatory rules, guidelines, laws, sanctions, and prohibitions against fake news, violators banned from practising, and to withdraw their licences for operations.


*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

political interests of the sponsor, advertisers, and financiers.

[80, p. 296; 81, p. 41; 82, p. 141; 83, p. 154; 84, 85].

[75, p. 37; 76, p. 33; 77].

their promoters [78].

the media that,

barely exist without news…

logical and un-neutral [87–90].

to tame fake news through the following:

**7. Taming of fake news**

influence public opinion. It actually symbolises the media as privileged social institution in the society to seek information and disseminate it without fear or favour.

From political perspective, news is selected and constructed to meet the dynamics of democratic process, since the media serves as major institution of democracy to ensure free and fair elections, promote people's rights to select and elect their leaders regularly within the framework of political liberty without terror or panic, to expose corruption in the system as surveillance of the environment

These are carried out based on the political ideology of the media establishment which may be conservative, liberal, or extreme left; and which may be based on the

Economically, news is used by the media to enhance the commercial interests of its owners, advertisers, sponsors, and financiers. Thus, the radio and other organs of mass communication construct narratives that use a specific temporal order of events to construct meanings that will further the frontier of economic interests of

As veritable instrument of socialisation, the radio news and other media organs provide common pool of knowledge to the people to enable them interact effectively in the society; and to foster social cohesion and awareness for active public life [79, p. 14]. As vanguard of cultural promotion, news in the media are ideologically used to disseminate the cultural and artistic products for the purpose of preserving the heritage of the past; further the embracement of advantaged culture by widening the mental horizons and exposure of individuals; awakening the imagination of groups of people; and stimulating the aesthetic needs and creativity of the people

Hence, Denis McQuail [86, p. 376] declares that news is 'central ingredient' of

… It is one of the few original contributions by the media to the range of cultural forms of expression. It is also the core activity according to which a large part of the journalistic (and thus media) occupation defines itself… Media institutions can

The power of the media to influence public opinion and to serve as surveillance of the environment are being explored and exploited by media owners and the elite in Nigeria to achieve their political, economic, social, and cultural interests [78]. Indeed, this is a universal occurrence as it happens in different countries of the world, which confirms the media to be bias, and which confirms news to be ideo-

The preponderance and rascality of fake news has enveloped the world with the prompt blanket of the International Networking (Internet). There is urgent need to checkmate fake news, so as to save humanity from calamities of promoting hatred, violence, blackmail, and killings through distraught caused by spreading falsehood through deliberate dissemination of fabricated and incorrect news. It is imperative

1. **Self-Regulation** by the Mass Media; Online Media; Social Media; Blogs; Websites: It is crucial for media captains to strengthen collaboration across countries of the world to check fake news, ban fake news publications, and come up with sanctions against media organisations on the Internet from contravening the self-regulating laws. This is the best form of control, as government controls may be more

**136**

### **8. Conclusion**

This study in narrative form has been able to examine fake news, true news, the values of news, the framing of news, values of journalism, and news as discourse and as instrument of surveillance so as to be able to understand the true meaning of news, and appreciate the havoc being done by fake news in the society. Since news forms the centrality of the mass media and online media, the spread of fake news erodes the essence of the media and its powers. The heavy prevalence of fake news in the media corrodes the values of the organs of mass communication as the authority, legitimacy, power, and status of the media are negated by the dissemination of fake news. Apart from self-regulations which is the best form of control professionally, government legislations are desirable from all countries of the world to punish culprits of fake news promoters around the world. Humanity suffers great setback with the spread of fake news in the media, which worsens globally with the online media. Besides, fake news undermines true journalism, professionalism, and for journalists to serve humanity as surveillance of governments and society. Indeed, fake news slips the world into the abyss of silence as falsehood is spread untamed, at the detriment of good journalism to serve humankind. Apart from threatening democracy as demonstrated in the 2016 presidential election in America, fake news threatens press freedom, free speech, democratisation of information, true journalism to serve as surveillance of society. All hands must be on deck to check fake news from spreading in the mass media, online media, and the social media for sanity to prevail in the world.

### **Author details**

Sulaiman A. Osho Department of Communication, Marketing and Media, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

\*Address all correspondence to: sara.d@intechopen.com

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**139**

Limited

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

[11] Biography.com. 2017. Mark Antony and Battle of Actium – Video Results

Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2nd Edition. Pp. 556-564. Grand, Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans

[13] Sherwin-White, A. N. 1964. "Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted? – An Amendment". Past and Present.

[14] Gwynn, David M. 2015. Christianity in the Latter Roman Empire. London,

[15] Clark, Gillian. 2004. Christianity and Roman Society. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press

[16] Soll, Jacob. 2016. "The Long and Brutal History of Fake News". POLITICO Magazine. December 18.

[17] Anti-Defamation League. 2020. "Blood Libel: A False, Incendiary Claim

[18] Borel, Brooke. 2017. "Fact-Checking Won't Save Us From Fake News". FiveThirtyEight. Fivethirtyeight.com

[19] Churchwell, Sarah Bartlett. 2018. Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream. New

[20] American Experience. 2017. World War II Propaganda. February 12. New York: WGBH Educational Foundation

[21] Carnegie, Europe. 2017. "Judy Asks: Can Fake News Be Beaten?". January 25. Brussels, Belgium: Carnegie Europe

[22] Leonhardt, David and Thompson, Stuart A. 2017. "Trump's Lies". June 23.

New York: New York Times

[12] Ferguson, Everett. 1993.

Publishing Company

Volume 27. No. 27. 23-27

England: Bloomsbury

Against Jews". adl.org

York: Bloomsbury

New York

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

[1] Tufekci, Zeynep. 2018. "It's The (Democracy Poisoning) Golden Age of Free Speech" . Wired Magazine. January 16. San Francisco, CA: Wired

[2] Allcott, H. and Gentzkow, M. 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election" . Journal of Economic

[3] The New York Times. 2017. "This Is Not Fake News (But Don't Go By The Headline)". New York: The New York

[4] Hunt, Elle. 2016. "What is Fake News? How to Spot it and What You Can Do To Stop It". The Guardian. December

[5] Schesinger, Robert. 2017. "Fake News in Reality". U.S. News & World Report.

[6] Merlo, Carlos. 2017. "Millonario Negocio FAKE NEWS". Univision Noticias. April 4. Sergio Rincon, Mexico:

Univision Communications, Inc.

[7] Chang, Juju; Lefferman, Jake; Pedersen, Claire; and Martz, Geoff. 2016. "When Fake News Stories Make Real News Headlines". Nightline ABC

[8] Weir, William. 2009. History's Greatest Lies. Pp. 28-41. Beverly, Massachusetts: Fair Winds Press

[9] Kaminska, Izabella. 2017. "A Lesson in Fake News From the Info-Wars of Ancient Rome". Financial Times. January 17. London: The Financial Times

[10] MacDonald, Eve. 2017. "The Fake News that Sealed the Fate of Antony and Cleopatra". The Conversation. January

13. London: Biography.com

Perspectives, 31 (2): 211-236

Times Company

17. London

April 14. New York

News. ABCnews.Com

**References**

Magazine

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

#### **References**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

of news, and appreciate the havoc being done by fake news in the society.

This study in narrative form has been able to examine fake news, true news, the values of news, the framing of news, values of journalism, and news as discourse and as instrument of surveillance so as to be able to understand the true meaning

Since news forms the centrality of the mass media and online media, the spread of fake news erodes the essence of the media and its powers. The heavy prevalence of fake news in the media corrodes the values of the organs of mass communication as the authority, legitimacy, power, and status of the media are negated by the dissemination of fake news. Apart from self-regulations which is the best form of control professionally, government legislations are desirable from all countries of the world to punish culprits of fake news promoters around the world. Humanity suffers great setback with the spread of fake news in the media, which worsens globally with the online media. Besides, fake news undermines true journalism, professionalism, and for journalists to serve humanity as surveillance of governments and society. Indeed, fake news slips the world into the abyss of silence as falsehood is spread untamed, at the detriment of good journalism to serve humankind. Apart from threatening democracy as demonstrated in the 2016 presidential election in America, fake news threatens press freedom, free speech, democratisation of information, true journalism to serve as surveillance of society. All hands must be on deck to check fake news from spreading in the mass media, online media, and

Department of Communication, Marketing and Media, Robert Gordon University,

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

**138**

**Author details**

**8. Conclusion**

Sulaiman A. Osho

Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: sara.d@intechopen.com

the social media for sanity to prevail in the world.

[1] Tufekci, Zeynep. 2018. "It's The (Democracy Poisoning) Golden Age of Free Speech" . Wired Magazine. January 16. San Francisco, CA: Wired Magazine

[2] Allcott, H. and Gentzkow, M. 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election" . Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31 (2): 211-236

[3] The New York Times. 2017. "This Is Not Fake News (But Don't Go By The Headline)". New York: The New York Times Company

[4] Hunt, Elle. 2016. "What is Fake News? How to Spot it and What You Can Do To Stop It". The Guardian. December 17. London

[5] Schesinger, Robert. 2017. "Fake News in Reality". U.S. News & World Report. April 14. New York

[6] Merlo, Carlos. 2017. "Millonario Negocio FAKE NEWS". Univision Noticias. April 4. Sergio Rincon, Mexico: Univision Communications, Inc.

[7] Chang, Juju; Lefferman, Jake; Pedersen, Claire; and Martz, Geoff. 2016. "When Fake News Stories Make Real News Headlines". Nightline ABC News. ABCnews.Com

[8] Weir, William. 2009. History's Greatest Lies. Pp. 28-41. Beverly, Massachusetts: Fair Winds Press

[9] Kaminska, Izabella. 2017. "A Lesson in Fake News From the Info-Wars of Ancient Rome". Financial Times. January 17. London: The Financial Times Limited

[10] MacDonald, Eve. 2017. "The Fake News that Sealed the Fate of Antony and Cleopatra". The Conversation. January 13. London: Biography.com

[11] Biography.com. 2017. Mark Antony and Battle of Actium – Video Results

[12] Ferguson, Everett. 1993. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2nd Edition. Pp. 556-564. Grand, Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

[13] Sherwin-White, A. N. 1964. "Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted? – An Amendment". Past and Present. Volume 27. No. 27. 23-27

[14] Gwynn, David M. 2015. Christianity in the Latter Roman Empire. London, England: Bloomsbury

[15] Clark, Gillian. 2004. Christianity and Roman Society. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press

[16] Soll, Jacob. 2016. "The Long and Brutal History of Fake News". POLITICO Magazine. December 18. New York

[17] Anti-Defamation League. 2020. "Blood Libel: A False, Incendiary Claim Against Jews". adl.org

[18] Borel, Brooke. 2017. "Fact-Checking Won't Save Us From Fake News". FiveThirtyEight. Fivethirtyeight.com

[19] Churchwell, Sarah Bartlett. 2018. Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream. New York: Bloomsbury

[20] American Experience. 2017. World War II Propaganda. February 12. New York: WGBH Educational Foundation

[21] Carnegie, Europe. 2017. "Judy Asks: Can Fake News Be Beaten?". January 25. Brussels, Belgium: Carnegie Europe

[22] Leonhardt, David and Thompson, Stuart A. 2017. "Trump's Lies". June 23. New York: New York Times

[23] Kiely, Eugene and Robertson, Lori. 2016. "How To Spot Fake News". FactCheck.org

[24] Peter, Jeremy W. 2016. "Wielding Claims of 'Fake News'. Conservatives Take Aim at Mainstream Media". The New York Times. December 25. New York

[25] Bort, Ryan. 2014. "Why SNL's Weekend Update Anchor Change Is Brilliant". Esquire. Sept.12. New York: Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.

[26] National Public Radio (NPR). 2013. "Area Man Realizes He's Been Reading Fake News for 25 Years". Aug. 29. Washington, D.C.: NationalPublicRadio. org

[27] Lind, Dara. 2018. "Trump Finally Admits that "Fake News" Just Means News He Doesn't Like". VOX. May 9. Washington, D.C.: Vox Media LLC

[28] Murphy, Margi. 2018. "Government Bans Phrase 'Fake News'. The Telegraph. October 22. London: The Telegraph

[29] Swartz, Jon. 2017. "The World Wide Web's Inventor Warns It's in Peril on 28th Anniversary'. USA Today. March 11. McLean, VA: USA Today

[30] Reuters. 2017. Editorial. Oct. 31. "Fake News Hurts Trust in Media, Mainstream Outlets Fare Better". New York: Thomson Reuters

[31] Radutzky, Michael. 2017. "What's "Fake News"? 60 Minutes producers Investigate". CBS News. March 26. New York: CBS News

[32] CBS News. 2017. How Fake News Becomes A Popular, Trending Topic. March 26. New York: CBS Interactive Inc.

[33] Pew Research Center. 2016. "News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016". Journalism and Media Analysis. Jeffrey Gottfried and Elisa Shearer. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center

[34] Jefkins, Frank W. 1998. Public Relations. 5th Edition. London: Financial Times

[35] Wardle, Claire. 2017. "Fake News It's Complicated". First Draft News.Org . February 16. London: First Draft News Co.

[36] IFLA Blogs. 2017. "How to Spot Fake News". International Federation of Library Association and Institutions (IFLA). January 27. Den Haag, Netherlands

[37] Allcott, Hunt. 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election". The Journal of Economic Perspectives. Volume 31. Pp. 211-235

[38] Federal Election Commission (FEC). 2017. "Agency Financial Report, Fiscal Year 2017". Government Agency's Financial Report. November 15. Pp.5, 67. Washington, D.C.: Public Domain Material from this U.S. Government Document

[39] Trainer III, James E. 2016. Federal Election Commission. Washington, D.C.

[40] Walther, Steven T. 2016. Federal Election Commission. Washington, D.C.

[41] Shirkey, Clay. 2008. Here Comes Everybody. London. Shoemaker, Pamela J. 1991. Gatekeeping. Newbury Park: Sage Publications

[42] Schramm, Wilbur (ed.) . 1960 . Mass Communication. Second Edition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press

[43] McLuhan, Marshall . 2002. 1964. Understanding Media - The Extension of Man. London: Routledge

[44] Bond, Fraser F. 1966. An Introduction to Journalism: A Survey of the Fourth Estate in All Its Forms .

**141**

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

Organizational Cynicism: Not All Social Exchange Violations Are Created Equal". Journal of Organizational Behavior. Volume 2. No. 5 (Special

[55] Fuller, J. 1996 . News Values: Ideas for an Information Age. Chicago/ London: University of Chicago Press

[56] Kepplinger, H. M., and Ehmig, S. C. (2006). Predicting news decisions.

component theory of news selection. Communications, Volume 31. 25-43.

[57] Westerstahl, Jorgen and Johansson, Folke. 1994. "Foreign News: News Values and Ideologies. European Journal of Communication. March 1. Volume 1. No. 2. 133-149. London: Sage Journals

[58] Stromback, Jesper; Karlsson, Michael; and Hopmann, David Nicolas. 2012. Determinants of News Content: Comparing Journalist's Perceptions of the Normative and Actual Impact of Different Event Properties When Deciding What's News. Journalism Studies. Volume 13. No. 5-6. 718-728.

Taylor and Francis Online

Routledge

[59] Curran, James and Seaton, Jean. 2003. Power Without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and News Media in Britain. 6th Edition. London:

[60] Peter G, Phillip E. Making the News. London: Longman; 1979

[61] Hall, Stuart. 1973. Encoding and Decoding in the Television

[62] Schulson, Michael. 1991. 'The Sociology of News Production

Contemporary Studies

Edward Arnold

Discourse. Birmingham, UK: Centre for

Revisited'. In J. Curran and M. Gurevitch (eds.). Mass Media and Society. London:

[63] Murdock, Graham. 1973. 'Political Deviance: The Presentation of a Militant

An empirical test of the two-

Issue). 627-647

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

Second Edition . New York: Macmillan

[45] Grabe, Maria Elizabeth . 2011. 'News As Reality-Inducing, Survival-Relevant, and Gender-Specific Stimuli'. In S. Craig Roberts (ed.). Applied Evolutionary Psychology (Chapter 22). New York:

Routinization of News Production and Objectivity. In Social Meanings of News – A Text – Reader. Dan Berkowitz (ed.). London: SAGE Publications, Inc.

[47] Tuchman, Gaye. 1978. Making News: A Study in the Construction of

[48] Berger, Peter L., and Luckman,

Construction of Reality. Garden City, New York: Doubleday-Anchor.

[49] Boyd, A. 1994. Broadcast Journalism Techniques of Radio and TV News.

[50] Conley, D. and Lamble, S. 2006. The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism. 3rd Edition. Melbourne:

[51] Lippman, Walter. 1922. Public Opinion. New York: Macmillan

Discourse Analysis. Basingstoke:

[53] Caple, Helen and Bednarek, Monika. 2013. 'Delving into the Discourse: Approaches to News Values in Journalism Studies and Beyond'. Working Paper. Oxford: University of Oxford and Reuters Institute for the

[52] Richardson, J. E. 2007 . Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical

[54] Johnson, Jonathan L. and O'Leary-Kelly, Anne M. 2003. "The Effects of Psychological Contract Breach and

Reality. New York: Free Press

Thomas. (1967). The Social

Oxford: Focal Press

Oxford University Press

Palgrave Macmillan

Study of Journalism

Publishers

Oxford University Press

[46] Tuchman, Gaye . 1979.

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

Second Edition . New York: Macmillan Publishers

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

Jeffrey Gottfried and Elisa Shearer. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center

[34] Jefkins, Frank W. 1998. Public Relations. 5th Edition. London: Financial

[35] Wardle, Claire. 2017. "Fake News It's Complicated". First Draft News.Org . February 16. London: First Draft News

[36] IFLA Blogs. 2017. "How to Spot Fake News". International Federation of Library Association and Institutions

[37] Allcott, Hunt. 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election". The Journal of Economic Perspectives.

[38] Federal Election Commission (FEC). 2017. "Agency Financial Report, Fiscal Year 2017". Government Agency's Financial Report. November 15. Pp.5, 67. Washington, D.C.: Public Domain Material from this U.S. Government

[39] Trainer III, James E. 2016. Federal Election Commission. Washington, D.C.

[40] Walther, Steven T. 2016. Federal Election Commission. Washington, D.C.

[41] Shirkey, Clay. 2008. Here Comes Everybody. London. Shoemaker, Pamela J. 1991. Gatekeeping. Newbury

[42] Schramm, Wilbur (ed.) . 1960 . Mass Communication. Second Edition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press

[43] McLuhan, Marshall . 2002. 1964. Understanding Media - The Extension

Introduction to Journalism: A Survey of the Fourth Estate in All Its Forms .

of Man. London: Routledge

[44] Bond, Fraser F. 1966. An

Park: Sage Publications

(IFLA). January 27. Den Haag,

Volume 31. Pp. 211-235

Times

Co.

