The Misinformation Society

Various forms of misinformation and propaganda have plagued societies for centuries. However, today’s profound media power residing in one monopolistic platform arguably presents a unique challenge to democratic governance. Even as Facebook comes under increased public pressure to be held accountable for the misinformation it purveys and from which it profits, a core problem is often overlooked: the proliferation of so-called “fake news” is symptomatic of an unregulated news monopoly that is governed solely by profit imperatives. Facebook is not evil; it is merely the natural outgrowth of an information system governed by such an unaccountable, commercial logic.

The Disinformation Age, 2020

The commercialism driving much of the American media system counts among the many factors that enabled Donald Trump’s election. When it mattered most, too many American media institutions privileged profit over democracy. This does not mean that people working within the media industries are bad. It does suggest, however, that the incentive structures driving these media institutions are skewed. To contest a thriving ecosystem of misinformation, we need to redesign our news media system so that different logics are guiding it.

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2021

2020

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

Springer eBooks, 2022

Donald Trump’s election exposed structural pathologies in America’s media system. This commentary addresses three broad media failures that combine to imperil democratic society: the news media’s extreme commercialism; Facebook’s proliferation of misinformation; and the crisis of newspaper journalism. I then outline a policy program that can begin to address these structural pathologies.

TRT World Research Centre, 2020

Disinformation has taken numerous forms in the past decade, particularly in the run-up to contested elections. This policy outlook examines some key disinformation methods, which were heavily utilised in the 2016 US presidential elections and are part of the influence operations surrounding the 2020 presidential elections. Four aspects will be closely examined: Data theft and data mining, trolls and bots, extremist and hate groups, and hack-and-leak operations.

Globalizations, 2021

The terms 'fake news' and 'alternative facts' have lost their shock value in today's public discourse and seem to have become part of our normal political vocabulary. Fake news, mis-and disinformation are not a problem of a particular country but are found in politics around the world. In this paper, I look at how disinformation appears as a problem for democracy. Empirically, this paper explores dominant patterns of argumentation with a focus on the US, Germany and Czechia. I discuss the themes of media literacy, hybrid warfare and the emergence of fringe media. This paper argues that more attention needs to be paid to the affectual dimension of why people share fake news. Even though there is no easy solution for dealing with fake news, a first step is to stop denouncing people for believing in fake news and putting all our hope in media literacy.

Academia Green Energy, 2024

In the context of low-carbon and circular economy, current work aimed to develop a method for the production of biofuels rich in hydrogen, using exclusively waste materials as energy sources or beneficial additives. Selected materials were forest and agricultural wastes as feedstocks, as well as demolition wastes from construction activities and red mud waste from aluminum industry as a novel CO2 sorbent and catalyst, respectively. The experiments were carried out in a fixed bed gasification system under steam atmosphere and a thermogravimetric-mass spectrometric (TG-MS) unit. The effects of temperature, sorbent/fuel ratio and catalyst loading on final conversion, product gas composition and heating value, hydrogen yield and energy recovery were examined and optimum conditions were determined. At 750°C, Ca/C=1 and red mud loading 20-30% wt, the amount of CO2 captured by the building demolition waste sorbent was 76.5-81.2%, the molar fraction of hydrogen in the product gas 74.8-77.1% mol (raised up to 77% as compared to reaction without sorbent or catalyst), the hydrogen yield 1.31-2.08 m3/kg, the higher heating value of gas 13.4-13.6 MJ/m3 and fuel conversion 71-100%. For same proportions of sorbent and catalyst at 850°C, 64.3-77.8% of CO2 was captured, the hydrogen concentration in product gas was 76.6-79.8% mol and the yield 1.5-2.35 m3/kg, the higher heating value of gas 12.4-13.2 MJ/m3, while conversion of organic matter was 88.1-100%.