Event Summary
On December 5, AEI’s Christine Rosen hosted a conference on understanding the shifting conception of truth in the media, especially as it relates to political culture and social cohesion.
Dr. Rosen moderated the first panel, which featured the Data & Society Institute’s Alice E. Marwick and Jon Askonas of the Catholic University of America. They discussed why the terms “disinformation” and “misinformation” have lost usefulness in political discourse and what can be done to combat the proliferation of fact assemblance that can create any narrative, regardless of truth. In the second panel, Stony Brook University’s Brian Guay and Ari Schulman of The New Atlantis proposed new solutions to combat the spread of online misinformation and discussed the importance of good leadership as it relates to media trust.
Jonathan Rauch of the Brookings Institution delivered the keynote speech. He provided an alternative perspective favoring the term “disinformation,” arguing that three tangible deliverables for disinformation systems damage social cohesion: cynicism, deception, and demoralization. In the final panel, Commentary’s Eli Lake and the Center on Technology Policy’s Scott Babwah Brennen discussed institutions’ culpability and the effectiveness of fact-checking to combat the spread of misinformation.
Each panel and the keynote speech concluded with an audience Q&A.
—Aliza J. Fassett
Event Description
The 2024 election revealed significant shifts in how Americans seek information, whom they trust, and how they determine the truthfulness and integrity of the information they consume. What does this mean for our political culture and social cohesion in the years to come? Do we need to move beyond discussing “misinformation” and “disinformation” and devise new frameworks for understanding how social media platforms and other emerging technologies influence the information environment?
Please join AEI for a conference featuring scholars and journalists exploring the future of information in a post-truth age.
Event Materials
Christine Rosen: The Suicide of the Mainstream Media