Netherlands

Document

[23] Kiely, Eugene and Robertson, Lori. 2016. "How To Spot Fake News".

[24] Peter, Jeremy W. 2016. "Wielding Claims of 'Fake News'. Conservatives Take Aim at Mainstream Media". The New York Times. December 25. New

[25] Bort, Ryan. 2014. "Why SNL's Weekend Update Anchor Change Is Brilliant". Esquire. Sept.12. New York:

[26] National Public Radio (NPR). 2013. "Area Man Realizes He's Been Reading Fake News for 25 Years". Aug. 29. Washington, D.C.: NationalPublicRadio.

[27] Lind, Dara. 2018. "Trump Finally Admits that "Fake News" Just Means News He Doesn't Like". VOX. May 9. Washington, D.C.: Vox Media LLC

[28] Murphy, Margi. 2018. "Government Bans Phrase 'Fake News'. The Telegraph. October 22. London: The Telegraph

[29] Swartz, Jon. 2017. "The World Wide Web's Inventor Warns It's in Peril on 28th Anniversary'. USA Today. March 11.

[30] Reuters. 2017. Editorial. Oct. 31. "Fake News Hurts Trust in Media, Mainstream Outlets Fare Better". New

[31] Radutzky, Michael. 2017. "What's "Fake News"? 60 Minutes producers Investigate". CBS News. March 26. New

[32] CBS News. 2017. How Fake News Becomes A Popular, Trending Topic. March 26. New York: CBS Interactive

[33] Pew Research Center. 2016. "News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016". Journalism and Media Analysis.

McLean, VA: USA Today

York: Thomson Reuters

York: CBS News

Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.

FactCheck.org

York

org

**140**

Inc.

[45] Grabe, Maria Elizabeth . 2011. 'News As Reality-Inducing, Survival-Relevant, and Gender-Specific Stimuli'. In S. Craig Roberts (ed.). Applied Evolutionary Psychology (Chapter 22). New York: Oxford University Press

[46] Tuchman, Gaye . 1979. Routinization of News Production and Objectivity. In Social Meanings of News – A Text – Reader. Dan Berkowitz (ed.). London: SAGE Publications, Inc.

[47] Tuchman, Gaye. 1978. Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. New York: Free Press

[48] Berger, Peter L., and Luckman, Thomas. (1967). The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, New York: Doubleday-Anchor.

[49] Boyd, A. 1994. Broadcast Journalism Techniques of Radio and TV News. Oxford: Focal Press

[50] Conley, D. and Lamble, S. 2006. The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism. 3rd Edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press

[51] Lippman, Walter. 1922. Public Opinion. New York: Macmillan

[52] Richardson, J. E. 2007 . Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

[53] Caple, Helen and Bednarek, Monika. 2013. 'Delving into the Discourse: Approaches to News Values in Journalism Studies and Beyond'. Working Paper. Oxford: University of Oxford and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

[54] Johnson, Jonathan L. and O'Leary-Kelly, Anne M. 2003. "The Effects of Psychological Contract Breach and

Organizational Cynicism: Not All Social Exchange Violations Are Created Equal". Journal of Organizational Behavior. Volume 2. No. 5 (Special Issue). 627-647

[55] Fuller, J. 1996 . News Values: Ideas for an Information Age. Chicago/ London: University of Chicago Press

[56] Kepplinger, H. M., and Ehmig, S. C. (2006). Predicting news decisions. An empirical test of the twocomponent theory of news selection. Communications, Volume 31. 25-43.

[57] Westerstahl, Jorgen and Johansson, Folke. 1994. "Foreign News: News Values and Ideologies. European Journal of Communication. March 1. Volume 1. No. 2. 133-149. London: Sage Journals

[58] Stromback, Jesper; Karlsson, Michael; and Hopmann, David Nicolas. 2012. Determinants of News Content: Comparing Journalist's Perceptions of the Normative and Actual Impact of Different Event Properties When Deciding What's News. Journalism Studies. Volume 13. No. 5-6. 718-728. Taylor and Francis Online

[59] Curran, James and Seaton, Jean. 2003. Power Without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and News Media in Britain. 6th Edition. London: Routledge

[60] Peter G, Phillip E. Making the News. London: Longman; 1979

[61] Hall, Stuart. 1973. Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse. Birmingham, UK: Centre for Contemporary Studies

[62] Schulson, Michael. 1991. 'The Sociology of News Production Revisited'. In J. Curran and M. Gurevitch (eds.). Mass Media and Society. London: Edward Arnold

[63] Murdock, Graham. 1973. 'Political Deviance: The Presentation of a Militant Demonstration'. In S. Cohen and J. Young (eds.) . The Manufacture of News. London: Constable

[64] Galtung, J. and Ruge, M. 1965. "The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba, and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers". Journal of Peace Research. Volume 2. No. 1. 64-90

[65] Tunstall, J. 1971. Journalists at Work: Specialist Correspondents: Their News Organizations, News Sources, and Competitor-Colleagues. London: Constable

[66] Niblock, Sarah and Machin, David. 2007. News Values for Consumer Groups: The Case of Independent Radio News. April 1. London, UK: Sage Journals

[67] McChesney, R.W. 1999. Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times . Urbana, IL.: University of Illinois Press

[68] Herman, Edward S. and Chomsky, Noam. 1994 . Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. London: Vintage

[69] Goffman, Erving. (1974). Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

[70] Hackett, Robert. 1984 . 'Decline of a Paradigm? Bias and Objectivity in News Media Studies'. Critical Studies in Mass Communication. Volume 1. Number 3. pp. 229-259.

[71] Gitlin, Todd. (1980). The Whole World Is Watching. Berkeley: University of California Press

[72] Gamson, William A., and Modigliani, Andre. 1989. 'Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach'. American Journal of Sociology. Volume 95. pp. 1-37.

[73] Entman, Robert. 1993. 'Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm'. Journal of Communication. Volume 43. Number 4. pp. 51-58.

[74] Hertog, James and McLeod, Douglas. 1995. 'Anarchists Wreak Havoc in Downtown Minneapolis: A Multi-Level Study of Media Coverage of Radical Protest'. Journalism and Mass Communication Monographs. Number 151. Columbia, SC: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

[75] Nisbet, Matthew C.; Brossard, Dominique; and Kroepsch, Adrianne . 2003. 'Framing Science: The Stem Cell Controversy in an Age of Press/Politics'. Press/Politics. Volume 8. Number 2. Spring. pp. 36-70

[76] McComas, K. and Shanahan, J.E. 1999. 'Telling Stories About Global Climate Change: Measuring the Impact of Narratives on Issue Cycles' . Communication Research . Volume 1. pp. 30-57

[77] Lasswell, Harold D. 1969. The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. In Wilbur Schramm (ed.). Mass Communication . Urbana: University of Illinois Press

[78] Oso, Lai. 2012. Press and Politics in Nigeria: On Whose Side?. Inaugural Lecture as Professor of Mass Communication. Lagos State University. Ojo. Lagos. October 16. http://www.lasu. edu.ng/news/press\_and\_politics\_in\_ Nigeria.pdf. Accessed February 7, 2020

[79] MacBride, Sean et al. 1981. Many Voices, One World: UNESCO Report on World Information Order. Paris: UNESCO Publications

[80] Downing, John. (ed.). 2004. The SAGE Handbook of Media Studies. London: SAGE

**143**

Praeger

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth…*

[91] NDTV. 2019. "Facebook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Calls for More Regulation of Internet". Agence France Presse (AFP).

March 31. Ndtv.com

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

[81] Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. 2003. Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and

[82] Boyd-Barrett, O. 1997. Global News Wholesales as Agents of Globalization, Media in Global Context: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

[83] Paterson, C. 1997. Global Television

Context: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Oxford

[84] Lorimer, Rowland and Scannell, Paddy. 1994. Mass Communications: A Comprehensive Introduction.

Manchester, UK: Manchester University

[85] Bagdikian, Ben. 1989. In Paterson, C. 1997. Global Television News Services. Media in Global Context: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

[86] McQuail, Denis. 2010. McQuail's Mass Communication Theory. 6th Edition. London: Sage Publications

[87] Prat, Andrea and Stromberg, David. 2011. 'The Political Economy of Mass Media'. Advances in Economics and Econometrics. Section 6 – Ideological Bias. Volume 2. London School of Economics and Stockholm University

[88] Weatherly, Jeffrey N. et al. 2007. 'Perceptions of Political Bias in the Headlines of Two Major News Organizations'. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics. Volume 21. Number 91. Boston, M

[89] Jacquette, Dale. 2006. Journalistic Ethics: Moral Responsibility in the Media. London: Prentice Hall

[90] Kuypers, Jim. 2002. Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Controversial Issues. Westport, CT:

News services, Media in Global

University Press

Press

Schuster

*Fake News as Aberration in Journalism Practice: Examining Truth and Facts as Basis of Fourth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94195*

[81] Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. 2003. Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

Approach'. American Journal of Sociology. Volume 95. pp. 1-37.

[74] Hertog, James and McLeod, Douglas. 1995. 'Anarchists Wreak Havoc in Downtown Minneapolis: A Multi-Level Study of Media Coverage of Radical Protest'. Journalism and Mass Communication Monographs. Number 151. Columbia, SC: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass

[75] Nisbet, Matthew C.; Brossard, Dominique; and Kroepsch, Adrianne . 2003. 'Framing Science: The Stem Cell Controversy in an Age of Press/Politics'. Press/Politics. Volume 8. Number 2.

[76] McComas, K. and Shanahan, J.E. 1999. 'Telling Stories About Global Climate Change: Measuring the Impact of Narratives on Issue Cycles' . Communication Research . Volume 1.

[77] Lasswell, Harold D. 1969. The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. In Wilbur Schramm (ed.). Mass Communication . Urbana: University of Illinois Press

[78] Oso, Lai. 2012. Press and Politics in Nigeria: On Whose Side?. Inaugural Lecture as Professor of Mass Communication. Lagos State University. Ojo. Lagos. October 16. http://www.lasu. edu.ng/news/press\_and\_politics\_in\_ Nigeria.pdf. Accessed February 7, 2020

[79] MacBride, Sean et al. 1981. Many Voices, One World: UNESCO Report on World Information Order. Paris:

[80] Downing, John. (ed.). 2004. The SAGE Handbook of Media Studies.

UNESCO Publications

London: SAGE

Communication.

Spring. pp. 36-70

pp. 30-57

[73] Entman, Robert. 1993. 'Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm'. Journal of Communication. Volume 43. Number 4. pp. 51-58.

Demonstration'. In S. Cohen and J. Young (eds.) . The Manufacture of

[64] Galtung, J. and Ruge, M. 1965. "The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba, and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers". Journal of Peace Research.

[65] Tunstall, J. 1971. Journalists at Work: Specialist Correspondents: Their News Organizations, News Sources, and Competitor-Colleagues. London:

[66] Niblock, Sarah and Machin, David. 2007. News Values for Consumer Groups: The Case of Independent Radio News. April 1. London, UK: Sage

[67] McChesney, R.W. 1999. Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times . Urbana, IL.:

[68] Herman, Edward S. and Chomsky, Noam. 1994 . Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass

[69] Goffman, Erving. (1974). Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston: Northeastern

[70] Hackett, Robert. 1984 . 'Decline of a Paradigm? Bias and Objectivity in News Media Studies'. Critical Studies in Mass Communication. Volume 1. Number 3.

[71] Gitlin, Todd. (1980). The Whole World Is Watching. Berkeley: University

[72] Gamson, William A., and Modigliani, Andre. 1989. 'Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist

University of Illinois Press

Media. London: Vintage

University Press.

pp. 229-259.

of California Press

News. London: Constable

Volume 2. No. 1. 64-90

Constable

Journals

**142**

[82] Boyd-Barrett, O. 1997. Global News Wholesales as Agents of Globalization, Media in Global Context: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

[83] Paterson, C. 1997. Global Television News services, Media in Global Context: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

[84] Lorimer, Rowland and Scannell, Paddy. 1994. Mass Communications: A Comprehensive Introduction. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press

[85] Bagdikian, Ben. 1989. In Paterson, C. 1997. Global Television News Services. Media in Global Context: A Reader. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

[86] McQuail, Denis. 2010. McQuail's Mass Communication Theory. 6th Edition. London: Sage Publications

[87] Prat, Andrea and Stromberg, David. 2011. 'The Political Economy of Mass Media'. Advances in Economics and Econometrics. Section 6 – Ideological Bias. Volume 2. London School of Economics and Stockholm University

[88] Weatherly, Jeffrey N. et al. 2007. 'Perceptions of Political Bias in the Headlines of Two Major News Organizations'. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics. Volume 21. Number 91. Boston, M

[89] Jacquette, Dale. 2006. Journalistic Ethics: Moral Responsibility in the Media. London: Prentice Hall

[90] Kuypers, Jim. 2002. Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Controversial Issues. Westport, CT: Praeger

[91] NDTV. 2019. "Facebook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Calls for More Regulation of Internet". Agence France Presse (AFP). March 31. Ndtv.com

**145**

**Chapter 7**

**Abstract**

this acts.

**1. Introduction**

republican system once and for all".

*Dumebi Otulugbu*

Alternative News and

and Its Spread in Nigeria

Misinterpretations: Fake News

Down the ages and across cultures, information has occupied a very crucial space in the life of any society. Today, our world with the speed in technological advancements is characterised with easy access to the collecting, refining and distribution of information. This has left media houses especially the large ones with the burden of competing with alternative media, as media producers abuse the privilege in liberal democracies that is granted citizens as regards human rights and freedom, as the rate of disseminating false information continues to grow. This piece attempts at stating clearly information on fake news, misinformation and hate speeches as disseminated globally in the guise of media scientists, showing the means through which this end is met, especially with the easy that comes with the use of social media and in the end, showing the challenges and risks that are resultant effects of

**Keywords:** alternative news, media, misinterpretations, research and specialist

The act of manipulating information has existed long before the advent of social media, an active feature of history long, even before the coming of modern journalism through established standards which define news as a genre based on particular rules of integrity. Facts affirming the above claim dates back to an early incident recorded to have occurred in ancient Rome, when Antony met Cleopatra and his political enemy Octavian launched a smear campaign against him with "short, sharp slogans written upon coins in the style of archaic Tweets." The perpetrator became the first Roman Emperor and "fake news had allowed Octavian to hack the

The term 'news', in its ideal form stands for verifiable information in the public

interest, this is why any information that does not meet these aforementioned standards does not deserve the label of news. What this implies is that whenever there is a mention of the term, 'fake news', it would simply pass as an oxymoron, that where two words of opposite meaning are used together, an attempt aimed at simply undermining the credibility of information which does indeed meet the threshold of verifiability and public interest – that is real news. Having stated this, we can freely employ the use of the term "fake news" for the purpose of this paper.

#### **Chapter 7**

## Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria

*Dumebi Otulugbu*

#### **Abstract**

Down the ages and across cultures, information has occupied a very crucial space in the life of any society. Today, our world with the speed in technological advancements is characterised with easy access to the collecting, refining and distribution of information. This has left media houses especially the large ones with the burden of competing with alternative media, as media producers abuse the privilege in liberal democracies that is granted citizens as regards human rights and freedom, as the rate of disseminating false information continues to grow. This piece attempts at stating clearly information on fake news, misinformation and hate speeches as disseminated globally in the guise of media scientists, showing the means through which this end is met, especially with the easy that comes with the use of social media and in the end, showing the challenges and risks that are resultant effects of this acts.

**Keywords:** alternative news, media, misinterpretations, research and specialist

#### **1. Introduction**

The act of manipulating information has existed long before the advent of social media, an active feature of history long, even before the coming of modern journalism through established standards which define news as a genre based on particular rules of integrity. Facts affirming the above claim dates back to an early incident recorded to have occurred in ancient Rome, when Antony met Cleopatra and his political enemy Octavian launched a smear campaign against him with "short, sharp slogans written upon coins in the style of archaic Tweets." The perpetrator became the first Roman Emperor and "fake news had allowed Octavian to hack the republican system once and for all".

The term 'news', in its ideal form stands for verifiable information in the public interest, this is why any information that does not meet these aforementioned standards does not deserve the label of news. What this implies is that whenever there is a mention of the term, 'fake news', it would simply pass as an oxymoron, that where two words of opposite meaning are used together, an attempt aimed at simply undermining the credibility of information which does indeed meet the threshold of verifiability and public interest – that is real news. Having stated this, we can freely employ the use of the term "fake news" for the purpose of this paper.

Fake news is defined as a situation when misinformation takes the form of a news story to approximate the legitimacy which society associates with real news [1]. Many scholars focus on the intention behind fake news when defining the term, it is also defined as information that has been deliberately fabricated and disseminated with the intention to deceive and mislead others into believing falsehoods or doubting verifiable facts [2]. In this regard, it is disinformation that is presented as or is likely to be perceived as news. Fake news is viewed as news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false and could mislead readers [3].

Seven types of fake news were identified by Claire Wardle of *First Draft News*, which includes the following; Satire or parody (this has no intention of causing any harm although it has potentials to fool), false connection, (this is when headlines or captions do not support the content), misleading content (here misleading information is used to frame an issue or an individual), false context (this is when authentic information is shared with false contextual information), imposter content (this is when authentic sources are impersonated with false, made-up sources), manipulated content (this is when authentic information or imagery is manipulated to deceive, as can be related in the case of a doctored photo) and fabricated content (in this case, the content is 100% new, yet false, it is designed to deceive and do harm) [4].

