Misinformation

From fringe conspiracy theories to 'alternative facts', a timely look at how we arrived in the 'fake news' era.

Using current examples from around the world, this entertaining comic educates others on the ways that governments, media owners, advertisers, powerful corporations, and think tanks can influence the organization and content of the news media to manipulate voters or reap billions in profits.

Tackling the science of misinformation from its evolutionary origins to its role in the internet era, this book translates rigorous research on misleading information into a comprehensive and jargon-free explanation so that you can prevent deception.

This book examines the real fake news- the constant flow of purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading, or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news. Several different disciplinary perspectives are taken into account, including the overlapping contexts of politics, technology, and journalism.

Best-selling author Michael Shermer presents an overarching theory of conspiracy theories--who believes them and why, which ones are real, and what we should do about them. This engaging book will be an important read for anyone concerned about the future direction of American politics, as well as anyone who's watched friends or family fall into patterns of conspiratorial thinking.

"Why People Believe Weird Things" explores the very human reasons people find otherworldly phenomena, conspiracy theories, and cults so appealing. Shermer, science historian and true crusader, also reveals the more dangerous side of such illogical thinking, including Holocaust denial, the recovered-memory movement, the satanic ritual abuse scare, and other modern crazes.

An informed and practical road map for controlling disinformation, embracing free speech, saving American elections, and protecting democracy. With piercing insight into the current debates over free speech, censorship, and Big Tech's responsibilities, Richard L. Hasen proposes legal and social measures to restore Americans' access to reliable information on which democracy depends.

From fake news to conspiracy theories, from inflammatory memes to misleading headlines, misinformation has swiftly become the defining problem of our era. Deconstructing the characteristic techniques of conspiracies and misinformation, van der Linden gives readers practical tools to defend themselves and others against nefarious persuasion--whether at scale or around their own dinner table.

Best-selling journalist Steven Brill documents the forces and people, from Silicon Valley to Madison Avenue to Moscow to Washington, that have created and exploited this world of chaos and division-and offers practical solutions for what we can do about it. As the cofounder of NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation, he has observed the rise of fake news from a front-row seat. In The Death of Truth, with startling, often terrifying clarity, he explains how we got here-and how we can get back to a world where truth matters.

An enlightening examination of what it means when Americans rely on family and friends to stay on top of politics. Drawing on evidence from experiments, surveys, and social media, Taylor N. Carlson finds that, as information flows first from the media and then person to person, it becomes sparse, more biased, less accurate, and more mobilizing. The result is what Carlson calls distorted democracy.

"A Firehose of Falsehood: The Story of Disinformation" breaks down disinformation tactics and offers tools for defending and restoring truth. Now that the Internet has turned what was once a trickle of lies into a firehose, the challenge of holding on to truth has never been greater. This book offers readers these necessary tools.