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EVENT DETAILS |
Network PropagandaWednesday, September 265:00 pm - 6:00 pmColumbia Journalism School
Is social media destroying democracy? Are Russian propaganda or "Fake news" entrepreneurs on Facebook undermining our sense of a shared reality? A conventional wisdom has emerged since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 that new technologies & their manipulation by foreign actors played a decisive role in his victory & are responsible for the sense of a "post-truth" moment in which disinformation & propaganda thrives.Network Propagandachallenges that received wisdom through the most comprehensive study yet published on media coverage of American presidential politics from the start of the election cycle in April 2015 to the one year anniversary of the Trump presidency. Analyzing millions of news stories together with Twitter & Facebook shares, broadcast television & YouTube, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the architecture of contemporary American political communications. Through data analysis & detailed qualitative case studies of coverage of immigration, Clinton scandals, & the Trump Russia investigation, the book finds that the right-wing media ecosystem operates fundamentally differently than the rest of the media environment. Instead, the authorsargue that longstanding institutional, political, & cultural patterns in American politics interacted with technological change since the 1970s to create a propaganda feedback loop in American conservative media. This dynamic has marginalized center-right media & politicians, radicalized the right wing ecosystem, & rendered it susceptible to propaganda efforts, foreign & domestic. The diagnosis complicates many of the proposed solutions that focus on better fact checking, transparent algorithms, or exposure to diverse sources, while emphasizing the critical role that professional journalism can & must continue to play in this propaganda rich environment.
TheTow Center for Digital Journalismat Columbia Journalism School,is pleased to present the book launch ofNetwork Propagandaand a discussion onhow to think about technology, politics, & media in the post-truth moment. Join Buzzfeed News media editor, Craig Silverman, whose data journalism first surfaced the "fake news" phenomenon in 2016, & Emily Bell, founding Director of theTow Center for Digital Journalism, alongside Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law School professor & co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Join the conversation using #NetworkPropaganda.
This event is free & open to the public, though registration is required.Please direct any questions to towcenter@columbia.edu.
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