Fake news is currently an issue of global interest right now; this is so because globally discussions about fake news and its impact on global affairs are being held. This century sadly has seen the use of information as a weapon in rather unprecedented scale. the exploitation and falsification of contents have simply become rather easy with the presence of Powerful new technology, this has also given easy rise to the use of social networks in intensifying the rate falsehoods in rather very dramatic fashion especially as peddled by States, politicians, deceitful corporate entities, and individuals who go about sharing uncritical publics stories, these and other forms of misinformation are perpetrated with the intent seeking or gaining platforms to pursue financial gains in the advertising section. There is a high spread of the fake news phenomenon on the internet; this is so because of the internet's ever connected nature and a major function of the masses' preference for speed over accuracy. Thus, since those who provide content on the internet are a Zero-sum, winner-takes-all battle for attention and for of course the revenue that comes with advertising, they do not mind doing any and everything to boost traffic. Distinct from print publications that allows for enough time before reporting a breaking story the next day, publications that are made online which are majorly reports on the franticness of the present world. Due to the nature of modus operandi of the internet, one who is on that space might as well go fast or go home. Hence, so many journalists are left in an unreasonable competition for attention, where they are forced to publish information first and then verify the authenticity of their contents later, this hunts our world today badly [5]. Nonetheless, this is also a Nigerian problem, as there are also a bulk of new sites and blogs that publish contents without properly authenticating their sources. Fake news stories are usually thrilling in nature and by this factor, are very likely to spread quickly; since these blogs or platforms by their nature contain a high level of followers, making the news possess an existing number of massive reader base that have their notification on, looking up to them for second to second information, and since these have special flavors added to them to make them captivating, such stories will most likely be believed by those who them, in turn, these people will share the story on social media as today it is about a thing of pride to be the first to have information about a story, sadly though, this is how fake news goes on and on, more painful is the fact that even after the story has been debunked, Sometimes, the fake news still prevails.

**147**

*Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria*

imperative to examine the end product of journalism, which is news.

Journalists, those who for the purpose of this piece are referred to as media specialist and the organizations they work for produce news is fundamentally, an individual as well as an organizational product; nonetheless, when the ways in which news is being constructed is considered, it becomes imperative as [6] would put it to examine the procedure whereby an excessive amount of proceedings and issues relating to a given day are filtered into a bulletin or newspaper. These proceedings we can divide into two chronological stages those of "the selection of proceedings and issues on which we base the news stories and subsequent construction of such stories" In an attempt at seeking the definition of journalism, it is

Notwithstanding, with the emergence of what [7] calls the 'participatory web' user generated content has gradually become an important part of the digital culture [7, 8]. The resultant effect brought major changes to the news media industry. particularly, this change was seen in the ways in which news was reported and shared across populations were expanded through media platforms that are connected, this has created positive influence on people especially on engaging the young people with news and information on current affairs [9]. At the same time, it is important to mention here that the monetization and rapid circulation of 'news' through the use of digital platforms especially the social media is responsible for such widespread and effective forms of media manipulation. These digital platforms tend to democratize the creation and circulation of news, however, what they fail to bring into consideration is that, in all these doings, questions abound, questions around what news is, how it gets made, shared and read in online contexts are also raised. Today the reason why people seek information is aimed towards various ends, these ends include but not limited to the following: comfort, empowerment, learning, knowledge to act among others. However, not all information is useful and credible to them. Thus, they are then charged with a duty to filter out useless information and retain only what is useful and believable. Credibility is thus one of the criteria used in filtering unbelievable information [10]. Credibility as defined by [11] is a "judgment made by a perceiver (e.g., a message recipient) concerning the believability of a communicator", save for other scholars, this definition should also include institutions as well as persons as communicators as indicted by [12]. Generally, the learned assessment of credibility falls in with about one of the oldest lines in communication research, originating with ancient Greeks [13, 14]. More often than not, information that is credible is referred to as believable information [15, 16], in fact, Eisend calls it a person's perception of the truth of a piece of information [17]. This is why Self opined that this concept brings to mind Aristotle's argument that persuasion was based upon fitting the message to audience need in the linear model of speaker-message-audience [18]. All in all, different researchers, in fact, employed different definitions of credibility. This definition helps to demonstrate that credibility as a concept is complex, interdependent, and a multidimensional [19]. Due to the deep penetration of the Internet Media credibility, has received renewed attention in recent years [20]. However, interest in newspaper credibility reached the highest point in the late 1980s, regrettably, media credibility issue has recently been revived, this is so because of the involvement of traditional media those of the television and newspapers in the Internet [21], recent study on "Perceptions of Internet information credibility", which was conducted by Flanagin and Metsger shows that the information gotten from the Internet was as credible as that gotten from the television. Thus, the authors reached the conclusion that the credibility among various kinds of information that audience seek, say news and entertainment, differed by

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

**2. Relevant literature reviewed**

#### **2. Relevant literature reviewed**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

intentionally and verifiably false and could mislead readers [3].

Fake news is defined as a situation when misinformation takes the form of a news story to approximate the legitimacy which society associates with real news [1]. Many scholars focus on the intention behind fake news when defining the term, it is also defined as information that has been deliberately fabricated and disseminated with the intention to deceive and mislead others into believing falsehoods or doubting verifiable facts [2]. In this regard, it is disinformation that is presented as or is likely to be perceived as news. Fake news is viewed as news articles that are

Seven types of fake news were identified by Claire Wardle of *First Draft News*, which includes the following; Satire or parody (this has no intention of causing any harm although it has potentials to fool), false connection, (this is when headlines or captions do not support the content), misleading content (here misleading information is used to frame an issue or an individual), false context (this is when authentic information is shared with false contextual information), imposter content (this is when authentic sources are impersonated with false, made-up sources), manipulated content (this is when authentic information or imagery is manipulated to deceive, as can be related in the case of a doctored photo) and fabricated content (in this case, the content is 100% new, yet false, it is designed to deceive and

Fake news is currently an issue of global interest right now; this is so because globally discussions about fake news and its impact on global affairs are being held. This century sadly has seen the use of information as a weapon in rather unprecedented scale. the exploitation and falsification of contents have simply become rather easy with the presence of Powerful new technology, this has also given easy rise to the use of social networks in intensifying the rate falsehoods in rather very dramatic fashion especially as peddled by States, politicians, deceitful corporate entities, and individuals who go about sharing uncritical publics stories, these and other forms of misinformation are perpetrated with the intent seeking or gaining platforms to pursue financial gains in the advertising section. There is a high spread of the fake news phenomenon on the internet; this is so because of the internet's ever connected nature and a major function of the masses' preference for speed over accuracy. Thus, since those who provide content on the internet are a Zero-sum, winner-takes-all battle for attention and for of course the revenue that comes with advertising, they do not mind doing any and everything to boost traffic. Distinct from print publications that allows for enough time before reporting a breaking story the next day, publications that are made online which are majorly reports on the franticness of the present world. Due to the nature of modus operandi of the internet, one who is on that space might as well go fast or go home. Hence, so many journalists are left in an unreasonable competition for attention, where they are forced to publish information first and then verify the authenticity of their contents later, this hunts our world today badly [5]. Nonetheless, this is also a Nigerian problem, as there are also a bulk of new sites and blogs that publish contents without properly authenticating their sources. Fake news stories are usually thrilling in nature and by this factor, are very likely to spread quickly; since these blogs or platforms by their nature contain a high level of followers, making the news possess an existing number of massive reader base that have their notification on, looking up to them for second to second information, and since these have special flavors added to them to make them captivating, such stories will most likely be believed by those who them, in turn, these people will share the story on social media as today it is about a thing of pride to be the first to have information about a story, sadly though, this is how fake news goes on and on, more painful is the fact that even after the story has been debunked, Sometimes, the fake news still prevails.

**146**

do harm) [4].

Journalists, those who for the purpose of this piece are referred to as media specialist and the organizations they work for produce news is fundamentally, an individual as well as an organizational product; nonetheless, when the ways in which news is being constructed is considered, it becomes imperative as [6] would put it to examine the procedure whereby an excessive amount of proceedings and issues relating to a given day are filtered into a bulletin or newspaper. These proceedings we can divide into two chronological stages those of "the selection of proceedings and issues on which we base the news stories and subsequent construction of such stories" In an attempt at seeking the definition of journalism, it is imperative to examine the end product of journalism, which is news.

Notwithstanding, with the emergence of what [7] calls the 'participatory web' user generated content has gradually become an important part of the digital culture [7, 8]. The resultant effect brought major changes to the news media industry. particularly, this change was seen in the ways in which news was reported and shared across populations were expanded through media platforms that are connected, this has created positive influence on people especially on engaging the young people with news and information on current affairs [9]. At the same time, it is important to mention here that the monetization and rapid circulation of 'news' through the use of digital platforms especially the social media is responsible for such widespread and effective forms of media manipulation. These digital platforms tend to democratize the creation and circulation of news, however, what they fail to bring into consideration is that, in all these doings, questions abound, questions around what news is, how it gets made, shared and read in online contexts are also raised.

Today the reason why people seek information is aimed towards various ends, these ends include but not limited to the following: comfort, empowerment, learning, knowledge to act among others. However, not all information is useful and credible to them. Thus, they are then charged with a duty to filter out useless information and retain only what is useful and believable. Credibility is thus one of the criteria used in filtering unbelievable information [10]. Credibility as defined by [11] is a "judgment made by a perceiver (e.g., a message recipient) concerning the believability of a communicator", save for other scholars, this definition should also include institutions as well as persons as communicators as indicted by [12]. Generally, the learned assessment of credibility falls in with about one of the oldest lines in communication research, originating with ancient Greeks [13, 14]. More often than not, information that is credible is referred to as believable information [15, 16], in fact, Eisend calls it a person's perception of the truth of a piece of information [17]. This is why Self opined that this concept brings to mind Aristotle's argument that persuasion was based upon fitting the message to audience need in the linear model of speaker-message-audience [18]. All in all, different researchers, in fact, employed different definitions of credibility. This definition helps to demonstrate that credibility as a concept is complex, interdependent, and a multidimensional [19]. Due to the deep penetration of the Internet Media credibility, has received renewed attention in recent years [20]. However, interest in newspaper credibility reached the highest point in the late 1980s, regrettably, media credibility issue has recently been revived, this is so because of the involvement of traditional media those of the television and newspapers in the Internet [21], recent study on "Perceptions of Internet information credibility", which was conducted by Flanagin and Metsger shows that the information gotten from the Internet was as credible as that gotten from the television. Thus, the authors reached the conclusion that the credibility among various kinds of information that audience seek, say news and entertainment, differed by

media channels. Reports from respondents showed that they did not verify Internetbased information. However, this finding varied, this variance was measured by the kind of information needed, the level of experience using of the Internet and the audience's perception about the information were among others related with whether they made to verify information found on the Internet [22].

The Internet however helps the flow and freedom of information, introducing an increased possibility for error or misuse on information. But credibility of online information may be derived from the strength of mutual interaction between users and sources. However, these authors have been investigating for several decades this relationship between media use and perceived media credibility but the findings of a study conducted indicate that there is need to clearly distinguish from level of preference the rate of media use for various media [23]. Studies of media use have time after time shown that online media complements traditional media more correspondingly than competitive media [24]. Based on this aforementioned finding concerning the online media, it can be inferred that credibility is something a medium cannot earn it by its own, but it also should be obtained by other media.

#### **3. Causes of fake news**

In an attempt at stating clearly the causes of fake news in Nigeria as well as the world at large, so many factors come into consideration, but for the sake of emphasis, this piece include but not limited to the following:

Monetary gains: this is about the major reasons for the creation and spread of fake news today, basically all other reasons are means tilting towards this end, this is why Jestin Coler, who was formerly owned the fake media conglomerate *Disinfomedia*, was once known to have stated that when he ran his company, he once had to employed about 20 to 25 writers making up \$10,000 to \$30,000 per month just from advertisements [25]. A close look at this has shown that this is about the same story with that which is obtainable in the Nigerian media market.

More so, some media outlets have indulged in fake news simply for the sake of significance, this is a major feature of the social media in Nigeria where persons and organizations go any length just to be "verified", to do so they fill their space with anything, irrespective of how credible it is or not as long as such information say stories or advertisement or can attract enough viewers to their space. Furthermore, another factor that aids the spread of fake news is in states with government authorities that are unfriendly, together with have over the years been known for creating and spreading fake news, especially during events such as an election where certain information are in the custody of the government only, we can find this during elections.

Although the loosed nature of the guidelines regulating the internet is one factor which is also responsible for the spread of fake news. When the internet was made reachable for the general public in the 1990's it was dine for the chief purpose of seeking and reaching information. But with the advent of fake news in the internet, obtaining credible information has become though. Since there are really no stringent rules on the internet Fake news have become rampart with the use of news sites that are falsified, they do so by creating catchy news or gossips, pretending to be reliable sources.

#### **4. Effects of fake news in Nigeria**

Fake news are lies propagated for selfish reasons, and like all lies it comes with certain degrees of pains on those to whom such lies are framed, this is why the

**149**

election) [28].

*Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria*

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed is quoted to have said "the global epidemic of fake news is already having far reaching repercussions across the world". In fact, some researchers at the Ohio State University in the United States concluded in a recent study showed that Russian interference and the fake news it spread almost certainly aided in depressing the support Hilary Clinton got on the day of Election of the 2016 presidential elections in the United States. Some of this Fake News include that due to a serious disease she was is in poor health; that Trump got endorsed by Pope Francis; that she approved weapons sales to Islamic

Elebeke shows how In India, how about six people were killed simply because of fake news of prank messages. They were killed after this message showed that they were involved in of child abduction based on the fake messages circulated via the

In Nigeria, we do not have a better story, for fake news here is not sole a function of the social media for on 5th July 2018, the National newspaper's front page headline read: *Court orders National Assembly to begin impeachment of Buhari.* Creating unnecessary tension on the polity, that news was a simple manipulation of the following judgment: "*The applicants are hereby granted leave to issue and bring an Application for the order of Mandamus to compel 1*st *to 3rd Respondents to start impeachment proceedings against the 4th Respondent, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria"* as delivered by the Presiding Judge of the Federal High Court in Oshogbo. Fake news over the years have aggravated the herders/farmers crises in Nigeria, this is why The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) once reported that the fake news circulating in the social media is a major factor responsible for the fueling of the farmers/herdsmen crises in Nigeria., it stating that "fake pictures circulating on social media which users are falsely claiming depict inter-communal violence are inflaming already high tensions in Nigeria" one of such stories was the fake report which circulated the social media in Nigeria of the story that claiming that about five students of the College of Education at Gidan Waya, were ambushed and murdered by Fulani herdsmen in the Southern part of Kaduna. Also, major Nigerian news outlets once ran a story alleging that Danladi Ciroma, a leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, said the attacks in the Plateau were retribution for the loss of 300 cows, they even went ahead to have quoted him to have said that "Since, these cows were not found, no-one should expect peace in the areas", nevertheless, Mr. Ciroma had denied making such reports before the media

Based on seven articles that was analysed, six major fake news epidemics with serious adverse consequences across Nigeria were identified; Plotted stories caused an increase in polio cases (2017), Ebola 'cure' kills two (2014), President Muhammadu death in 2017 and his marriage saga in 2019, Fake Facebook post intensifies the regional and religious crisis (2012, 2018), Fake photos and news exacerbate tensions between the herdsmen and farmers conflict (2019), Claims of under-age voting in elections and other misleading stories (2015 presidential

In the face of the 2020 pandemic (Covid-19) the cause of Corona virus was linked to 5G mobile broadband technology is will replace 4G LTE connection with faster internet connectivity which will enhance faster downloads and other internet activities. 5G conspiracy theorists argue that the newly developed network generates radio frequency radiation that can damage DNA and lead to cancer and premature ageing. They also contend that the network can disrupt cell metabolism, and potentially lead to other diseases through the generation of stress proteins, and Corona virus in particular by weakening the immune system. In fact, a notable Nigerian Bishop took to social media in a protest against the installation of 5G network in

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

WhatsApp social media platform [26].

organization apparently tendered apology [27].

Jihadists etc. [5].

#### *Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed is quoted to have said "the global epidemic of fake news is already having far reaching repercussions across the world". In fact, some researchers at the Ohio State University in the United States concluded in a recent study showed that Russian interference and the fake news it spread almost certainly aided in depressing the support Hilary Clinton got on the day of Election of the 2016 presidential elections in the United States. Some of this Fake News include that due to a serious disease she was is in poor health; that Trump got endorsed by Pope Francis; that she approved weapons sales to Islamic Jihadists etc. [5].

Elebeke shows how In India, how about six people were killed simply because of fake news of prank messages. They were killed after this message showed that they were involved in of child abduction based on the fake messages circulated via the WhatsApp social media platform [26].

In Nigeria, we do not have a better story, for fake news here is not sole a function of the social media for on 5th July 2018, the National newspaper's front page headline read: *Court orders National Assembly to begin impeachment of Buhari.* Creating unnecessary tension on the polity, that news was a simple manipulation of the following judgment: "*The applicants are hereby granted leave to issue and bring an Application for the order of Mandamus to compel 1*st *to 3rd Respondents to start impeachment proceedings against the 4th Respondent, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria"* as delivered by the Presiding Judge of the Federal High Court in Oshogbo. Fake news over the years have aggravated the herders/farmers crises in Nigeria, this is why The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) once reported that the fake news circulating in the social media is a major factor responsible for the fueling of the farmers/herdsmen crises in Nigeria., it stating that "fake pictures circulating on social media which users are falsely claiming depict inter-communal violence are inflaming already high tensions in Nigeria" one of such stories was the fake report which circulated the social media in Nigeria of the story that claiming that about five students of the College of Education at Gidan Waya, were ambushed and murdered by Fulani herdsmen in the Southern part of Kaduna. Also, major Nigerian news outlets once ran a story alleging that Danladi Ciroma, a leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, said the attacks in the Plateau were retribution for the loss of 300 cows, they even went ahead to have quoted him to have said that "Since, these cows were not found, no-one should expect peace in the areas", nevertheless, Mr. Ciroma had denied making such reports before the media organization apparently tendered apology [27].

Based on seven articles that was analysed, six major fake news epidemics with serious adverse consequences across Nigeria were identified; Plotted stories caused an increase in polio cases (2017), Ebola 'cure' kills two (2014), President Muhammadu death in 2017 and his marriage saga in 2019, Fake Facebook post intensifies the regional and religious crisis (2012, 2018), Fake photos and news exacerbate tensions between the herdsmen and farmers conflict (2019), Claims of under-age voting in elections and other misleading stories (2015 presidential election) [28].

In the face of the 2020 pandemic (Covid-19) the cause of Corona virus was linked to 5G mobile broadband technology is will replace 4G LTE connection with faster internet connectivity which will enhance faster downloads and other internet activities. 5G conspiracy theorists argue that the newly developed network generates radio frequency radiation that can damage DNA and lead to cancer and premature ageing. They also contend that the network can disrupt cell metabolism, and potentially lead to other diseases through the generation of stress proteins, and Corona virus in particular by weakening the immune system. In fact, a notable Nigerian Bishop took to social media in a protest against the installation of 5G network in

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

whether they made to verify information found on the Internet [22].

