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Is 'Fake News' a Threat to Democracy?

How is rampant disinformation changing our societies?

In the two years since the election of Donald Trump the world has heard a lot about 'fake news'. It's a term the president often uses to go after the media and his opponents. But 'fake news' can mean a lot of things. It can refer to inaccurate stories pumped out to generate online ad revenue. It can also describe the sort of political disinformation that Russia used to try to influence the 2016 US election. While propaganda and disinformation have been deployed at home and abroad for centuries - Hitler and Stalin were past masters - the internet has made the dissemination of such lies much easier. So, if trust in information corrodes, what happens to democracy? Ritula Shah and a panel of experts look at what fakes of all kinds are doing to our public life and what solutions are available.

(Photo: Fact or Fake concept, change wooden cube. Credit: Getty Image)

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53 minutes

Last on

Sat 17 Nov 2018 04:06GMT

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Contributors

Susan McGregor - Assistant professor, Columbia School of Journalism

Claire Wardle - Executive director of First Draft News

Petras Austrevicius - Lithuanian MEP

Carl Miller - Research director with think tank, Demos

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Broadcasts

  • Fri 16 Nov 2018 09:06GMT
  • Sat 17 Nov 2018 00:06GMT
  • Sat 17 Nov 2018 04:06GMT

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