.marcambinder: 'Fake news' can't be fixed by more journalism — not when our democracy is broken.
Unfortunately, since I wrote that piece in November 2020, it’s become clearer that using more journalism to fight false facts is a fantasy.That’s because fake news is not so much a problem as it is the symptom of a problem. It is an inevitable consequence of how we talk to each other, why we talk to each other, what information we need from each other and how we feel about each other relative to what we believe.
When elites catalyze fear, they goad a benign human tendency to assimilate and differentiate into a runaway process, building to the point where polarization is irreversible. Counterintuitively, affective polarization may also lead to extremism; empirical studies suggest that deliberation among the like-minded will push the group’s position to the extreme of the members’ initial positions. Neither individual commitment to democratic norms nor elite moderation can restore bipartisanship.
Whether we should do this is immaterial; it’s happening. Texas has all but banned abortions; Florida’s Covid-19 policies are designed to benefit a potential Republican presidential candidate’s aspirations; the specter of teaching students proper history is deemed “critical race theory” by half a dozen states, whether the label is properly applied or not.And yes, a renewed federalism would have to work in the other direction, too.
On a national level, it’s not more news that’s needed. Please, no more niche national news outlets. What is needed is more relentless, sophisticated and unyielding pressure on the superspreaders of misinformation, especially the people who profit from lies.targets the advertisers of false information mavens like Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned right-wing radio host who gets mad, and gets personal, in response because what she’s doing works.
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