**3. Causes of fake news**

media channels. Reports from respondents showed that they did not verify Internetbased information. However, this finding varied, this variance was measured by the kind of information needed, the level of experience using of the Internet and the audience's perception about the information were among others related with

The Internet however helps the flow and freedom of information, introducing an increased possibility for error or misuse on information. But credibility of online information may be derived from the strength of mutual interaction between users and sources. However, these authors have been investigating for several decades this relationship between media use and perceived media credibility but the findings of a study conducted indicate that there is need to clearly distinguish from level of preference the rate of media use for various media [23]. Studies of media use have time after time shown that online media complements traditional media more correspondingly than competitive media [24]. Based on this aforementioned finding concerning the online media, it can be inferred that credibility is something a medium cannot earn it by its own, but it also should be obtained by other media.

In an attempt at stating clearly the causes of fake news in Nigeria as well as the world at large, so many factors come into consideration, but for the sake of

Monetary gains: this is about the major reasons for the creation and spread of fake news today, basically all other reasons are means tilting towards this end, this is why Jestin Coler, who was formerly owned the fake media conglomerate *Disinfomedia*, was once known to have stated that when he ran his company, he once had to employed about 20 to 25 writers making up \$10,000 to \$30,000 per month just from advertisements [25]. A close look at this has shown that this is about the

More so, some media outlets have indulged in fake news simply for the sake of significance, this is a major feature of the social media in Nigeria where persons and organizations go any length just to be "verified", to do so they fill their space with anything, irrespective of how credible it is or not as long as such information say stories or advertisement or can attract enough viewers to their space. Furthermore, another factor that aids the spread of fake news is in states with government authorities that are unfriendly, together with have over the years been known for creating and spreading fake news, especially during events such as an election where certain information

Although the loosed nature of the guidelines regulating the internet is one factor which is also responsible for the spread of fake news. When the internet was made reachable for the general public in the 1990's it was dine for the chief purpose of seeking and reaching information. But with the advent of fake news in the internet, obtaining credible information has become though. Since there are really no stringent rules on the internet Fake news have become rampart with the use of news sites that are falsified, they do so by creating catchy news or gossips, pretending to

Fake news are lies propagated for selfish reasons, and like all lies it comes with certain degrees of pains on those to whom such lies are framed, this is why the

emphasis, this piece include but not limited to the following:

same story with that which is obtainable in the Nigerian media market.

are in the custody of the government only, we can find this during elections.

**148**

be reliable sources.

**4. Effects of fake news in Nigeria**

Nigeria. Though it had not been proven that 5G network is responsible for Corona virus pandemic, originators of fake news disseminated stories online that suggest that 5G network has a direct causal link with Corona virus [29]. Mosquitoes bite transmission: Although it's always appropriate to keep a safe distance from the insect that spreads paludism and dengue fever, respiratory viruses don't seem, at this stage, to be transmitted by mosquito bites, but by droplets of saliva or nasal secretions expelled by an infected person when coughing or sneezing. Speaking of animals, no house pets seem to have been infected by the new coronavirus. Infected facemasks, some plausible, but useless: Antibiotics work against bacteria, not viruses. Taking antibiotics to treat or prevent coronavirus could prove harmful by reducing a person's vigilance. Vaccines against pneumonia don't provide protection against COVID-19 either. The potential efficacy of chloroquine is currently being studied but doesn't look particularly promising. Remedies, transmission via parcels from China: Although their lifespan varies depending on the environment and temperature, pathogenic germs can only survive on objects such as parcels, coins and credit cards for a few hours. Products imported from China to Africa have been travelling for too long to transmit the virus. Bioweapon rumors: theories surrounding the coronavirus posit that the disease is a bioweapon engineered by the Chinese government, the US government or Bill Gates's foundation and that it was either deliberately or accidentally released. These rumours overlap with tall tales of former Soviet bloc countries supposedly carrying out secret geopolitical operations to weaken democracies via massive viral propaganda campaigns [30].

In the end we can clearly see that Fake news most often leads to confusion, tension, and even the tendency to be suicidal, depending on the person or institution as the case may be, while on the other end, it waters down the efforts of serious media coverage making the work more difficult for journalists to cover significant news stories.

#### **5. Management of fake news**

In attempting at seeking and finding lasting solutions to the problem of fake news, it must be brought into consideration that if there would be a solution to the problem of fake news and a lasting one at that, we must realize from the onset that is must be a collective effort, not just a mere function of the government or the media outlets, it must be a collective responsibility we owe ourselves and this responsibility must be carried out consciously and carefully, this is why Brian Hughes, a professor of media studies at Queens College, City University of New York, is quoted to have written that "it would be a mistake to pressure Facebook and Google into acting as censors" for news because, "we have already seen how much such an approach can backfire". To better make this point sink, he cited the example of how Facebook manipulated its trending newsfeed to suppress conservative news. He stated that this attempt only increased the distrust the public had for the media, making them appear as less credible sources of information. Thus, for him of adopting the Fairness Doctrine for digital media would go a long way at managing fake news; this is how he stated companies like Facebook can 'individually program their news feeds for balance and accuracy" since they are already able to identify consumer niches this does not mean the government has no place here, as Nicholas Lemann of the New Yorker has argued proposing that the government invest more in the pubic media to give more room for press freedom and journalistic integrity, although this would be difficult in state like Nigeria where the government is viewed as corrupt and not trustworthy [5].

**151**

*Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria*

More so, big technological companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter have begun addressing this issue. For Google, it is reported to have budgeted about 300 million US dollars over the next three years in an attempt at fighting and curbing the spread of false news. While Facebook on its part, according to Bloomberg, in the first three months of 2018 took down 583 million fake accounts. According to Reuters, Twitter withdrew license from over 70 million accounts, and the pace of

Okogba in his piece identified the position of Jamie Angus, the Director of BBC World Service Group on this topic, Jamie encouraged the public to use the most trusted news brands and rely on them solely for genuine information. Advocating an increased standard of education and media literacy for fake news cannot be eliminated, as long as we still have people willing to buy tabloids and read blogs that they already know have in the past contained lies or half-truths, and as long as the number uneducated people that are unable to differentiate between real and fake new continues to increase, the sale of fake news will continue to increase. Thus, he went further to state that today more than ever there is the surging need to educate people especially the young ones in particular, that equipping them with enough skills at identifying and differentiating true from untrue information [31].

It has been observed from the reviewed literature that alternative and misinterpreted news has caused a lot of fear/anxiety/panic and damages among the populace. Despite these, the consequences of fake news from the literature has been outlined as follows; aggravate distrust, violence and division among the people

From the above we can clearly see that alternative news and misinterpretation is our today's reality, causing more harm and no good at all, thus we must strive to encourage media literacy as it is very paramount in this regard. More so, people should invest more in making sure that media specialists' partner with good, reputable and credible international media organizations. And yes, government must ensure that they seek and find ways to support its foundational traditional media for acceptability as against those of the social media. Finally, Nigeria as a country must seek and find a way in making sure that its print media and TV stations are known to practice quality journalism, as this would boost their acceptability by the people; when that is successfully achieved, then Nigeria might make the move for the consideration of an independent regulation of the media; as this would definitely reduce the attention that is poured on fake media outlets and this would make identifying and punishing those who get spread for spitefully published information. Thus, librarians can lead the way as information professionals toward an information common through information and media literacy skills. Little has been

and weakens confidence and certainty of the people in the media.

studied by librarians about the direct impact of fake news on researchers.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

this withdrawal has continued to increase [26].

**6. Conclusion**

*Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

More so, big technological companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter have begun addressing this issue. For Google, it is reported to have budgeted about 300 million US dollars over the next three years in an attempt at fighting and curbing the spread of false news. While Facebook on its part, according to Bloomberg, in the first three months of 2018 took down 583 million fake accounts. According to Reuters, Twitter withdrew license from over 70 million accounts, and the pace of this withdrawal has continued to increase [26].

Okogba in his piece identified the position of Jamie Angus, the Director of BBC World Service Group on this topic, Jamie encouraged the public to use the most trusted news brands and rely on them solely for genuine information. Advocating an increased standard of education and media literacy for fake news cannot be eliminated, as long as we still have people willing to buy tabloids and read blogs that they already know have in the past contained lies or half-truths, and as long as the number uneducated people that are unable to differentiate between real and fake new continues to increase, the sale of fake news will continue to increase. Thus, he went further to state that today more than ever there is the surging need to educate people especially the young ones in particular, that equipping them with enough skills at identifying and differentiating true from untrue information [31].

#### **6. Conclusion**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

weaken democracies via massive viral propaganda campaigns [30].

In the end we can clearly see that Fake news most often leads to confusion, tension, and even the tendency to be suicidal, depending on the person or institution as the case may be, while on the other end, it waters down the efforts of serious media coverage making the work more difficult for journalists to cover significant news

In attempting at seeking and finding lasting solutions to the problem of fake news, it must be brought into consideration that if there would be a solution to the problem of fake news and a lasting one at that, we must realize from the onset that is must be a collective effort, not just a mere function of the government or the media outlets, it must be a collective responsibility we owe ourselves and this responsibility must be carried out consciously and carefully, this is why Brian Hughes, a professor of media studies at Queens College, City University of New York, is quoted to have written that "it would be a mistake to pressure Facebook and Google into acting as censors" for news because, "we have already seen how much such an approach can backfire". To better make this point sink, he cited the example of how Facebook manipulated its trending newsfeed to suppress conservative news. He stated that this attempt only increased the distrust the public had for the media, making them appear as less credible sources of information. Thus, for him of adopting the Fairness Doctrine for digital media would go a long way at managing fake news; this is how he stated companies like Facebook can 'individually program their news feeds for balance and accuracy" since they are already able to identify consumer niches this does not mean the government has no place here, as Nicholas Lemann of the New Yorker has argued proposing that the government invest more in the pubic media to give more room for press freedom and journalistic integrity, although this would be difficult in state like Nigeria where the government is

Nigeria. Though it had not been proven that 5G network is responsible for Corona virus pandemic, originators of fake news disseminated stories online that suggest that 5G network has a direct causal link with Corona virus [29]. Mosquitoes bite transmission: Although it's always appropriate to keep a safe distance from the insect that spreads paludism and dengue fever, respiratory viruses don't seem, at this stage, to be transmitted by mosquito bites, but by droplets of saliva or nasal secretions expelled by an infected person when coughing or sneezing. Speaking of animals, no house pets seem to have been infected by the new coronavirus. Infected facemasks, some plausible, but useless: Antibiotics work against bacteria, not viruses. Taking antibiotics to treat or prevent coronavirus could prove harmful by reducing a person's vigilance. Vaccines against pneumonia don't provide protection against COVID-19 either. The potential efficacy of chloroquine is currently being studied but doesn't look particularly promising. Remedies, transmission via parcels from China: Although their lifespan varies depending on the environment and temperature, pathogenic germs can only survive on objects such as parcels, coins and credit cards for a few hours. Products imported from China to Africa have been travelling for too long to transmit the virus. Bioweapon rumors: theories surrounding the coronavirus posit that the disease is a bioweapon engineered by the Chinese government, the US government or Bill Gates's foundation and that it was either deliberately or accidentally released. These rumours overlap with tall tales of former Soviet bloc countries supposedly carrying out secret geopolitical operations to

**150**

stories.

**5. Management of fake news**

viewed as corrupt and not trustworthy [5].

It has been observed from the reviewed literature that alternative and misinterpreted news has caused a lot of fear/anxiety/panic and damages among the populace. Despite these, the consequences of fake news from the literature has been outlined as follows; aggravate distrust, violence and division among the people and weakens confidence and certainty of the people in the media.

From the above we can clearly see that alternative news and misinterpretation is our today's reality, causing more harm and no good at all, thus we must strive to encourage media literacy as it is very paramount in this regard. More so, people should invest more in making sure that media specialists' partner with good, reputable and credible international media organizations. And yes, government must ensure that they seek and find ways to support its foundational traditional media for acceptability as against those of the social media. Finally, Nigeria as a country must seek and find a way in making sure that its print media and TV stations are known to practice quality journalism, as this would boost their acceptability by the people; when that is successfully achieved, then Nigeria might make the move for the consideration of an independent regulation of the media; as this would definitely reduce the attention that is poured on fake media outlets and this would make identifying and punishing those who get spread for spitefully published information. Thus, librarians can lead the way as information professionals toward an information common through information and media literacy skills. Little has been studied by librarians about the direct impact of fake news on researchers.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

#### **Author details**

Dumebi Otulugbu Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

\*Address all correspondence to: d.otulugbu@gmail.com; d.otulugbu@ui.edu.ng

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**153**

*Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria*

*Responses to YouTube*. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures; 2008.

[9] Greenhow C, Reifman J. Engaging youth in social media: is Facebook the new media frontier? Nieman Reports. 2009;63(3):53. Available from https:// niemanreports.org/articles/engagingyouth-in-social-media-is-facebook-thenew-media-frontier/ [Accessed on 26

[10] Wathen CN, Burkell J. Believe it or not: Factors influencing credibility on the Web. Journal of the American society for information science and technology. 2002;**53**(2):134-144. DOI:

[11] O'Keefe, DJ Persuasion: Theory and research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage

[12] Gass RH and Seiter JS Persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining (3rd. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. 2007. Pp 226-248

[13] Griffin E. Social information processing theory: first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill 2009. pp 138-149

[14] Liu Z. Perceptions of credibility of scholarly information on the web. Information Processing & Management.

2004 Nov 1;**40**(6):1027-1038

[15] Fogg BJ, Marshall J, Laraki O, Osipovich A, Varma C, Fang N, et al. What makes web sites credible? A report on a large quantitative study. InProceedings of the SIGCHI conference

on Human factors in computing systems. 2001 Mar;**1**:61-68

[16] Tseng S, Fogg BJ. Credibility and computing technology.

May 1;**42**(5):39-44

Communications of the ACM. 1999

pp. 273-282

August 2020]

10.1002/asi.10016

Publications 1990

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

[2] McGonagle T. "Fake news" False fears or real concerns? Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. 2017 Dec;**35**(4):203- 209. DOI: 10.1177/0924051917738685

[3] Allcott H, Gentzkow M. Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of economic perspectives. 2017 May;**31**(2):211-236. DOI: 10.1257/

[4] Wardle C. Fake news. It is complicated. First Draft News 2017 February 16 Available from https:// firstdraftnews.org/latest/fake-newscomplicated/ [Accessed: 06 September

[5] Ogbette AS, Idam MO, Kareem AO, Ogbette DN. Fake News in Nigeria: Causes, Effects and Management. Information and Knowledge Management 2019; 9(2): 96-99. Available from https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/331453395\_Fake\_News\_ in\_Nigeria\_Causes\_Effects\_and\_ Management [Accessed: 10 August

[6] Hodkinson P. Media, culture and society: An introduction. London: Sage

[8] Mitchem M. Video social: Complex parasitical media. In: Lovink G,

Niederer S, editors. *Video Vortex Reader:* 

Publications; 2017. pp. 128-129

[7] Grossman L. Times person of the year: You. *Time Magazine* 2006. Available from http:// content.time.com/time/magazine/ article/0,9171,1570810,00.html Accessed on 03 September 2020

[1] Duffy A, Tandoc E, Ling R. Too good to be true, too good not to share: the social utility of fake news. Information, Communication & Society. 2019 Jun;**6**:1-5. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2019.1623904

**References**

jep.31.2.211

2020]

2020]

*Alternative News and Misinterpretations: Fake News and Its Spread in Nigeria DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94571*

#### **References**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

**152**

**Author details**

Dumebi Otulugbu

Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: d.otulugbu@gmail.com; d.otulugbu@ui.edu.ng

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

[1] Duffy A, Tandoc E, Ling R. Too good to be true, too good not to share: the social utility of fake news. Information, Communication & Society. 2019 Jun;**6**:1-5. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2019.1623904

[2] McGonagle T. "Fake news" False fears or real concerns? Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. 2017 Dec;**35**(4):203- 209. DOI: 10.1177/0924051917738685

[3] Allcott H, Gentzkow M. Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of economic perspectives. 2017 May;**31**(2):211-236. DOI: 10.1257/ jep.31.2.211

[4] Wardle C. Fake news. It is complicated. First Draft News 2017 February 16 Available from https:// firstdraftnews.org/latest/fake-newscomplicated/ [Accessed: 06 September 2020]

[5] Ogbette AS, Idam MO, Kareem AO, Ogbette DN. Fake News in Nigeria: Causes, Effects and Management. Information and Knowledge Management 2019; 9(2): 96-99. Available from https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/331453395\_Fake\_News\_ in\_Nigeria\_Causes\_Effects\_and\_ Management [Accessed: 10 August 2020]

[6] Hodkinson P. Media, culture and society: An introduction. London: Sage Publications; 2017. pp. 128-129

[7] Grossman L. Times person of the year: You. *Time Magazine* 2006. Available from http:// content.time.com/time/magazine/ article/0,9171,1570810,00.html Accessed on 03 September 2020

[8] Mitchem M. Video social: Complex parasitical media. In: Lovink G, Niederer S, editors. *Video Vortex Reader:*  *Responses to YouTube*. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures; 2008. pp. 273-282

[9] Greenhow C, Reifman J. Engaging youth in social media: is Facebook the new media frontier? Nieman Reports. 2009;63(3):53. Available from https:// niemanreports.org/articles/engagingyouth-in-social-media-is-facebook-thenew-media-frontier/ [Accessed on 26 August 2020]

[10] Wathen CN, Burkell J. Believe it or not: Factors influencing credibility on the Web. Journal of the American society for information science and technology. 2002;**53**(2):134-144. DOI: 10.1002/asi.10016

[11] O'Keefe, DJ Persuasion: Theory and research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications 1990

[12] Gass RH and Seiter JS Persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining (3rd. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. 2007. Pp 226-248

[13] Griffin E. Social information processing theory: first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill 2009. pp 138-149

[14] Liu Z. Perceptions of credibility of scholarly information on the web. Information Processing & Management. 2004 Nov 1;**40**(6):1027-1038

[15] Fogg BJ, Marshall J, Laraki O, Osipovich A, Varma C, Fang N, et al. What makes web sites credible? A report on a large quantitative study. InProceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. 2001 Mar;**1**:61-68

[16] Tseng S, Fogg BJ. Credibility and computing technology. Communications of the ACM. 1999 May 1;**42**(5):39-44

[17] Eisend M. Source credibility dimensions in marketing communication–A generalized solution. Journal of Empirical Generalisations in Marketing Science. 2006;**10**(2):1-33

[18] Self CC Credibility. In M. B. Salwen and D. W. Stacks (Eds.). An integrated approach to communication theory and research*.* Mahwah: NJ: Erlbaum 1996 pp 421-441

[19] Burgoon M, Burgoon JK, Wilkinson M. Newspaper image and evaluation. Journalism Quarterly. 1981 Sep; 58(3):411-433

[20] Wathen CN, Burkell J. Believe it or not: Factors influencing credibility on the Web. Journal of the American society for information science and technology. 2002;**53**(2):134-144

[21] Garrison B. The perceived credibility of electronic mail in newspaper newsgathering. InProceedings of communication technology and policy division, Association for Educational in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Boulder, Colorado 2003 Mar 1.

