Case study: The post-truth era

Why are some people highly engaged by political communication, while others are not? What are the pathways that lead from communication to participation, and how do we understand patterns of participatory behaviour?

BU research is looking at these issues in a post-truth era – the phenomenon where beliefs formed through exposure to media or campaigns' use of cherry-picked data seem more important than informed testimony.

Vital importance

A workshop held at BU posed a number of questions about whether this is a new issue or not, and what post-truth politics might look like – as well as what it can tell us about the current and future state of democratic engagement and of democracy itself. Of vital importance was identifying the possible consequences of misinformation or disinformation.

Provided foundations

The ideas that were raised and discussed at the event have provided the foundations that further research into post-truth and political engagement have been based on. For example, data-driven campaigns can be designed to manipulate public understanding of how things are and how they should be. People then seek confirmation bias instead of interrogating the claims and counter-claims of different campaigns.

Distorted perceptions

Further academic research at BU has considered how the concept of fake news, and the way in which multiple versions are represented as being 'the truth' means that people find themselves relying on their emotions rather than facts. This can lead to multiple distorted perceptions of reality that result in increased marginalisation through stereotyping and segmenting people for reasons that are not accurate or representative.