By Hannah, Jess & Becca

Post-Truth

What Is Post Truth?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Post-Truth is defined  as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion an personal belief’.

In other words, post-truth is when institutions report false or incorrect claims in order to persuade public opinion and increase support. This means that audiences are now beginning to question media institutions’ reliability.

Example One Of Post-Truth:

In June 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU.

As part of the Leave Campaign, buses were used to promote their main point that leaving the EU would give £350 million to the NHS every week. This largely influenced the referendum vote.

However, on the day the vote was announced, Nigel Farage was interviewed on Good Morning Britain and stated that this was a false claim/mistake and could not be achieved.

Audiences were outraged and other media institutions reported on this.

Example Two Of Post-Truth:

Example Two Of Post-Truth (Continued):

Post-truth has existed in India for a long period of time.

This article uncovers that it has been more significant in the West for longer than we believed. This is before it was labelled post-truth.

The example this article outlines is the Iraq War, where the UK and US led everyone to believe they were invading on a terrorism threat but it is thought they invaded for their oil resources.

How Have Audiences Responded To Post-Truth?

When audiences have discovered institutions are engaging with post-truth (e.g. NHS Leave Campaign Bus), some express their concerns through protests and movements (online or offline) in the hope of preventing the spread of false content.

When it is not fully certain whether institutions are engaging with post-truth, audiences begin to question the validity of news articles and may become sceptical of news publications.

Influential audience members may become conflicted due to the development of post-truth as they are unable to differentiate real news from the fake.

As a result, audiences no longer trust institutions and brand capital decreases.