[22] Flanagin AJ, Metzger MJ. Perceptions of Internet information credibility. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 2000 Sep;**77**(3):515-540

[23] Rimmer T, Weaver D. Different questions, different answers? Media use and media credibility. Journalism quarterly. 1987 Mar;**64**(1):28-44

[24] Bucy EP. Media credibility reconsidered: Synergy effects between on-air and online news. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 2003 Jun;**80**(2):247-264

[25] Sydell L. We tracked down a fakenews creator in the suburbs. Here's what we learned. National Public Radio. 2016

Nov 23. Available from https://www. npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/ 2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-thehead-of-a-covert-fake-news-operationin-the-suburbs [Accessed: 20 August 2020]

[26] Elebeke E. Federal Government launches campaign against fake news. Vanguard [Online] 2018. Available from https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/ fg-launches-campaign-against-fakenews/ [Accessed: 30 August 2020]

[27] Asadu C Miyetti Allah denies statement on Plateau killings (updated) The Cable (Online). 2018 Jun 25 Available from https://www.thecable. ng/miyetti-allah-plateau-killingslost-300-cows-no-one-expect-peace [Accessed: 06 October 2020]

[28] Oberiri DA, Bahiyah O Fake news proliferation in Nigeria: Consequences, motivations, and prevention through awareness strategies. Humanities & Social Sciences 2020 Mar 28;8 (2):318- 327 DOI: 10.18510/hssr.2020.8236

[29] Adelakun A. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has made history. 2020 Apr 09. Available from https://punchng. com/pastor-chris-oyakhilome-hasmade-history/ [Accessed: 04 September 2020]

[30] Damien G. Top 10 coronavirus fake news items. The African Report 2020 Mar 17. Available from https://www. theafricareport.com/24698/top-10 coronavirus-fake-news-items [Accessed: 12 September 2020]

[31] Okogba E. 2019 polls: BBC raises concerns over fake news. Vanguardngr, [Online] 2018 July 02 Available https://www.google.com/amp/s/www. vanguardngr.com/2018/07/2019- pollsbbc-raisesconcerns-fake-news/amp/ [Accessed: 03 September 2020]

**155**

**Chapter 8**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

The Replication and Spread of

Functional Food Messages: The

Influence of Personalities on

*Jon-Chao Hong, Ming-Yueh Hwang and Kai-Hsin Tai*

The term Internet memes was coined to describe the phenomenon of replicating and spreading messages via social media. This study explores individual personality traits in relation to Internet meme behavior in the context of online news about functional foods based on the expectancy-confirmation process, and also the correlates between value perception and consequential behavior. An online convenience sample was used to collect data by posting on LINE, the instant communication tool, and a total of 343 questionnaires were returned, 252 valid questionnaires were used for structural equation modeling and hypothesis verification. The results found that: (1) Neuroticism was positively related and Extraversion was negatively related to value expectation for consuming functional foods; (2) The food value for health expectation participants can predict replication and usage satisfaction; (3) The usage satisfaction and replicative behavior can predict the frequency of spread messages. The results suggest that consumers with Neuroticism will need to reduce processes of Internet memes to online fake news about functional food.

**Keywords:** extraversion, fake news, internet meme, neuroticism, personality traits

An internet meme is the phenomenon whereby information is passed through the Internet or other media. It can influence people's actions as they imitate, learn, and follow-up on the information [1]. Dawkins used memes as a conceptual tool for discussing evolutionary principles, and the concept of memetics, understood as the replication, spread, and evolution of memes, came about [2]. Extended from memes, Internet memes are defined as users' online behavior of receiving and exchanging mediated messages [3]. According to the resource exchange theory, exchange refers to transferring resources or messages between two or more social units [4]. However, social media often involve the spread of inaccurate information [5], and misinformation is more rapidly disseminated through social media than through other media when there is high uncertainty and high demand for public information about issues such as health concerns [6]. Examples of such healthrelated misinformation include the beliefs that a steak-only diet can beat arthritis and carrot juice cures cancer. Fake news in the world of social media is widespread,

Internet Meme Behavior

#### **Chapter 8**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

2020]

Nov 23. Available from https://www. npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/ 2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-thehead-of-a-covert-fake-news-operationin-the-suburbs [Accessed: 20 August

[26] Elebeke E. Federal Government launches campaign against fake news. Vanguard [Online] 2018. Available from https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/ fg-launches-campaign-against-fakenews/ [Accessed: 30 August 2020]

[27] Asadu C Miyetti Allah denies statement on Plateau killings (updated)

The Cable (Online). 2018 Jun 25 Available from https://www.thecable. ng/miyetti-allah-plateau-killingslost-300-cows-no-one-expect-peace

[Accessed: 06 October 2020]

[29] Adelakun A. Pastor Chris

2020]

12 September 2020]

[28] Oberiri DA, Bahiyah O Fake news proliferation in Nigeria: Consequences, motivations, and prevention through awareness strategies. Humanities & Social Sciences 2020 Mar 28;8 (2):318- 327 DOI: 10.18510/hssr.2020.8236

Oyakhilome has made history. 2020 Apr 09. Available from https://punchng. com/pastor-chris-oyakhilome-hasmade-history/ [Accessed: 04 September

[30] Damien G. Top 10 coronavirus fake news items. The African Report 2020 Mar 17. Available from https://www. theafricareport.com/24698/top-10 coronavirus-fake-news-items [Accessed:

[31] Okogba E. 2019 polls: BBC raises concerns over fake news. Vanguardngr,

[Online] 2018 July 02 Available https://www.google.com/amp/s/www. vanguardngr.com/2018/07/2019- pollsbbc-raisesconcerns-fake-news/amp/ [Accessed: 03 September 2020]

[17] Eisend M. Source credibility dimensions in marketing

[19] Burgoon M, Burgoon JK,

Sep; 58(3):411-433

Wilkinson M. Newspaper image and evaluation. Journalism Quarterly. 1981

[20] Wathen CN, Burkell J. Believe it or not: Factors influencing credibility on the Web. Journal of the American society for information science and technology. 2002;**53**(2):134-144

[21] Garrison B. The perceived credibility of electronic mail in newspaper newsgathering. InProceedings of communication technology and policy division, Association for Educational in

Colorado 2003 Mar 1.

Sep;**77**(3):515-540

Jun;**80**(2):247-264

[22] Flanagin AJ, Metzger MJ. Perceptions of Internet information credibility. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 2000

[23] Rimmer T, Weaver D. Different questions, different answers? Media use and media credibility. Journalism quarterly. 1987 Mar;**64**(1):28-44

[24] Bucy EP. Media credibility

reconsidered: Synergy effects between on-air and online news. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 2003

[25] Sydell L. We tracked down a fakenews creator in the suburbs. Here's what we learned. National Public Radio. 2016

Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Boulder,

421-441

communication–A generalized solution. Journal of Empirical Generalisations in Marketing Science. 2006;**10**(2):1-33

[18] Self CC Credibility. In M. B. Salwen and D. W. Stacks (Eds.). An integrated approach to communication theory and research*.* Mahwah: NJ: Erlbaum 1996 pp

**154**

## The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities on Internet Meme Behavior

*Jon-Chao Hong, Ming-Yueh Hwang and Kai-Hsin Tai*

#### **Abstract**

The term Internet memes was coined to describe the phenomenon of replicating and spreading messages via social media. This study explores individual personality traits in relation to Internet meme behavior in the context of online news about functional foods based on the expectancy-confirmation process, and also the correlates between value perception and consequential behavior. An online convenience sample was used to collect data by posting on LINE, the instant communication tool, and a total of 343 questionnaires were returned, 252 valid questionnaires were used for structural equation modeling and hypothesis verification. The results found that: (1) Neuroticism was positively related and Extraversion was negatively related to value expectation for consuming functional foods; (2) The food value for health expectation participants can predict replication and usage satisfaction; (3) The usage satisfaction and replicative behavior can predict the frequency of spread messages. The results suggest that consumers with Neuroticism will need to reduce processes of Internet memes to online fake news about functional food.

**Keywords:** extraversion, fake news, internet meme, neuroticism, personality traits

#### **1. Introduction**

An internet meme is the phenomenon whereby information is passed through the Internet or other media. It can influence people's actions as they imitate, learn, and follow-up on the information [1]. Dawkins used memes as a conceptual tool for discussing evolutionary principles, and the concept of memetics, understood as the replication, spread, and evolution of memes, came about [2]. Extended from memes, Internet memes are defined as users' online behavior of receiving and exchanging mediated messages [3]. According to the resource exchange theory, exchange refers to transferring resources or messages between two or more social units [4]. However, social media often involve the spread of inaccurate information [5], and misinformation is more rapidly disseminated through social media than through other media when there is high uncertainty and high demand for public information about issues such as health concerns [6]. Examples of such healthrelated misinformation include the beliefs that a steak-only diet can beat arthritis and carrot juice cures cancer. Fake news in the world of social media is widespread,

and messages are accepted and transferred regularly by millions of internet users [7]. In fact, there are various instances of "fake news" relating to food functions that have circulated on LINE, the most popular instant messaging application (app) in Taiwan [8]. Such Internet memes may spread rapidly, but the behavior of consuming certain foods for health reasons (i.e., functional foods) [9] has not yet been explained. Thus, this study explored the spread of Internet memes related to functional food consumption behavior via LINE.

The expectation-confirmation process (ECP) [10] is a theoretical framework that has been used to explain consumer satisfaction, acceptance, purchasing, use and switching decisions [11, 12]. For example, when applied to consumer purchase decisions, the ECP suggests that consumers base their original purchase decision on the subsequent satisfaction they gain from their consumption or use of the product which helps them determine if their initial expectations about it were correct [13]. Related to consumers' need for social interaction, whether their expectations are confirmed or disconfirmed will affect their intentions to share their experience [14]. Additionally, people constantly share values as well as expectations and preferences in their social interactions via Internet memes [15]. When making decisions to choose products or services, personality characteristics have been shown to affect behavioral response [16]. That is, personality type can be a predictor of social media activity [14]. Specifically, study, users in the high extraversion personality groups were found to engage more in active social media use, including generating content, sharing with others, and engaging in groups, than those in other personality groups [17]. Memes are a never-ending process [15], and although Internet memes are prevalent on social media, there has been little research on the effects of such messages related to foods for health. Thus, this study examined personality traits related to replicative and spreading behavior in relation to foods for health based on the expectation-confirmation process model, and explored the correlates between value perception and consequential behavior.

#### **2. Theoretical background**

#### **2.1 Personality traits and health behaviors in the context of social media**

The Confucian Analects state that human beings should be concerned with more than 20 virtues, such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, loyalty, forbearance, faithfulness, humbleness, respect, filial piety, and so on. In order to conduct this current explorative research, the present study classified some core virtues into "benevolence," "courtesy" and "righteousness" to be elaborated as follows.

In the research on personality traits, many studies have used the Big Five or fivefactor model, including the five dimensional traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness [18] to assess human personality. Moreover, Gray posited that the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) are a paired set of neural circuitries assumed to be the way in which personality affects behavior, and which are dependent on the interaction with objects or environments [19]. Forsman postulated that an individual's extraversion tendency is due to a strong BAS but weak BIS, whereas introversion tendency is due to a weak BAS but strong BIS [20]. In line with this, Sharpe, Martin, and Roth viewed the linked construct between neuroticism and extraversion as a bipolar individual difference variable ranging from the pessimistic to the optimistic [21].

**157**

**3. Research hypotheses and model**

**3.1 Personalities related to value expectation**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

As the main social network is the Internet and its use is related to personality [22], the personality theory of neuroticism and extraversion has been especially utilized by Hamburger and Ben-Artzi to study the connection between personality and Internet use [23]. Neuroticism is often hypothesized as having a protective function when worry and anxiety motivate a person's behaviors in seizing limited social opportunities and avoiding distress [24]. In contrast, high extraversion refers to the extent to which a person is social, talkative, assertive, energetic and outgoing [25]. In addition, research by Casciaro, Carley, and Krackhardt demonstrated how individuals' perceptions of their social networking are influenced by their personality traits [26]. For instance, individuals who possess a high level of neuroticism are less likely to engage in social networks [23]. On the other hand, extraversion could be expected to cause people to enter desired social relationships, resulting in their receiving and contributing messages to and from social networks [27]. However, to date, no specific studies have been conducted on how personality relates to Internet memes. Thus, this study explores whether extraversion or

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

neuroticism have a relationship with Internet memes.

**2.2 Online behavior related to the expectancy confirmation process**

second step, and the spreading of messages to targets as the third step.

The importance of interaction goals in one's perception was originally highlighted by Jones and Thibaut [28], and was first incorporated into most accounts of the expectancy confirmation process by Darley and Fazio [10]. The expectancy confirmation process has been applied in a number of studies [29] involving research on social perceptions and social interaction [30, 31], which are considered as expectancy confirmation processes [32, 33]. That is, expectancy mediation research has documented overt and subtle perceiver behaviors (step 2) that mediate the effects of perceivers' expectancies (step 1) on targets' influence (step 3) [34]. In line with these three steps in the context of Internet meme behavior, we viewed value expectation as the first step, the replication of perceivers' behavior as the

The most interesting theoretical gap may lie between the second and third steps of the behavioral confirmation process: the path evaluation through which perceivers' behaviors elicit expectancy-consistent target behaviors by passing information implicitly [34]. For example, the negative behaviors displayed by the targets may then confirm the perceivers' negative expectations. Thus, Internet memes support a process through which perceivers' expectancy-congruent behaviors elicit targets' expectancy-confirming performance [34]. A perceiver's positive expectancy-driven behavior (i.e., value expectation and usage satisfaction) may lead to behavioral confirmation (i.e., usage satisfaction and finding targets to spread messages to). The expectation-confirmation indirectly influences respondents' intentions through satisfaction with the social media and the perceived usefulness of the site; furthermore, interactive engagement influences the perception of usage while usage influences expectation confirmation [13]. Therefore, how these steps of online social interventions with functional foods interact is explored in this study.

Generally, it is agreed that neuroticism and extraversion are the personality traits most significantly related to online activities [22]. Particularly, neuroticism *The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

As the main social network is the Internet and its use is related to personality [22], the personality theory of neuroticism and extraversion has been especially utilized by Hamburger and Ben-Artzi to study the connection between personality and Internet use [23]. Neuroticism is often hypothesized as having a protective function when worry and anxiety motivate a person's behaviors in seizing limited social opportunities and avoiding distress [24]. In contrast, high extraversion refers to the extent to which a person is social, talkative, assertive, energetic and outgoing [25]. In addition, research by Casciaro, Carley, and Krackhardt demonstrated how individuals' perceptions of their social networking are influenced by their personality traits [26]. For instance, individuals who possess a high level of neuroticism are less likely to engage in social networks [23]. On the other hand, extraversion could be expected to cause people to enter desired social relationships, resulting in their receiving and contributing messages to and from social networks [27]. However, to date, no specific studies have been conducted on how personality relates to Internet memes. Thus, this study explores whether extraversion or neuroticism have a relationship with Internet memes.

#### **2.2 Online behavior related to the expectancy confirmation process**

The importance of interaction goals in one's perception was originally highlighted by Jones and Thibaut [28], and was first incorporated into most accounts of the expectancy confirmation process by Darley and Fazio [10]. The expectancy confirmation process has been applied in a number of studies [29] involving research on social perceptions and social interaction [30, 31], which are considered as expectancy confirmation processes [32, 33]. That is, expectancy mediation research has documented overt and subtle perceiver behaviors (step 2) that mediate the effects of perceivers' expectancies (step 1) on targets' influence (step 3) [34]. In line with these three steps in the context of Internet meme behavior, we viewed value expectation as the first step, the replication of perceivers' behavior as the second step, and the spreading of messages to targets as the third step.

The most interesting theoretical gap may lie between the second and third steps of the behavioral confirmation process: the path evaluation through which perceivers' behaviors elicit expectancy-consistent target behaviors by passing information implicitly [34]. For example, the negative behaviors displayed by the targets may then confirm the perceivers' negative expectations. Thus, Internet memes support a process through which perceivers' expectancy-congruent behaviors elicit targets' expectancy-confirming performance [34]. A perceiver's positive expectancy-driven behavior (i.e., value expectation and usage satisfaction) may lead to behavioral confirmation (i.e., usage satisfaction and finding targets to spread messages to). The expectation-confirmation indirectly influences respondents' intentions through satisfaction with the social media and the perceived usefulness of the site; furthermore, interactive engagement influences the perception of usage while usage influences expectation confirmation [13]. Therefore, how these steps of online social interventions with functional foods interact is explored in this study.

#### **3. Research hypotheses and model**

#### **3.1 Personalities related to value expectation**

Generally, it is agreed that neuroticism and extraversion are the personality traits most significantly related to online activities [22]. Particularly, neuroticism

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

functional food consumption behavior via LINE.

value perception and consequential behavior.

