• Frontpage
  • Bloggers
  • Archive
  • About
Inside

Preserving civil and civic public dialogue in a time of ‘Truth Decay’

07.02.2019 Research

Nathalie Hyde-Clarke (PhD), Head of Department of Culture and Media, Arcada UAS

Matteo Stocchetti (PhD), Senior Lecturer: Media Culture, Department of Culture and Media, Arcada UAS

 

At the recent ‘Speaking is Silver’ seminar held at Hanaholmen (1.2.2019), President and CEO of RAND corporation, Michael D. Rich, presented his research report titled ‘Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in Public Life’. The research is based on four pervasive and systematic social trends that reinforce each other, and negatively affect public confidence in the public sphere:

  • Increased disagreement about fact and discourse analysis
  • The increasing blurring of fact and opinion on information platforms
  • Increased quantity of opinion versus fact due to the 24-hour news cycle and online content generation
  • And a related loss of public trust in key authorities (especially government and media)

According to his findings, ‘Truth Decay’ has been increasing since 2000 due to a combination of individuals’ natural cognitive bias and the phenomenon that erroneous data ends to spread online faster than factual information. This has been further complicated by disinformation campaigns and the advent of ‘deep fakes’.

The conclusion therefore is that ‘truth decay’ erodes both civil and civic dialogue in the public sphere as individuals become more polarised and disengaged or disenchanted. This ultimately will result in political paralysis and an inability to compromise or negotiate – “an existential threat to democracy”.

These trends are highly unlikely to self-correct themselves, and thus there is a need for a sustained effort to reverse the process. In what way can our education address this need?

In response to similar concerns about the quality of information available to the public, Arcada launched the research program Media and Education in the Digital Age (MEDA) in 2014. Based on a constructivist epistemology, and the idea that truth in social sciences can hardly ever be ‘objective’, this initiative sought to address the challenges, risks and opportunities associated with the use of media in social practices and formal education.

From the standpoint of MEDA, for example, the suggestion that truth is ‘decaying’ should be rejected as such a statement is based  on the objectification of truth itself: the idea that truth is like a piece of precious substance like for example water that can be found, owned, or corrupted.

From the constructionist perspective adopted by researchers associated with MEDA, truth is rather the impermanent result of intersubjective and mostly communicative practices: more a relationship than an object. An important aspect of this notion is that this kind of truth cannot decay but can only evolve, for better or worse, depending on the quality of the relationship between the participants. What in an objectivist perspective seems like a ‘decay of truth’, from the perspective of MEDA research and teaching is actually the deterioration of social relationships and communication that establish and legitimize truth – as a part of the broader process usually referred to as the social construction of reality.

Arguably, to blame digital media for the deterioration of these relationships is like blaming the car for the mistakes or the intentions of its driver. Also the tendency to blame particular groups, movements or even governments for the instrumental use of digital media hide the facts that media has always been used for manipulation. In the not too distant past, burning books was a practice recommended to preserve the purity of an allegedly objective truth.

In our opinion, we simply cannot afford to rely on these antiquated and ultimately authoritarian standpoints to address the challenges and even the risks of the digital age. Educational and research initiatives such as MEDA, should be designed to contribute to the development of a critical and constructionist approach to digital media in research and education.

 

For more information regarding MEDA’s activities, please contact Dr. Matteo Stocchetti: E-mail: matteo.stocchetti@arcada.fi

 

Links:

Rich, M. 2018. Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in Public Life. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR2300/RR2314/RAND_RR2314.pdf (External link) (Accessed on 2.2.2019)

MEDA project. https://rdi.arcada.fi/meda/en/ (External link)

 

Kultur och media / Culture and Media / Kulttuuri ja media

I en virvelvind av förändringar och ett hav av möjligheter utforskar och ger skribenter till bloggen Kultur och medier mening åt vårt dynamiska område. Läs om de senaste trenderna, händelserna och akademiska argumenten som formar och omformar vår värld på ett sätt som uppmuntrar oss att reflektera och debattera över vad som har hänt och vad som ännu inte har hänt. In a whirlwind of change, and a sea of possibilities, contributors to the Culture and Media blog explore and make meaning of our dynamic field. Read about the latest trends, events and academic arguments that are shaping and reshaping our world in ways that encourage us to reflect and debate on what has past and what has yet to come.

E-mail: kmblogg_redaktion@arcada.fi

Contact details

More by the same author

  • 09.01.2023 Corona, never forget
  • 21.12.2022 Exploring value co-creation and brand loyalty in online communities in China.
  • 08.12.2022 Humanisation of Media on Social Media
  • 02.12.2022 Podcasting and Finnish higher education
  • 22.11.2022 Visual Communication and Digital Media: Exploring the Science behind Visual Communication, and the Effects of Visual Media
More posts by Kultur och media / Culture and Media / Kulttuuri ja media

AuthorKultur och media / Culture and Media / Kulttuuri ja media

Tagsdigital media, MEDA, truth

Meet our bloggers

International Student Ambassadors

  • 24.01.2023
    Arcada – A Sustainable Study Choice in Helsinki, Finland
  • 04.01.2023
    Nursing studies at Arcada: safe and culture-friendly with high-quality teaching
  • 03.01.2023
    Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Business / Business / Liiketalous

  • 29.12.2022
    A cryptocurrency stakeholder group that can bring about change to current cryptocurrency regulation
  • 19.12.2022
    Hur utreda uppfattningar bakom förändrande köpvanor – snabbt och effektivt?
  • 28.11.2022
    Praktik som inkörsport till affärslivet och det finländska samhället

Arcada 25

  • 05.12.2022
    Lösningarna finns i samarbetet mellan människan och AI
  • 07.11.2022
    Om att stå stadigt när det blåser som mest
  • 03.10.2022
    Dags att ta tempen på jubileumsinsamlingen

Arcada Research News

  • 15.06.2022
    News from Arcada’s Laboratory for Trustworthy AI
  • 21.10.2021
    Märi-projektet framskrider och når delmål
  • 01.06.2021
    Lohkoketjuekosysteeminen tarkastelua hallinnan ja adoption näkökulmasta

The NURED Project

  • 28.02.2020
    Ending the NURED Project: final products, and final thoughts.
  • 30.09.2019
    The NURED Final Seminar – WELCOME!
  • 13.06.2019
    The NURED Roadtrip – Discussions about developing nursing curriculas across the Baltic Region

Kultur och media / Culture and Media / Kulttuuri ja media

  • 09.01.2023
    Corona, never forget
  • 21.12.2022
    Exploring value co-creation and brand loyalty in online communities in China.
  • 08.12.2022
    Humanisation of Media on Social Media

Cookies Availability statement

© 2023 Yrkeshögskolan Arcada