TY - JOUR
T1 - Remedying disinformation and fake news? The cultural frameworks of fake news crisis responses and solution-seeking
AU - COVER, Rob
AU - HAW, Ashleigh
AU - THOMPSON, Jay Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - For the past half-decade, disinformation and misinformation have been discussed in the public sphere as the construct ‘fake news’, through a discourse of crisis and, increasingly, in terms of responses, remedies, solutions, interventions and preventative affordances. This article explores the emergence of the crisis–remedy discourse of disinformation, arguing that responsiveness is grounded in a solutionism that positions ‘fake news’ as crisis. Drawing on select examples, we use a cultural approach to analyse a range of remedies put forward in public sphere, policy and scholarly discourse. We identify three frameworks of the crisis–remedy discourse: alarmism, regulation/eradication, and adaptation. The article presents examples of five remedial approaches and theorises their alignment with different crisis frameworks. By thinking through the cultural formation of different remedies, we aim to draw out cultural studies’ utility in future efforts to determine the efficacy and ethics of current and future solutions to disinformation.
AB - For the past half-decade, disinformation and misinformation have been discussed in the public sphere as the construct ‘fake news’, through a discourse of crisis and, increasingly, in terms of responses, remedies, solutions, interventions and preventative affordances. This article explores the emergence of the crisis–remedy discourse of disinformation, arguing that responsiveness is grounded in a solutionism that positions ‘fake news’ as crisis. Drawing on select examples, we use a cultural approach to analyse a range of remedies put forward in public sphere, policy and scholarly discourse. We identify three frameworks of the crisis–remedy discourse: alarmism, regulation/eradication, and adaptation. The article presents examples of five remedial approaches and theorises their alignment with different crisis frameworks. By thinking through the cultural formation of different remedies, we aim to draw out cultural studies’ utility in future efforts to determine the efficacy and ethics of current and future solutions to disinformation.
KW - crisis
KW - cultural studies
KW - disinformation
KW - fact-checking
KW - fake news
KW - policy
KW - solution-seeking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142162562&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/13678779221136881
DO - 10.1177/13678779221136881
M3 - Article
SN - 1367-8779
VL - 26
SP - 216
EP - 233
JO - International Journal of Cultural Studies
JF - International Journal of Cultural Studies
IS - 2
ER -