**2.1 Personality traits and health behaviors in the context of social media**

than 20 virtues, such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, loyalty, forbearance, faithfulness, humbleness, respect, filial piety, and so on. In order to conduct this current explorative research, the present study classified some core virtues into "benevolence," "courtesy" and "righteousness" to be elaborated as

The Confucian Analects state that human beings should be concerned with more

In the research on personality traits, many studies have used the Big Five or fivefactor model, including the five dimensional traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness [18] to assess human personality. Moreover, Gray posited that the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) are a paired set of neural circuitries assumed to be the way in which personality affects behavior, and which are dependent on the interaction with objects or environments [19]. Forsman postulated that an individual's extraversion tendency is due to a strong BAS but weak BIS, whereas introversion tendency is due to a weak BAS but strong BIS [20]. In line with this, Sharpe, Martin, and Roth viewed the linked construct between neuroticism and extraversion as a bipolar individual difference variable ranging from the pessimistic

**2. Theoretical background**

and messages are accepted and transferred regularly by millions of internet users [7]. In fact, there are various instances of "fake news" relating to food functions that have circulated on LINE, the most popular instant messaging application (app) in Taiwan [8]. Such Internet memes may spread rapidly, but the behavior of consuming certain foods for health reasons (i.e., functional foods) [9] has not yet been explained. Thus, this study explored the spread of Internet memes related to

The expectation-confirmation process (ECP) [10] is a theoretical framework that has been used to explain consumer satisfaction, acceptance, purchasing, use and switching decisions [11, 12]. For example, when applied to consumer purchase decisions, the ECP suggests that consumers base their original purchase decision on the subsequent satisfaction they gain from their consumption or use of the product which helps them determine if their initial expectations about it were correct [13]. Related to consumers' need for social interaction, whether their expectations are confirmed or disconfirmed will affect their intentions to share their experience [14]. Additionally, people constantly share values as well as expectations and preferences in their social interactions via Internet memes [15]. When making decisions to choose products or services, personality characteristics have been shown to affect behavioral response [16]. That is, personality type can be a predictor of social media activity [14]. Specifically, study, users in the high extraversion personality groups were found to engage more in active social media use, including generating content, sharing with others, and engaging in groups, than those in other personality groups [17]. Memes are a never-ending process [15], and although Internet memes are prevalent on social media, there has been little research on the effects of such messages related to foods for health. Thus, this study examined personality traits related to replicative and spreading behavior in relation to foods for health based on the expectation-confirmation process model, and explored the correlates between

**156**

to the optimistic [21].

follows.

tends to lead to negative effects, such as affective instability and elevated stress levels, and it has also been associated with negative health behaviors [35]. On the other hand, individuals who possess the extraversion trait show online sociability and positive emotionality [36]. More specifically, expectations refer to future experiences, and therefore it can be argued that particularly low future expectations may lead to decreased suffering among people with high levels of Neuroticism [37]. On the other hand, Extraversion is related to openness to experience with a low level of value expectation [38]. People with high extraversion personalities have been shown to have less value expectation when consuming health foods [39]. Therefore, how these two personality types are associated with consumers' value expectation of consuming foods for health was hypothesized as follows:

H1: Neuroticism is negatively related to value expectation.

H2: Extraversion is positively related to value expectation.

#### **3.2 Value expectation related to replicated behavior**

According to Kyle, Absher, and Norman [40], involvement is a reflection of individual self-concept, needs and values. McIntyre and Pigram posited that active involvement can be measured in terms of attraction, self-expression and centrality in one's life [18]. Researchers (e.g. [41]) have considered the expectation values that affect consumers' intention to replicate in reporting that replication may increase one's confidence to perform an action again if the reliability of the effect is considerable [42]. The following hypothesis was therefore proposed:

H3: Value expectation is positively related to replicative behavior.

#### **3.3 Value expectation related to usage satisfaction**

According to Vargo and Lusch [43], value is idiosyncratic, experiential, contextual and meaning-laden. Building on this notion, managers working in business customer organizations are constantly and idiosyncratically making decisions affected by experiences. Eccles, Adler, Futterman, Goff, and Kaczala highlighted that the expectancy value theory is composed of two essential elements, namely, expectation and usage satisfaction [44]. The classical economic viewpoint states that current utility can be indirectly affected by one's beliefs about future events since beliefs can change the frontier of future possibilities and thus motivate different consumption behaviors today [45]. That is, the expectations to enhance future health can increase present utilities [46]. In this sense, expectation and usage satisfaction are value-enhancing, and so the following hypothesis was proposed:

H4: Value expectation is significantly related to usage satisfaction.

#### **3.4 Replicative behavior related to usage satisfaction**

Flint, Blocker, and Boutin found that when selling goods, anticipating what customers want will result in higher customer satisfaction [47]. From the perspective of social psychology, the attempt to replicate "social priming" effects has been interpreted as incidental values affecting usefulness judgments [48]. However, replicating "social priming" effects (e.g. [49, 50]) may increase confidence and behavioral satisfaction [41]. Accordingly, the following hypothesis about replicative behavior relevant to usage satisfaction was proposed:

**159**

**Figure 1.**

*Verification of the research model.*

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

Expectation-confirmation theory posits a positive relationship between expectation and satisfaction, predicting that consumers would subsequently confirm positive expectations and would either continue purchasing goods [51] or if satisfied, encourage others to make the same purchase, because they would communicate and make their behaviors explicit [52] regardless of any possible negative responses they receive [53]. Regarding social interaction, Shifman suggested that individual replicative behavior and the spread of messages to others can be analyzed in the context of social media [54]. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed: H6: Usage satisfaction is positively related to the spread of messages.

Although the term meme refers to the concept of how influences, preferences and behaviors can rapidly spread from one individual or group to another within a given culture, most advocates of human memetics also agree that memes arise from social learning [55] with language as the principal medium of transmission [56]. Consumers with a high level of replication usually have a high level of willingness to spread their activity by introducing it to others via social networks [57]. This study therefore explored the idea that the replication of functional food consumption messages could predict message transfer to others. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed: H7: Replicative behavior is positively related to the spread of information.

In this study, we applied ECP to understand the behavioral interactions regarding functional food messages via LINE. Additionally, personalities have been shown to be stable in different situations and when perceiving and responding to online messages [16]. Accordingly, this study examined two personality traits (i.e., neuroticism and extraversion) related to replicative and transferring behaviors regarding food for health messages, focusing on ECP. The research model is shown in **Figure 1**.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

**3.7 Research model**

**3.5 Usage satisfaction related to the spread of messages**

**3.6 Replicative behavior related to the spread of messages**

H5: Replicative behavior is positively related to usage satisfaction.

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

#### **3.5 Usage satisfaction related to the spread of messages**

Expectation-confirmation theory posits a positive relationship between expectation and satisfaction, predicting that consumers would subsequently confirm positive expectations and would either continue purchasing goods [51] or if satisfied, encourage others to make the same purchase, because they would communicate and make their behaviors explicit [52] regardless of any possible negative responses they receive [53]. Regarding social interaction, Shifman suggested that individual replicative behavior and the spread of messages to others can be analyzed in the context of social media [54]. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed:

H6: Usage satisfaction is positively related to the spread of messages.

#### **3.6 Replicative behavior related to the spread of messages**

Although the term meme refers to the concept of how influences, preferences and behaviors can rapidly spread from one individual or group to another within a given culture, most advocates of human memetics also agree that memes arise from social learning [55] with language as the principal medium of transmission [56]. Consumers with a high level of replication usually have a high level of willingness to spread their activity by introducing it to others via social networks [57]. This study therefore explored the idea that the replication of functional food consumption messages could predict message transfer to others. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed:

H7: Replicative behavior is positively related to the spread of information.

#### **3.7 Research model**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

H1: Neuroticism is negatively related to value expectation. H2: Extraversion is positively related to value expectation.

**3.2 Value expectation related to replicated behavior**

able [42]. The following hypothesis was therefore proposed:

**3.3 Value expectation related to usage satisfaction**

H3: Value expectation is positively related to replicative behavior.

H4: Value expectation is significantly related to usage satisfaction.

H5: Replicative behavior is positively related to usage satisfaction.

Flint, Blocker, and Boutin found that when selling goods, anticipating what customers want will result in higher customer satisfaction [47]. From the perspective of social psychology, the attempt to replicate "social priming" effects has been interpreted as incidental values affecting usefulness judgments [48]. However, replicating "social priming" effects (e.g. [49, 50]) may increase confidence and behavioral satisfaction [41]. Accordingly, the following hypothesis about replicative

**3.4 Replicative behavior related to usage satisfaction**

behavior relevant to usage satisfaction was proposed:

According to Vargo and Lusch [43], value is idiosyncratic, experiential, contextual and meaning-laden. Building on this notion, managers working in business customer organizations are constantly and idiosyncratically making decisions affected by experiences. Eccles, Adler, Futterman, Goff, and Kaczala highlighted that the expectancy value theory is composed of two essential elements, namely, expectation and usage satisfaction [44]. The classical economic viewpoint states that current utility can be indirectly affected by one's beliefs about future events since beliefs can change the frontier of future possibilities and thus motivate different consumption behaviors today [45]. That is, the expectations to enhance future health can increase present utilities [46]. In this sense, expectation and usage satisfaction are value-enhancing, and so the following

tends to lead to negative effects, such as affective instability and elevated stress levels, and it has also been associated with negative health behaviors [35]. On the other hand, individuals who possess the extraversion trait show online sociability and positive emotionality [36]. More specifically, expectations refer to future experiences, and therefore it can be argued that particularly low future expectations may lead to decreased suffering among people with high levels of Neuroticism [37]. On the other hand, Extraversion is related to openness to experience with a low level of value expectation [38]. People with high extraversion personalities have been shown to have less value expectation when consuming health foods [39]. Therefore, how these two personality types are associated with consumers' value expectation of consuming foods for health was hypothesized as

According to Kyle, Absher, and Norman [40], involvement is a reflection of individual self-concept, needs and values. McIntyre and Pigram posited that active involvement can be measured in terms of attraction, self-expression and centrality in one's life [18]. Researchers (e.g. [41]) have considered the expectation values that affect consumers' intention to replicate in reporting that replication may increase one's confidence to perform an action again if the reliability of the effect is consider-

**158**

hypothesis was proposed:

follows:

In this study, we applied ECP to understand the behavioral interactions regarding functional food messages via LINE. Additionally, personalities have been shown to be stable in different situations and when perceiving and responding to online messages [16]. Accordingly, this study examined two personality traits (i.e., neuroticism and extraversion) related to replicative and transferring behaviors regarding food for health messages, focusing on ECP. The research model is shown in **Figure 1**.

**Figure 1.** *Verification of the research model.*

### **4. Method**

#### **4.1 Procedure**

Taiwan was an early adopter of LINE, with an estimated 21 million Taiwanese people using the app by 2019 which means LINE users is about 91% of Taiwan's total population [58]. Users could use LINE to communicate with others through text, photo, audio, and video messages. It has since been adopted by the young and old alike, and has become the primary mode of communication for many families in Taiwan [8]. This study focused on individuals who had consumed functional foods recommended on LINE, and applied convenience sampling. Using the questionnaire function in Google, we posted the questionnaire to members of LINE groups who had previously sent messages about functional foods to the researchers. The research duration spanned from September 15 to 30, 2018. A total of 343 questionnaires were replied to, of which 91 invalid questionnaires were eliminated, leaving 252 valid questionnaires.

#### **4.2 Participants**

Among the 252 useful samples, there were 136 females (53.4%) and 116 males (46.6%). The age range of the participants was between 26 and 40 years old. There were 126 valid samples in the 26 to 30 age group (48.9%), 67 in the 31 to 35 age group (26.3%), and 29 in the 36 to 40 age group (11.8%). As for the education level of the participants, 95 held undergraduate degrees (38.2%) and 157 held graduate degrees or above (61.8%).

#### **4.3 Measuring questionnaire**

According to the research model proposed, there were six constructs in this study. A 5-point Likert scale was applied to each questionnaire item. After designing the questionnaire items, face verification was conducted to ensure the accuracy of those items; they were then subjected to analysis in order to ensure the reliability and validity of the constructs.

Extraversion and neuroticism: Extraversion is one of several basic higher order axes of personality variation, encompassing correlated behavioral facets of sociability, expressiveness, assertiveness, and status motivation [24, 25, 59]. Neuroticism, a personality construct characterized by emotional reactivity, anxiety, and negative emotionality [60], has been extensively linked to a higher risk of depression. The operative definitions of each dimension are as follows: (1) Neuroticism: The control level individuals have over their emotions and (2) Extraversion: The degree of individuals' assertiveness and expressiveness. The measurement items were designed accordingly.

Value expectation and satisfaction: This study took the content of the questionnaires based on expectancy value designed by Eccles et al. [44] as a reference, and designed two elements, value expectation and usage satisfaction, as the tools to measure individuals' expectancy values in relation to consuming functional foods. The questionnaire was designed to include seven questions.

Replicating and spreading messages: In this study, memes were examined in the context of two dimensions: replicating and spreading messages. Regarding the questions, replicative consumption is defined as the behavior of buying and eating foods for health due to external information, and spreading messages is defined as behaviors of sharing information after consuming foods for health.

**161**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

In this study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to ascertain the suitability of the questionnaire constructs, and the software AMOS 20.0 was used

Originally, the questionnaire consisted of six scales: neuroticism, extraversion, value expectation, usage satisfaction, replicative consumption, and intention to spread messages, each with five items. After performing CFA, all items with a residual value exceeding 0.5 were removed [61]. This left four items in each of the scales for neuroticism, extraversion, and value expectation, and three items in each of the scales for usage satisfaction, replicative consumption, and intention to spread messages. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were then analyzed as described below.

The first step was to measure internal consistency by investigating the composite reliability (CR) of the constructs [62]. In this case, the CR values ranged from 0.71 to 0.88, which all exceed 0.7, the recommended threshold value [61]. The second step was to calculate the Cronbach's α values [63]; all values exceeded 0.6, as can be seen in **Table 1**. The third step was to verify the convergent validity by ensuring that: (1) the average variance extracted (AVE) values all exceeded 0.5 [62] and (2) the factor loadings (FL) of all items exceeded 0.5 [61]. The results are listed in

= 398.12, *df* = 183, χ<sup>2</sup>

is less than 3, it reveals a level of probability p = 0.000. Correspondence between the values and the model was indicated by the following values: Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA = 0.065), goodness of fit index (GFI = 0.956), and adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI = 0.816). According to Hair et al.'s suggestion that Chi-squared values and other measures of fitness be considered together [61], we calculated the values of fitness which were all found to exceed 0.9, as follows: Normed Fit Index (NFI = 0.937, RFI = 0.911), Incremental Fit Index (IFI = 0.945, TLI = 0.905), and Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.944). It can therefore be seen that

the inclusive measures indicate that the model fits the data values [61].

Falk and Miller's [64] suggested threshold value of 10%.

The following path coefficients, all of which displayed significant values [61], can be seen in **Figure 2**: Neuroticism toward value expectation was 0.258 (t = 3.834\*\*\*), Extraversion toward value expectation was −0.359 (t = −3.89\*\*\*), value expectation toward replicative behavior was 0.442 (t = 8.917\*\*\*), value expectation toward usage satisfaction was 0.6 (t = 16.604\*\*\*), replicative behavior toward usage satisfaction was 0.295 (t = 7.364\*\*\*), replicative behavior toward spreading messages was 0.298 (t = 4.713\*\*\*), and usage satisfaction toward spreading messages was 0.176 (t = 2.824\*\*). The explanative powers were: Neuroticism and Extraversion to value expectation was 38.1%; value expectation to replicative behavior was 26.8%; value expectation and replicative behavior to usage satisfaction was 18.6%; and replicative behavior and usage satisfaction to spreading messages was 40.4%. All of the variables in this study therefore show high predictive ability in terms of

/*df* = 2.18. As the result

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

**5.1 Analysis of reliability and validity**

**5.2 Model goodness-of-fit test**

**5.3 Path analysis**

The model was hypothesized as χ<sup>2</sup>

to verify the goodness-of-fit and pathways of the model.

**Table 1** and indicate sufficient convergent validity for FL.

**5. Results**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

#### **5. Results**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

Taiwan was an early adopter of LINE, with an estimated 21 million Taiwanese people using the app by 2019 which means LINE users is about 91% of Taiwan's total population [58]. Users could use LINE to communicate with others through text, photo, audio, and video messages. It has since been adopted by the young and old alike, and has become the primary mode of communication for many families in Taiwan [8]. This study focused on individuals who had consumed functional foods recommended on LINE, and applied convenience sampling. Using the questionnaire function in Google, we posted the questionnaire to members of LINE groups who had previously sent messages about functional foods to the researchers. The research duration spanned from September 15 to 30, 2018. A total of 343 questionnaires were replied to, of which 91 invalid questionnaires were eliminated, leaving

Among the 252 useful samples, there were 136 females (53.4%) and 116 males (46.6%). The age range of the participants was between 26 and 40 years old. There were 126 valid samples in the 26 to 30 age group (48.9%), 67 in the 31 to 35 age group (26.3%), and 29 in the 36 to 40 age group (11.8%). As for the education level of the participants, 95 held undergraduate degrees (38.2%) and 157 held graduate

According to the research model proposed, there were six constructs in this study. A 5-point Likert scale was applied to each questionnaire item. After designing the questionnaire items, face verification was conducted to ensure the accuracy of those items; they were then subjected to analysis in order to ensure the reliability

Extraversion and neuroticism: Extraversion is one of several basic higher order axes of personality variation, encompassing correlated behavioral facets of sociability, expressiveness, assertiveness, and status motivation [24, 25, 59]. Neuroticism, a personality construct characterized by emotional reactivity, anxiety, and negative emotionality [60], has been extensively linked to a higher risk of depression. The operative definitions of each dimension are as follows: (1) Neuroticism: The control level individuals have over their emotions and (2) Extraversion: The degree of individuals' assertiveness and expressiveness. The measurement items were designed

Value expectation and satisfaction: This study took the content of the questionnaires based on expectancy value designed by Eccles et al. [44] as a reference, and designed two elements, value expectation and usage satisfaction, as the tools to measure individuals' expectancy values in relation to consuming functional foods.

Replicating and spreading messages: In this study, memes were examined in the context of two dimensions: replicating and spreading messages. Regarding the questions, replicative consumption is defined as the behavior of buying and eating foods for health due to external information, and spreading messages is defined as

The questionnaire was designed to include seven questions.

behaviors of sharing information after consuming foods for health.

**4. Method**

**4.1 Procedure**

252 valid questionnaires.

degrees or above (61.8%).

**4.3 Measuring questionnaire**

and validity of the constructs.

**4.2 Participants**

**160**

accordingly.

In this study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to ascertain the suitability of the questionnaire constructs, and the software AMOS 20.0 was used to verify the goodness-of-fit and pathways of the model.

#### **5.1 Analysis of reliability and validity**

Originally, the questionnaire consisted of six scales: neuroticism, extraversion, value expectation, usage satisfaction, replicative consumption, and intention to spread messages, each with five items. After performing CFA, all items with a residual value exceeding 0.5 were removed [61]. This left four items in each of the scales for neuroticism, extraversion, and value expectation, and three items in each of the scales for usage satisfaction, replicative consumption, and intention to spread messages. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were then analyzed as described below.

The first step was to measure internal consistency by investigating the composite reliability (CR) of the constructs [62]. In this case, the CR values ranged from 0.71 to 0.88, which all exceed 0.7, the recommended threshold value [61]. The second step was to calculate the Cronbach's α values [63]; all values exceeded 0.6, as can be seen in **Table 1**. The third step was to verify the convergent validity by ensuring that: (1) the average variance extracted (AVE) values all exceeded 0.5 [62] and (2) the factor loadings (FL) of all items exceeded 0.5 [61]. The results are listed in **Table 1** and indicate sufficient convergent validity for FL.

