Editorial
Post-truth and the political: Constructions and distortions in representing political facts

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.10.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Post-truth has become a buzzword in recent years, as a shorthand for strategic constructions and distortions by all parties in political communication. According to Gibson (2018), the endless reflexivity of late modernity and a loss of faith in institutions interactively give rise to a ‘post-truth double helix’. Facts are reduced to ideological claims to be discursively contested, giving rise to such notions as ‘true facts’ and ‘alternative facts’. The features of the online media environment further accelerate this dynamic. Journalism – as one of the traditionally authoritative institutions – plays a leading part in this spiral of dwindling trust. The perspectivist view on journalism increasingly has led audiences and journalists themselves to believe that there are no facts but only interpretations. Nevertheless, many journalists are still driven by the objectivity ideal which has traditionally sustained their authority as ‘truth-speakers’ (Tuchman, 1978). Others, however, call for transparency and multiperspectivalism (Gans, 2011) in order to limit inaccuracy and distortion as much as possible. This special issue of Discourse, Context & Media brings together a number of contributions exploring the discursive relation between political communication, news media and factuality. Mapping the eroding trust in true facts and the strategies of participants to deal with this ‘post-truth era’, this kind of research can provide valuable insights into evolutions which have a profound impact on every citizen, and democracy at large.

Section snippets

Journalists as truth-speakers?

Constituting one of the authoritative institutions referred to by Žižek, 1999, Gibson, 2018, professional journalism defends its legitimacy by emphasizing its ‘ability to provide an indexical and referential presentation of the world at hand’ (Zelizer, 2004: 103). That is, ‘objectivity-as-a-value’ (Carpentier and Trioen, 2010) has long been – and still is – considered as a nodal point of ‘good journalism’ (Deuze, 2005). Schudson (2001: 150) provides a definition of objectivity that is,

Transparency

Transparency in journalism and alternative media is increasingly advocated for reviving journalism and for changing the crusted methods of traditional media. Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007), for instance, criticize the widespread contemporary practices as hollow devices which need to convince the audience of the objectivity and trustworthiness of journalism while obscuring actual verification methods or even deceiving the public. As the authors contend, journalists can never be objective, but

Contributions

In this special issue of Discourse, Context & Media, we have brought together a number of contributions exploring the discursive relation between political communication, media and ‘true facts’. The authors focus on the constructions and distortions of information by all parties involved in media news coverage. The insights offered by the studies may contribute to more transparency as regards to the context, status and nature of (post-)truth on the politics-media nexus, and how journalists and

Roel Coesemans is an Assistant Professor of Dutch Linguistics and Journalism Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. His research focuses on the pragmatics and multimodality of news discourse in mainstream and alternative news media.

References (56)

  • S. Lewandowsky et al.

    Beyond misinformation: understanding and coping with the “post-truth” era

    J. Appl. Res. Memory Cognit.

    (2017)
  • P.R.R. White

    Exploring the axiological workings of ‘reporter voice’ news stories—Attribution and attitudinal positioning

    Discourse, Context & Media

    (2012)
  • H. Allcott et al.

    Social media and fake news in the 2016 election

    J. Econ. Perspect.

    (2017)
  • S. Allan

    News Culture

    (2010)
  • E. Alterman

    When presidents lie: A history of official deception and its consequences

    (2004)
  • M. Andrejevic

    Infoglut

    (2013)
  • C. Atton et al.

    Alternative Journalism

    (2008)
  • J. Blommaert

    The debate is closed

  • A. Bruns

    Gatewatching, not gatekeeping: collaborative online news

    Media Int. Australia Incorporating Culture Policy: Q. J. Media Res. Resour.

    (2003)
  • N. Carpentier et al.

    The particularity of objectivity: A post-structuralist and psychoanalytical reading of the gap between objectivity-as-a-value and objectivity-as-a-practice in the 2003 Iraqi War coverage

    Journalism

    (2010)
  • S.E. Clayman et al.

    The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air

    (2002)
  • S. Craft et al.

    Transparency in journalism: Meanings, merits, and risks

  • L. Daston et al.

    Objectivity

    (2007)
  • J. Dean

    Blog Theory

    (2010)
  • D. Detmer

    Challenging Postmodernism: Philosophy and the Politics of Truth

    (2003)
  • M. Deuze

    What is journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered

    Journalism

    (2005)
  • M. Ekström

    Politicians interviewed on television news

    Discourse Soc.

    (2001)
  • R. Fowler

    Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press

    (1991)
  • R. Fowler

    On critical linguistics

  • H.G. Frankfurt

    On Bullshit

    (2005)
  • H.J. Gans

    Deciding What's News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time

    (1979)
  • H.J. Gans

    Multiperspectival news revisited: Journalism and representative democracy

    Journalism

    (2011)
  • R.K. Garrett et al.

    Driving a wedge between evidence and beliefs: How online ideological news exposure promotes political misperceptions

    J. Comput.-Mediated Commun.

    (2016)
  • T.A. Gibson

    The post-truth double helix: reflexivity and mistrust in local politics

    Int. J. Commun.

    (2018)
  • A. Giddens

    The Consequences of Modernity

    (1990)
  • E.L. Glaeser et al.

    Strategic extremism: Why republicans and democrats divide on religious values

    Q. J. Econ.

    (2005)
  • T. Goldstein

    Journalism and Truth: Strange Bedfellows

    (2007)
  • H.P. Grice

    ‘Logic and conversation’

    • Roel Coesemans is an Assistant Professor of Dutch Linguistics and Journalism Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. His research focuses on the pragmatics and multimodality of news discourse in mainstream and alternative news media.

    Jelle Mast is an Assistant Professor of Journalism Studies in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Belgium. As the coordinator of the Brussels Institute for Journalism Studies his main research interests are in the areas of visual communication journalism practice genre hybridization and professional ethics.

    Renée Moernaut is currently employed as a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of Linguistics and Literary Studies (Applied Linguistics) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. Her main research interests include multimodal framing, environmental and climate change communication and journalism practice (especially the mainstream-alternative divide).

    Martina Temmerman is an Associate Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. She is the program director of the Masters in Journalism at the Department of Applied Linguistics, where she teaches linguistic discourse analysis and journalistic writing classes. Her research focuses on the linguistic analysis of journalistic communication.

    View full text
    © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.