Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy
Current debate is dominated by fears of the threats of digital technology for democracy. One typical example is the perceived threats of malicious actors promoting disinformation through digital channels to sow confusion and exacerbate political divisions. The prominence of the threat of digital dis...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publications
2021
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| _version_ | 1797106253106774016 |
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| author | Schroeder, R Jungherr, A |
| author_facet | Schroeder, R Jungherr, A |
| author_sort | Schroeder, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Current debate is dominated by fears of the threats of digital technology for democracy. One typical example is the perceived threats of malicious actors promoting disinformation through digital channels to sow confusion and exacerbate political divisions. The prominence of the threat of digital disinformation in the public imagination, however, is not supported by empirical findings which instead indicate that disinformation is a limited problem with limited reach among the public. Its prominence in public discourse is instead best understood as a “moral panic.” In this article, we argue that we should shift attention from these evocative but empirically marginal phenomena of deviance connected with digital media toward the structural transformations that give rise to these fears, namely those that have impacted information flows and attention allocation in the public arena. This account centers on structural transformations of the public arena and associated new challenges, especially in relation to gatekeepers, old and new. How the public arena serves actually existing democracy will not be addressed by focusing on disinformation, but rather by addressing structural transformations and the new challenges that arise from these. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:59:05Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ff1df73c-4f4f-4623-ae8b-ee4c78f84954 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:59:05Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | SAGE Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ff1df73c-4f4f-4623-ae8b-ee4c78f849542022-03-27T13:42:17ZDisinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ff1df73c-4f4f-4623-ae8b-ee4c78f84954EnglishSymplectic ElementsSAGE Publications2021Schroeder, RJungherr, ACurrent debate is dominated by fears of the threats of digital technology for democracy. One typical example is the perceived threats of malicious actors promoting disinformation through digital channels to sow confusion and exacerbate political divisions. The prominence of the threat of digital disinformation in the public imagination, however, is not supported by empirical findings which instead indicate that disinformation is a limited problem with limited reach among the public. Its prominence in public discourse is instead best understood as a “moral panic.” In this article, we argue that we should shift attention from these evocative but empirically marginal phenomena of deviance connected with digital media toward the structural transformations that give rise to these fears, namely those that have impacted information flows and attention allocation in the public arena. This account centers on structural transformations of the public arena and associated new challenges, especially in relation to gatekeepers, old and new. How the public arena serves actually existing democracy will not be addressed by focusing on disinformation, but rather by addressing structural transformations and the new challenges that arise from these. |
| spellingShingle | Schroeder, R Jungherr, A Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| title | Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| title_full | Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| title_fullStr | Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| title_short | Disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena: addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| title_sort | disinformation and the structural transformations of the public arena addressing the actual challenges to democracy |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT schroederr disinformationandthestructuraltransformationsofthepublicarenaaddressingtheactualchallengestodemocracy AT jungherra disinformationandthestructuraltransformationsofthepublicarenaaddressingtheactualchallengestodemocracy |