Fake News: Falsehood, Fabrication and Fantasy in Journalism

by Brian McNair

Overview

Fake News: Falsehood, fabrication and fantasy in journalism examines the causes and consequences of the ‘fake news’ phenomenon now sweeping the world’s media and political debates. Drawing on three decades of research and writing on journalism and news media, the author engages with the fake news phenomenon in accessible, insightful language designed to bring clarity and context to a complex and fast-moving debate.

The author presents fake news not as a cultural issue in isolation but rather as arising from, and contributing to, significant political and social trends in twenty-first century societies. Chapters identify the factors which have laid the groundwork for fake news’ explosive appearance at this moment in our globalised public sphere. These include the rise of relativism and the crisis of objectivity, the role of digital media platforms in the production and consumption of news, and the growing drive to produce online content which attracts users and generates revenue. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781351392884
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/09/2017
Series:	Disruptions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	108
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Brian McNair is Professor of Journalism, Media and Communication at Queensland University of Technology. He is the author of fifteen books, including Communication and Political Crisis (2016), Cultural Chaos (2006), Journalists in Film (2010) and Politics, Media and Democracy in Australia (with Flew et al., 2017).

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Foreword, 1. #FakeNews 2. Faking it in journalism: not really new, not exactly news 3. The Decline of Trust in Journalism – post-truth, post-factuality and the digisphere 4. Fakers, Makers, Sharers 5. Fake news and democratic political culture: the challenges, and how to address them 6. Afterword, Bibliography, Index