#### **5.2 Model goodness-of-fit test**

The model was hypothesized as χ<sup>2</sup> = 398.12, *df* = 183, χ<sup>2</sup> /*df* = 2.18. As the result is less than 3, it reveals a level of probability p = 0.000. Correspondence between the values and the model was indicated by the following values: Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA = 0.065), goodness of fit index (GFI = 0.956), and adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI = 0.816). According to Hair et al.'s suggestion that Chi-squared values and other measures of fitness be considered together [61], we calculated the values of fitness which were all found to exceed 0.9, as follows: Normed Fit Index (NFI = 0.937, RFI = 0.911), Incremental Fit Index (IFI = 0.945, TLI = 0.905), and Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.944). It can therefore be seen that the inclusive measures indicate that the model fits the data values [61].

#### **5.3 Path analysis**

The following path coefficients, all of which displayed significant values [61], can be seen in **Figure 2**: Neuroticism toward value expectation was 0.258 (t = 3.834\*\*\*), Extraversion toward value expectation was −0.359 (t = −3.89\*\*\*), value expectation toward replicative behavior was 0.442 (t = 8.917\*\*\*), value expectation toward usage satisfaction was 0.6 (t = 16.604\*\*\*), replicative behavior toward usage satisfaction was 0.295 (t = 7.364\*\*\*), replicative behavior toward spreading messages was 0.298 (t = 4.713\*\*\*), and usage satisfaction toward spreading messages was 0.176 (t = 2.824\*\*). The explanative powers were: Neuroticism and Extraversion to value expectation was 38.1%; value expectation to replicative behavior was 26.8%; value expectation and replicative behavior to usage satisfaction was 18.6%; and replicative behavior and usage satisfaction to spreading messages was 40.4%. All of the variables in this study therefore show high predictive ability in terms of Falk and Miller's [64] suggested threshold value of 10%.


**163**

**6. Discussion**

**Figure 2.** *Research model.*

elaborated as follows.

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

Research on social perceptions and social interaction has highlighted a threestep expectancy confirmation process [33], indicating that expectancy mediation research has documented overt and subtle perceiver behaviors (step 2) that mediate the effects of perceivers' expectancies (step 1) on targets' influence (step 3) [34]. Considering these three processes in the context of Internet memes, this study viewed value expectation as the first step, replication as perceivers' behavior as the second step, and spreading messages to targets as the third step. The results are

Some individuals consume certain foods for their health benefits; the perceptions of consuming functional foods and individuals' related behavior in social networks was the focus of this study, the goal of which was to clarify how specific personal dispositions relate to meme behavior. Hypothesis 1 was proposed to test if neuroticism is related to value expectation, and it was found that a high level of Neuroticism was correlated to a high level of value expectation to buy and consume functional foods. Hypothesis 2 was proposed to test if Extraversion was related to value expectation, and it was found that a high level of Extraversion correlated to a low level of value expectation to buy and consume functional foods. To explain the results, this study viewed the social psychology framework in which expectations have been defined as future-directed cognitions that focus on a specific event or experience [65]. More specifically, expectations refer to future experiences, and therefore it can be argued that particularly lower future expectations may lead to decreased suffering among people with high levels of Neuroticism [37]. Extraversion is related to openness to experience with a low level of value expectation [38]. People with high levels of extraversion have been shown to have less value expectation when consuming health foods [39]. Accordingly, individuals with

Extraversion are likely to experience less stress when buying goods.

In examining Hypothesis 3, the results revealed that value expectation is positively related to replicating behavior. This result is consistent with the perspectives of scholars who have indicated that value expectation can actually predict

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

#### **Table 1.**

*Reliability and validity analysis.*

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

**Figure 2.** *Research model.*

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

**Neuroticism:** *M* **= 2.83,** *SD* **= 0.92, CR = 0.80, AVE = 0.61,** 

**Extraversion:** *M* **= 3.48,** *SD* **= 0.87, CR = 0.77, AVE = 0.63,** 

**Value expectation:** *M* **= 3.46,** *SD* **= 0.85, CR = 0.88, AVE = 0.65,** 

1. I expect that consuming foods recommended via social media

2. I expect that consuming foods recommended via social media

3. I expect that having foods recommended via social media will

4. I expect that the effect of those foods recommended via social

**Usage satisfaction:** *M* **= 3.30,** *SD* **= 0.91, CR = 0.83, AVE = 0.62,** 

1. I am satisfied with consuming foods recommended via social

3. I feel healthier consuming foods recommended via social

**Replicative consumption:** *M* **= 2.90,** *SD* **= 0.80, CR = 0.71,** 

1. When I see messages related to foods for health posted on LINE by my friends, I almost always buy and consume them.

2. Even when I see messages posted by strangers on LINE about foods for health, I will try to buy and consume them.

3. I will consume foods most often by following online friends'

**Intention to spread messages:** *M* **= 3.18,** *SD* **= 0.81,CR = 0.84,** 

1. I will spread a message to my friends about functional foods, if

2. I will spread a message related to foods for health to my friends after I have purchased them but before consuming them.

3. If I believe a type of food will be beneficial for my friends, I

2. I am satisfied with the effect of consuming foods

α **= 0.79**

**α = 0.76**

**α = 0.87**

**α = 0.82**

media.

is good for my health.

could be good for my health.

media will last for a long time.

recommended via social media.

media compared to real shops.

**AVE = 0.61, α = 0.77**

suggestions.

**AVE = 0.64, α = 0.82**

I have consumed them.

*Reliability and validity analysis.*

like to spread the message to them.

cause few side-effects for my health.

*Constructs M SD FL*

1. I always worry that something will go wrong. 2.70 0.90 0.82 2. I get stressed out easily. 2.54 0.98 0.61 3. I am much more anxious than most people. 2.83 0.88 0.86 4. I cannot relax most of the time. 3.23 0.93 0.65

1. I talk to a lot of different people at parties. 3.54 0.84 0.69 2. I do not mind being the center of attention. 3.64 0.82 0.69 3. I feel comfortable around people. 3.48 0.85 0.74 4. I like to start conversations. 3.24 0.95 0.80

3.57 0.87 0.94

3.65 0.77 0.87

3.22 0.82 0.71

3.39 0.92 0.69

3.17 0.92 0.84

3.46 0.78 0.82

3.26 1.02 0.71

3.43 0.84 0.61

2.52 0.77 0.65

2.74 0.80 0.79

3.20 0.93 0.85

2.77 0.72 0.86

3.58 0.78 0.67

**162**

**Table 1.**

#### **6. Discussion**

Research on social perceptions and social interaction has highlighted a threestep expectancy confirmation process [33], indicating that expectancy mediation research has documented overt and subtle perceiver behaviors (step 2) that mediate the effects of perceivers' expectancies (step 1) on targets' influence (step 3) [34]. Considering these three processes in the context of Internet memes, this study viewed value expectation as the first step, replication as perceivers' behavior as the second step, and spreading messages to targets as the third step. The results are elaborated as follows.

Some individuals consume certain foods for their health benefits; the perceptions of consuming functional foods and individuals' related behavior in social networks was the focus of this study, the goal of which was to clarify how specific personal dispositions relate to meme behavior. Hypothesis 1 was proposed to test if neuroticism is related to value expectation, and it was found that a high level of Neuroticism was correlated to a high level of value expectation to buy and consume functional foods. Hypothesis 2 was proposed to test if Extraversion was related to value expectation, and it was found that a high level of Extraversion correlated to a low level of value expectation to buy and consume functional foods. To explain the results, this study viewed the social psychology framework in which expectations have been defined as future-directed cognitions that focus on a specific event or experience [65]. More specifically, expectations refer to future experiences, and therefore it can be argued that particularly lower future expectations may lead to decreased suffering among people with high levels of Neuroticism [37]. Extraversion is related to openness to experience with a low level of value expectation [38]. People with high levels of extraversion have been shown to have less value expectation when consuming health foods [39]. Accordingly, individuals with Extraversion are likely to experience less stress when buying goods.

In examining Hypothesis 3, the results revealed that value expectation is positively related to replicating behavior. This result is consistent with the perspectives of scholars who have indicated that value expectation can actually predict

replicative consumption. For example, Brandt et al. considered that values affect consumers' intention to follow and replicate a message, and if the reliability of the effect is considerable, the consumer may replicate a message with increased confidence [41]. Thus, participants with more expectations of functional foods are more likely to purchase and use them. In examining Hypothesis 4, the result showed that value expectation was positively related to usage satisfaction. According to the expectation-confirmation theory, high satisfaction can be observed when expectation is either high or has been confirmed. If expectations of utility via choices are made on the basis of those expectations, then there may be implications for optimal usage of information [46, 66]. This is supported by an outcome of this study, which showed that a high level of value expectation was correlated to a high level of satisfaction with functional food consumption.

In examining Hypothesis 5, the results revealed that replicating behavior is positively related to usage satisfaction. Flint, Blocker, and Boutin found that when selling goods, anticipating what customers want will result in higher customer satisfaction [47]. As replicating "social priming" effects (e.g. [49, 50]) may increase confidence and behavioral satisfaction [41], customer value expectation refers to the values for anticipating that would most likely facilitate usage satisfaction. In examining Hypothesis 6, the results revealed that replicative behavior is positively related to spreading messages, showing that a high level of replication is correlated to a high level of spreading functional food messages. This is supported by Shifman [54], who suggested that individual behavior replication and spread over a certain environment can be analyzed from a purely social perspective, such as buying functional foods and spreading messages.

The concept of the Internet meme concerns how influences, preferences and behaviors can rapidly spread from one individual or group to another within a given social network or medium. Consumers with a high level of replication usually have a high level of willingness to spread their activity by introducing it to others via social networks [57]. In examining Hypothesis 7, the results revealed that usage satisfaction is positively related to spreading messages, revealing that if the satisfaction individuals obtained from consuming functional foods is high, message transfer regarding that health food will also be high. This result is supported by Stukas [52], who suggested that consumers will introduce others to purchase if they are satisfied with the usage because they will communicate and make their behavior explicit.

#### **7. Conclusion**

With globalization and the widespread use of the Internet, understanding how to exploit memes is a key factor within industries. Social media often involve the spread of inaccurate information [5]. Misinformation is more rapidly disseminated through social media when there is high uncertainty and high demand for public information about the issues, such as health concerns [6]. In fact, various fake news stories related to food functions have circulated on LINE in Taiwan. From the model analysis of this study, we can see that customer personality types appear to be an operant resource that may offer value anticipation and affect participants' Internet meme behavior.

#### **7.1 Implications**

Foods are an alternative for taking care of one's health, and online messages about such functional foods are widely spread by the LINE population to treat problems and diseases of the major human organ systems [67]. Ultimately,

**165**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

customers with extraversion will need to modify their sensing processes of online fake messages in relation to functional foods in order to successfully alter their attitudes toward Internet memes on LINE. In addition, this research can enable managers to use scientific evidence to enhance users' value expectations with a lead

The research targets of this study were LINE users in Taiwan who shared messages related to functional foods. As such, we did not examine non-users or individuals from other countries with regard to their willingness to share messages. Future studies may involve different meme content and different groups from other

De Jong, Ocke, Branderhorst, and Friele found that there is a higher ratio of educated females in the higher age groups who consume functional foods [68]. Therefore, future studies can examine the Internet meme behaviors of different genders or age groups in order to further understand the factors affecting willing-

Individuals may have low potential risk consciousness of functional foods, and the traditional idea to "cure the illness, strengthen the body" increases the health risk of people using functional foods without understanding how to decrease the risk. Future studies may emphasize the awareness of the side effects of consuming

This work was financially supported by the "Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences" of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.

This research was not funded and the authors declare they have no conflict of

ness to consume functional foods as a result of Internet memes.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

advantage over Internet memes.

**7.2 Limitations and future study**

countries based on popular social media use.

functional foods in relation to memes.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

interest.

#### *The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

customers with extraversion will need to modify their sensing processes of online fake messages in relation to functional foods in order to successfully alter their attitudes toward Internet memes on LINE. In addition, this research can enable managers to use scientific evidence to enhance users' value expectations with a lead advantage over Internet memes.

#### **7.2 Limitations and future study**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

satisfaction with functional food consumption.

functional foods and spreading messages.

replicative consumption. For example, Brandt et al. considered that values affect consumers' intention to follow and replicate a message, and if the reliability of the effect is considerable, the consumer may replicate a message with increased confidence [41]. Thus, participants with more expectations of functional foods are more likely to purchase and use them. In examining Hypothesis 4, the result showed that value expectation was positively related to usage satisfaction. According to the expectation-confirmation theory, high satisfaction can be observed when expectation is either high or has been confirmed. If expectations of utility via choices are made on the basis of those expectations, then there may be implications for optimal usage of information [46, 66]. This is supported by an outcome of this study, which showed that a high level of value expectation was correlated to a high level of

In examining Hypothesis 5, the results revealed that replicating behavior is positively related to usage satisfaction. Flint, Blocker, and Boutin found that when selling goods, anticipating what customers want will result in higher customer satisfaction [47]. As replicating "social priming" effects (e.g. [49, 50]) may increase confidence and behavioral satisfaction [41], customer value expectation refers to the values for anticipating that would most likely facilitate usage satisfaction. In examining Hypothesis 6, the results revealed that replicative behavior is positively related to spreading messages, showing that a high level of replication is correlated to a high level of spreading functional food messages. This is supported by Shifman [54], who suggested that individual behavior replication and spread over a certain environment can be analyzed from a purely social perspective, such as buying

The concept of the Internet meme concerns how influences, preferences and behaviors can rapidly spread from one individual or group to another within a given social network or medium. Consumers with a high level of replication usually have a high level of willingness to spread their activity by introducing it to others via social networks [57]. In examining Hypothesis 7, the results revealed that usage satisfaction is positively related to spreading messages, revealing that if the satisfaction individuals obtained from consuming functional foods is high, message transfer regarding that health food will also be high. This result is supported by Stukas [52], who suggested that consumers will introduce others to purchase if they are satisfied with the usage because they will communicate and make their behavior explicit.

With globalization and the widespread use of the Internet, understanding how to exploit memes is a key factor within industries. Social media often involve the spread of inaccurate information [5]. Misinformation is more rapidly disseminated through social media when there is high uncertainty and high demand for public information about the issues, such as health concerns [6]. In fact, various fake news stories related to food functions have circulated on LINE in Taiwan. From the model analysis of this study, we can see that customer personality types appear to be an operant resource that may offer value anticipation and affect participants' Internet

Foods are an alternative for taking care of one's health, and online messages about such functional foods are widely spread by the LINE population to treat problems and diseases of the major human organ systems [67]. Ultimately,

**164**

**7. Conclusion**

meme behavior.

**7.1 Implications**

The research targets of this study were LINE users in Taiwan who shared messages related to functional foods. As such, we did not examine non-users or individuals from other countries with regard to their willingness to share messages. Future studies may involve different meme content and different groups from other countries based on popular social media use.

De Jong, Ocke, Branderhorst, and Friele found that there is a higher ratio of educated females in the higher age groups who consume functional foods [68]. Therefore, future studies can examine the Internet meme behaviors of different genders or age groups in order to further understand the factors affecting willingness to consume functional foods as a result of Internet memes.

Individuals may have low potential risk consciousness of functional foods, and the traditional idea to "cure the illness, strengthen the body" increases the health risk of people using functional foods without understanding how to decrease the risk. Future studies may emphasize the awareness of the side effects of consuming functional foods in relation to memes.

#### **Acknowledgements**

This work was financially supported by the "Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences" of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.

### **Conflict of interest**

This research was not funded and the authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

### **Author details**

Jon-Chao Hong1,3, Ming-Yueh Hwang2,3 and Kai-Hsin Tai1,3\*

1 Department of Industrial Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

2 Department of Adult and Continuing Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

3 Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

\*Address all correspondence to: star99xin@gmail.com

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**167**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

[9] Zawistowski J. Legislation of functional foods in Asia. In Saarela M, editor. Functional foods. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Woodhead; 2011.

[10] Darley JM, Fazio R. Expectancy confirmation processes arising in the social interaction sequence. American Psychologist. 1980 Oct; 35: 867-881.

[11] Fan L, Suh YH. Why do users switch to a disruptive technology? An empirical study based on expectationdisconfirmation theory. Information & Management, 2014 Mar; 51(2): 240-248.

[12] Halilovic S, Cicic M. Antecedents of information systems user behaviour– extended expectation-confirmation model. Behaviour & Information Technology. 2013 Apr; 32(4): 359-370.

[13] Eveleth DM, Baker-Eveleth LJ, Stone RW. Potential applicants' expectation-confirmation and intentions. Computers in Human Behavior, 2015 Mar; 44: 183-190.

[14] Pham GV, Shancer M, Nelson M R. Only other people post food photos on Facebook: Third-person perception of social media behavior and effects. Computers in Human Behavior. 2019

[15] Procházka O. A chronotopic approach to identity performance in a Facebook meme page. Discourse, Context & Media. 2018 Oct; 25: 78-87.

[16] Cottam ML, Dietz-Uhler B, Mastors E, Preston T. Introduction to political psychology. 2nd ed. New York:

[17] Pagani ME, Goldsmith R,

Hofacker CF. Extraversion as a stimulus for user generated content. The Journal of Research in Indian Medicine. 2013

Psychology Press; 2010.

Oct; 7(4): 242-256.

April; 93: 129-140.

p.73-108**.**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

[1] Dawkins R. The selfish gene. Oxford:

[2] Heylighen F. Chielens K. Cultural evolution and memetics. In Meyers B, editor. Encyclopedia of complexity and system science. 2009. Available from http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/

[3] Brubaker PJ, Church SH, Hansen J, Pelham S, Ostler A. One does not simply meme about organizations: Exploring the content creation strategies of user-generated memes on Imgur. Public Relations Review. 2018 Dec; 44:

[4] Foa EB, Foa UG. Societal structures of the mind. Springfield: Charles C

[6] Jang SM, McKeever B, McKeever R,

[7] McFarland J. Pedlars of fake food news: Are Gwyneth Paltrow and a Canadian mother of one who claims to cure arthritis by an all-beef diet 'putting us all at risk'? 2018. Available from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ article-6450123/How-fake-food-news-

[8] Wytze A. **Killing fake news dead on Taiwan's most popular messaging App.** 2017. Available from: https:// g0v.news/killing-fake-news-dead-ontaiwans-most-popular-messaging-app-

Kim JK. From social media to mainstream news: The information flow of the vaccine-autism controversy in the US, Canada, and the UK. Health Communication. 2019 Sep; 34(1):

[5] Jang SM, Kim JK. Third person effects of fake news: Fake news regulation and media literacy interventions. Computers in Human Behavior. 2018 Mar;80: 295-302.

