The causes of post-truth phenomenon

In this era, the truth has not been tampered with and questioned, but has become very secondary. People no longer believe in the truth, only believe in feelings, and only want to hear and see what they want to hear and see. Lies, rumors and gossip spread widely on the internet, showing the truth. Compared with mainstream media, netizens are more willing to trust each other. If there is evidence contrary to their position, people tend to ignore this information. There is a popular equation among parents: what is said in WeChat > what is said in friends > what is said in the news.

The cost of knowing the truth is too high, and people generally adopt the principle of "avoiding the heavy and ignoring the light" to deal with the facts, so the emotions are cheap and easy to satisfy people's cognitive defects, and the facts are naturally less important.

The "post-truth" is closely related to two international events: Britain's withdrawal from the EU and the US presidential election. These two events have brought people the same impression that it may be more effective to appeal to emotions and personal ideas than objective facts in shaping public opinion.

Second, the reasons for the emergence of the "post-truth" era

1, social media has become the driving force of "post-truth"

(1) Social media gives people the right to speak and stimulates the demand for information dissemination.

The attributes of social media fully stimulate people's needs, release people's desires, and meet people's information dissemination, opinion expression and social needs that cannot be realized in the traditional media era. (Stimulate demand)

(2) Under the communication of the community, social members tend to solidify their views.

Social media brings people with the same views and interests together to form an online community. The online community is based on interests, opinions, emotions and values, and it is the same norm and link, and communication with the community is mutually conditional. Information producers of social media use algorithmic mechanisms to accurately produce and push information, which not only satisfies users' personalized and socialized information interests and needs, but also strengthens the community. Community communication is likely to make community members live in isolated islands of information, strengthen their various understandings and even prejudices, and become the driving force to aggravate the "post-truth".

2. Information technology has shaped the context of "post-truth"

The change of communication form brought by the update of information technology also participated in the shaping of post-real context. With the diversity and perfection of Internet infrastructure and its terminals, the concept of decentralization has been continuously realized, and the idea that everyone is a communication node has become a reality. The amount of information generated is very large, and the viewpoints are diverse. Driven by the algorithm, they are accurately delivered to highly differentiated target groups. Conversely, with the empowerment of technology, users can accurately locate, extract and absorb specific content in the huge information flow and complex concepts. Its possible consequence is that users gradually participate in their own tastes and preferences, which virtually promotes the aggregation of users of homogeneous concepts. Some analysts believe that this form of communication may produce an echo chamber or filter bubble effect, which will hinder the exchange of heterogeneous ideas.

Third, what should be done in the post-truth era?

1, news media: professional

20 17 The old media BBC, which has always been known as "fast news", introduced the concept of "slow news". Francesca Unsworth, director of the BBC's international department and deputy director of the news department, said: "In addition to continuing our advantages in breaking news, the BBC will pay more attention to slow news in the coming months. This means a deeper analysis of the topic, restoring the scene of the event, and providing the audience with the events (what) and reasons (why) behind the headlines. "

Although we advocate that the news media should pay attention to the transformation from facts to values, the basic facts are the basis for the extension of values. If you give too much emotion, rationality will be lost. Therefore, the news media should adhere to journalistic professionalism, especially the mainstream media should actively guide public opinion and introduce social opinions in the same direction.

2. Regulatory authorities: news verification and inspection mechanism.

The principle of transparency includes two aspects: openness and transparency in participation. "The former refers to whether news producers keep the news production process open, including telling the public the source of facts and showing the public that all relevant interest groups have been included in the report, while the latter refers to letting the public participate in the news production process, including allowing the public to contribute to the content of the report and using' user-generated content'." The supervision department should strengthen the means of news verification and increase the production cost of false news.

3. Audience: Enhance the ability of identification and criticism.

The audience should seek various sources of information, not only satisfied with the information provided by the receiver, but also remain suspicious of uncertain news and not spread it.

Fourthly, the generalization of "post-truth" influence.

1, fake news

20 16 during the American election, a group of young people in a small town in Macedonia, a small European country, cooked up a lot of fake news for the purpose of making huge economic income and encouraging "Sichuan powder".

Step 2 reverse the news

"Reverse news" and "public opinion reversal" reflect the scarcity of truth in the era of social media with extremely rich information. This is due to the reality of the production and dissemination of new media information, that is, fewer and fewer people investigate a piece of information in depth, while more and more people comment and deconstruct it. As Bai said, one of the major concerns of today's media is that "there are more and more people cooking, but fewer and fewer people can cook good dishes".

Extension of related papers

Post-truth Era: Who Moved My Fact —— Based on the analysis of the technical characteristics of mobile Internet communication —— Wang Shuhuai's Young Reporter (recommended for close reading)

A Study on Trust Alienation of Social Network in the Post-truth Era —— Man Yan's Nanjing Social Science (recommended for close reading)

The true face of news —— How to find "true news" in the post-truth era —— Zhou Yan's The Reporter (for reference)

The Test and Challenge of Social Media to American Democracy in the Post-truth Era —— Liu Xuejun's News Frontline (for reference)