Oxford University Press; 1976.

Memetics-Springer.pdf

741-751.

110-117.

putting-risk.html

c99d93582cbe

Thomas; 1974.

**References**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

#### **References**

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

**166**

**Author details**

University, Taipei, Taiwan

University, Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan

Jon-Chao Hong1,3, Ming-Yueh Hwang2,3 and Kai-Hsin Tai1,3\*

\*Address all correspondence to: star99xin@gmail.com

provided the original work is properly cited.

1 Department of Industrial Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei,

3 Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

2 Department of Adult and Continuing Education, National Taiwan Normal

[1] Dawkins R. The selfish gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1976.

[2] Heylighen F. Chielens K. Cultural evolution and memetics. In Meyers B, editor. Encyclopedia of complexity and system science. 2009. Available from http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/ Memetics-Springer.pdf

[3] Brubaker PJ, Church SH, Hansen J, Pelham S, Ostler A. One does not simply meme about organizations: Exploring the content creation strategies of user-generated memes on Imgur. Public Relations Review. 2018 Dec; 44: 741-751.

[4] Foa EB, Foa UG. Societal structures of the mind. Springfield: Charles C Thomas; 1974.

[5] Jang SM, Kim JK. Third person effects of fake news: Fake news regulation and media literacy interventions. Computers in Human Behavior. 2018 Mar;80: 295-302.

[6] Jang SM, McKeever B, McKeever R, Kim JK. From social media to mainstream news: The information flow of the vaccine-autism controversy in the US, Canada, and the UK. Health Communication. 2019 Sep; 34(1): 110-117.

[7] McFarland J. Pedlars of fake food news: Are Gwyneth Paltrow and a Canadian mother of one who claims to cure arthritis by an all-beef diet 'putting us all at risk'? 2018. Available from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ article-6450123/How-fake-food-newsputting-risk.html

[8] Wytze A. **Killing fake news dead on Taiwan's most popular messaging App.** 2017. Available from: https:// g0v.news/killing-fake-news-dead-ontaiwans-most-popular-messaging-appc99d93582cbe

[9] Zawistowski J. Legislation of functional foods in Asia. In Saarela M, editor. Functional foods. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Woodhead; 2011. p.73-108**.**

[10] Darley JM, Fazio R. Expectancy confirmation processes arising in the social interaction sequence. American Psychologist. 1980 Oct; 35: 867-881.

[11] Fan L, Suh YH. Why do users switch to a disruptive technology? An empirical study based on expectationdisconfirmation theory. Information & Management, 2014 Mar; 51(2): 240-248.

[12] Halilovic S, Cicic M. Antecedents of information systems user behaviour– extended expectation-confirmation model. Behaviour & Information Technology. 2013 Apr; 32(4): 359-370.

[13] Eveleth DM, Baker-Eveleth LJ, Stone RW. Potential applicants' expectation-confirmation and intentions. Computers in Human Behavior, 2015 Mar; 44: 183-190.

[14] Pham GV, Shancer M, Nelson M R. Only other people post food photos on Facebook: Third-person perception of social media behavior and effects. Computers in Human Behavior. 2019 April; 93: 129-140.

[15] Procházka O. A chronotopic approach to identity performance in a Facebook meme page. Discourse, Context & Media. 2018 Oct; 25: 78-87.

[16] Cottam ML, Dietz-Uhler B, Mastors E, Preston T. Introduction to political psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Psychology Press; 2010.

[17] Pagani ME, Goldsmith R, Hofacker CF. Extraversion as a stimulus for user generated content. The Journal of Research in Indian Medicine. 2013 Oct; 7(4): 242-256.

[18] McIntyre N, Pigram, JJ. Recreation specialization reexamined: The case of vehicle-based campers. Leisure Sciences, 1992 Jul; 14(1): 3-15.

[19] Gray JA. The psychophyciological basis of introversion-extraversion. Behavior Research and Therapy. 1970 Aug; 8(3): 249-266.

[20] Forsman L, Manzano O, Karabanov A, Madison G, Ullen F. Differences in regional brain volume related to the extraversion-introversion dimension-A voxel based morphometry study. Neuroscience Research. 2012 Jan; 72(1): 59-67.

[21] Sharpe JP, Martin NR, Roth KA. Optimism and the Big Five factors of personality: Beyond neuroticism and extraversion. Personality and Individual Differences. 2011 Dec; 51(8): 946-951.

[22] Hamburger YI, Vinitzky G. Social network use and personality. Computers in Human Behavior. 2010 Nov; 26(6): 1289-1295.

[23] Hamburger YA, Ben-Artzi E. The relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and the different uses of the Internet. Computers in Human Behavior. 2000 July; 16(4): 441-449.

[24] Denissen JA, Penke L. Motivational individual reaction norms underlying the five-factor model of personality: First steps toward a theory based conceptual framework. Journal of Research in Personality 2008 Oct; 42: 1285-1302.

[25] McCrae RR, Costa PT. The five-factor theory of personality. In John OP, Robins R W, Pervin LA, editors. Handbook of personality psychology: Theory and research. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press; 2008. P.159-181.

[26] Casciaro T, Carley KM, Krackhardt D. Positive affectivity and accuracy in social network perception. Motivation and Emotion. 1999 Dec; 23: 285-306.

[27] Michikyan M, Subrahmanyam K, Dennis J. Can you tell who I am? Neuroticism, extraversion, and online self-presentation among young adults. Computers in Human Behavior. 2014 Apr; 33: 179-183.

[28] Jones EE, Thibaut J. Interaction goals as bases of inference in interpersonal perception. In Tagiuri R, Petrullo L, editors. Person perception and interpersonal behavior. Stanford: Stanford University Press; 1958. P.151-178.

[29] Jones EE. Interpreting interpersonal behavior: The effects of expectancies. Science. 1986 Oct; 234: 41-46.

[30] Higgins ET, Bargh JA. Social cognition and social perception. In Rosenzweig MR, Porter L W, editors. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews Inc; 1987.

[31] Sorrentino RM, Higgins ET. Handbook of motivation and social cognition. New York: Guilford; 1986.

[32] Snyder M. Motivation foundations for behavioral confirmation. In Zanna MP, editor. Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25). San Diego: Academic Press; 1992. p. 67-114.

[33] Snyder M, Stukas A. Interpersonal processes in context: Understanding the influence of settings and situations on social interaction. In Fiedler K, editor. Social communication. Frontiers of social psychology. New York: Psychology Press; 2007. p. 363-388.

[34] Smith-Genthôs KR, Reich DA, Lakin JL, Casa de Calvo MP. The tongue-tied chameleon: The role of nonconscious mimicry in the behavioral confirmation process. Journal of

**169**

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities…*

1−10.

evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 2008 Aug; 36(1):

[44] Eccles J, Adler TF. Futterman R, Goff SB, Kaczala CM. Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In Spence JT, editor. Achievement and achievement motivation. San Francisco:

[45] Caplin A, Leahy J. Psychological expected utility theory and anticipatory feelings. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2001 Feb; 116(1): 55-79.

[46] Hussain S, Wang G, Jafar RMS, Ilyas Z, Mustafa G, Yang J. Consumers' online information adoption behavior: Motives and antecedents of electronic word of mouth communications. Computers in Human Behavior 2018

[47] Flint DJ, Blocker CP, Boutin Jr PJ. Customer value anticipation, customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical examination. Industrial Marketing Management. 2011 Feb; 40(2):

[48] Matthews WJ. How much do incidental values affect the judgment of time? Psychological Science. 2012 Oct;

[49] Doyen S, Klein O, Pichon CL, Cleeremans A. Behavioral priming: It's all in the mind, but whose mind? PLoS

[50] Pashler H, Rohrer D, Harris C. Can the goal of honesty be primed? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013

[51] Bhattacherjee A. Understanding information systems continuance: An expectation-confirmation model. MIS Quarterly. 2001 Sep; 25 (3): 351-370.

[52] Stukas JrA A. Targets' awareness of expectations and behavioral confirmation in ongoing interactions.

ONE. 2012 Jan; 7: e29081.

Nov; 49: 959-964.

Freeman; 1983. P. 75-146.

Mar; 80: 22-32.

219-230.

23: 1432-1434.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

[35] Nater UM, Hoppmann C, Klumb PL. Neuroticism and Extraversion are associated with cortisol diurnal profiles in adults: Role of positive and negative affect. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010

[36] John OP, Robins RW, Pervin LA. Handbook of personality: Theory and research. 3rd ed. New York: The

[37] Kube T, Rief W, Gollwitzer M, Glombiewski JA. Introducing an Experimental paradigm to investigate expectation change (EXPEC). Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental

Psychiatry. 2018 Jun;59: 92-99.

[38] Cieciuch J, Davidov E, Vecchione M, Schwartz SH. A hierarchical structure of basic human values in a third-order confirmatory factor analysis. Swiss Journal of Psychology. 2014 June; 73(3):

[39] Bogg T, Roberts BW. The case for Extraversion: Evidence and implications for a personality trait marker of health and longevity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2013 Jun; 45(3): 278-288.

[40] Kyle G, Absher J, Norman W. A modified involvement scale. Leisure Studies. 2007 Oct; 26(4): 399-427.

[41] Brandt MJ, IJzerman H, Dijksterhuis A, Farach FJ, Geller J, Giner-Sorolla R, et al. The Replication Recipe: What makes for a convincing replication? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2014 Jan; 5: 217-224.

[42] Schmidt S. Shall we really do it again? The powerful concept of replication is neglected in the social sciences. Review of General Psychology.

[43] Vargo SL, Lusch RF. Servicedominant logic: Continuing the

2009 Jun; 13: 90-100.

Experimental Social Psychology. 2015

Jan; 56: 179-182.

Nov; 35(10): 1573-1577.

Guilford Press; 2010.

177-182.

*The Replication and Spread of Functional Food Messages: The Influence of Personalities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93902*

Experimental Social Psychology. 2015 Jan; 56: 179-182.

*Fake News Is Bad News - Hoaxes, Half-Truths and the Nature of Today's Journalism*

285-306.

Apr; 33: 179-183.

P.151-178.

p. 67-114.

accuracy in social network perception. Motivation and Emotion. 1999 Dec; 23:

[27] Michikyan M, Subrahmanyam K, Dennis J. Can you tell who I am? Neuroticism, extraversion, and online self-presentation among young adults. Computers in Human Behavior. 2014

[28] Jones EE, Thibaut J. Interaction goals as bases of inference in

interpersonal perception. In Tagiuri R, Petrullo L, editors. Person perception and interpersonal behavior. Stanford: Stanford University Press; 1958.

[29] Jones EE. Interpreting interpersonal behavior: The effects of expectancies.

Science. 1986 Oct; 234: 41-46.

[30] Higgins ET, Bargh JA. Social cognition and social perception. In Rosenzweig MR, Porter L W, editors. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews Inc; 1987.

[31] Sorrentino RM, Higgins ET. Handbook of motivation and social cognition. New York: Guilford; 1986.

[32] Snyder M. Motivation foundations for behavioral confirmation. In Zanna MP, editor. Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25). San Diego: Academic Press; 1992.

[33] Snyder M, Stukas A. Interpersonal processes in context: Understanding the influence of settings and situations on social interaction. In Fiedler K, editor. Social communication. Frontiers

of social psychology. New York: Psychology Press; 2007. p. 363-388.

[34] Smith-Genthôs KR, Reich DA, Lakin JL, Casa de Calvo MP. The tongue-tied chameleon: The role of nonconscious mimicry in the behavioral

confirmation process. Journal of

[18] McIntyre N, Pigram, JJ. Recreation specialization reexamined: The case of vehicle-based campers. Leisure Sciences, 1992 Jul; 14(1): 3-15.

[19] Gray JA. The psychophyciological basis of introversion-extraversion. Behavior Research and Therapy. 1970

[21] Sharpe JP, Martin NR, Roth KA. Optimism and the Big Five factors of personality: Beyond neuroticism and extraversion. Personality and Individual Differences. 2011 Dec; 51(8): 946-951.

[22] Hamburger YI, Vinitzky G. Social network use and personality. Computers in Human Behavior. 2010 Nov; 26(6):

[23] Hamburger YA, Ben-Artzi E. The relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and the different uses of the Internet. Computers in Human Behavior. 2000 July; 16(4): 441-449.

[24] Denissen JA, Penke L. Motivational individual reaction norms underlying the five-factor model of personality: First steps toward a theory based conceptual framework. Journal of Research in Personality 2008 Oct; 42:

[25] McCrae RR, Costa PT. The five-factor theory of personality. In John OP, Robins R W, Pervin LA, editors. Handbook of personality psychology: Theory and research. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press; 2008.

[26] Casciaro T, Carley KM,

Krackhardt D. Positive affectivity and

Aug; 8(3): 249-266.

72(1): 59-67.

1289-1295.

1285-1302.

P.159-181.

[20] Forsman L, Manzano O, Karabanov A, Madison G, Ullen F. Differences in regional brain volume related to the extraversion-introversion dimension-A voxel based morphometry study. Neuroscience Research. 2012 Jan;

**168**

[35] Nater UM, Hoppmann C, Klumb PL. Neuroticism and Extraversion are associated with cortisol diurnal profiles in adults: Role of positive and negative affect. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010 Nov; 35(10): 1573-1577.

[36] John OP, Robins RW, Pervin LA. Handbook of personality: Theory and research. 3rd ed. New York: The Guilford Press; 2010.

[37] Kube T, Rief W, Gollwitzer M, Glombiewski JA. Introducing an Experimental paradigm to investigate expectation change (EXPEC). Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 2018 Jun;59: 92-99.

[38] Cieciuch J, Davidov E, Vecchione M, Schwartz SH. A hierarchical structure of basic human values in a third-order confirmatory factor analysis. Swiss Journal of Psychology. 2014 June; 73(3): 177-182.

[39] Bogg T, Roberts BW. The case for Extraversion: Evidence and implications for a personality trait marker of health and longevity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2013 Jun; 45(3): 278-288.

[40] Kyle G, Absher J, Norman W. A modified involvement scale. Leisure Studies. 2007 Oct; 26(4): 399-427.

[41] Brandt MJ, IJzerman H, Dijksterhuis A, Farach FJ, Geller J, Giner-Sorolla R, et al. The Replication Recipe: What makes for a convincing replication? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2014 Jan; 5: 217-224.

[42] Schmidt S. Shall we really do it again? The powerful concept of replication is neglected in the social sciences. Review of General Psychology. 2009 Jun; 13: 90-100.

[43] Vargo SL, Lusch RF. Servicedominant logic: Continuing the

evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 2008 Aug; 36(1): 1−10.

[44] Eccles J, Adler TF. Futterman R, Goff SB, Kaczala CM. Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In Spence JT, editor. Achievement and achievement motivation. San Francisco: Freeman; 1983. P. 75-146.

[45] Caplin A, Leahy J. Psychological expected utility theory and anticipatory feelings. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2001 Feb; 116(1): 55-79.

[46] Hussain S, Wang G, Jafar RMS, Ilyas Z, Mustafa G, Yang J. Consumers' online information adoption behavior: Motives and antecedents of electronic word of mouth communications. Computers in Human Behavior 2018 Mar; 80: 22-32.

[47] Flint DJ, Blocker CP, Boutin Jr PJ. Customer value anticipation, customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical examination. Industrial Marketing Management. 2011 Feb; 40(2): 219-230.

[48] Matthews WJ. How much do incidental values affect the judgment of time? Psychological Science. 2012 Oct; 23: 1432-1434.

[49] Doyen S, Klein O, Pichon CL, Cleeremans A. Behavioral priming: It's all in the mind, but whose mind? PLoS ONE. 2012 Jan; 7: e29081.

[50] Pashler H, Rohrer D, Harris C. Can the goal of honesty be primed? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013 Nov; 49: 959-964.

[51] Bhattacherjee A. Understanding information systems continuance: An expectation-confirmation model. MIS Quarterly. 2001 Sep; 25 (3): 351-370.

[52] Stukas JrA A. Targets' awareness of expectations and behavioral confirmation in ongoing interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2002 Jan; 38: 31– 40.

[53] Kulik JA, Sledge P, Mahler HIM. Selfconfirmatory attribution, egocentrism, and the perpetuation of self-beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1986 Jan; 50: 587-594.

[54] Shifman L. Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 2013 Apr; 18(3): 362-377.

[55] Aunger R. The electric meme: A new theory of how we think. New York: The Free Press; 2002.

[56] Plotkin H. Evolution in mind: An introduction to evolutionary psychology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1998.

[57] Castelfranci C. Towards a cognitive memetics: Socio-cognitive mechanisms for memes selection and spreading. Journal of Memetics—Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission. 2001 Jan; 5: 1-14.

[58] LINE official site. Data report of LINE user in Taiwan. 2019. Available from http://official-blog.line.me/tw/ archives/81291901.html

[59] Wilt J, Revelle W. Extraversion. In Leary MR, Hoyle RH, editors. Handbook of individual differences in social behavior. New York: Guilford Press; 2008. p. 27-45.

[60] Lahey BB. Public health significance of neuroticism. American Psychologist. 2009 Dec; 64(4): 241.

[61] Hair J, Black B, Babin B, Anderson RE. Multivariate data analysis. 7th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall; 2014.

[62] Fornell C, Larcker DF. Structural equation models with unobservable

variables and measurement error; Algebra and statistics. Journal of Marketing Research. 1981 Aug; 18(1): 39-50.

[63] Hancock GR, Mueller RO. Structural equation modeling: A second course. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing; 2006.

[64] Falk R.F, Miller NB. A primer for soft modeling. Akron: University of Akron Press; 1992.

[65] Kube T, D'Astolfo L, Glombiewski JA, Doering BK, Rief W. Focusing on situation-specific expectations in major depression as basis for behavioural experiments: Development of the Depressive Expectations Scale. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 2017 Sep; 90(3): 336-352.

[66] Foster G, Frijters P, Johnston DW. The triumph of hope over disappointment: A note on the utility value of good health expectations. Journal of Economic Psychology. 2012 Feb; 33(1): 206-214.

[67] Chen FP, Chen TJ, Kung YY, Chen YC, Chou LF, Chen FJ, Hwang SJ. Use frequency of traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan. BMC Health Service Research. 2007 Feb; 7; 26.

[68] De Jong N, Ocke MC, Branderhorst HA, Friele R. Demographic and lifestyle characteristics of functional food consumers and dietary supplement users. British Journal of Nutrition. 2003 Feb; 89(2): 273-281.

**171**

Section 2

Regional and Local Contexts

of Processing Information

### Section 2
