Beyond Fake News : Finding the Truth in a World of Misinformation

The world is swimming in misinformation. Conflicting messages bombard us every day with news on everything from politics and world events to investments and alternative health. The daily paper, nightly news, websites, and social media each compete for our attention and each often insist on a different version of the facts. Inevitably, we have questions: * Who is telling the truth? * How would we know? * How did we get here? * What can we do? Beyond Fake News answers these and other queries. It offers a technological and market-based explanation for how our informational environment became so polluted. It shows how purveyors of news often have incentives to mislead us, and how consumers of information often have incentives to be misled. And it chronicles how, as technology improves and the regulatory burdens drop, our information-scape becomes ever more littered with misinformation. __Beyond Fake News__ argues that even when we really want the truth, our minds are built in such a way so as to be incapable of grasping many facts, and blind spots mar our view of the world. But we can do better, both as individuals and as a society. As individuals, we can improve the accuracy of our understanding of the world by knowing who to trust and recognizing our limitations. And as a society, we can take important steps to reduce the quantity and effects of misinformation. Beyond Fake News offers a technological and market-based explanation for how our informational environment becomes polluted as technology improves and regulatory burdens drop. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Endorsement Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 19 Part I The Misinformation Market 22 Chapter 1 Informational Litter 24 Fountains of Misinformation 26 The Catalyst of Electronic Media 34 Cheap and Easy 40 Chapter 2 It’s the Economy, Stupid: The Supply Side of the Misinformation Market 45 Follow the Money 46 A Pyramid of Strategies 53 Chapter 3 Ignorance is Bliss: The Demand Side of the Misinformation Market 61 What You Really, Really Want1 61 How Consumer Preferences Shape the News 70 Part II Why We Fall for Misinformation 80 Chapter 4 Big and Little Questions 82 The Distinction 82 Prehistoric Minds 86 How Big Questions Can Get Us into Trouble 90 Chapter 5 Intellectual Blind Spots 101 Hard-Wired for Success (But Only with Some Things) 101 The Citizens of Lake Wobegon: Errors of Bias 106 Rolling the Dice: Errors of Quality 114 Part III How We Can Do Better 124 Chapter 6 Building a Bridge 126 How the Academy Learned to Tackle Big Questions 126 Sorting the Signal from the Noise: Can We Trust Our Bridges?3 130 Which News Is Fake? 135 Chapter 7 Trusting Others 146 When Trust Goes Wrong 147 What Makes an Expert? 156 Knowing Who to Trust 161 Chapter 8 Finding the Truth 169 Giving Up on Truth 169 Intellectual Virtues 174 The Rules of Engagement 177 Chapter 9 Cleaning Up 185 Why Bother? 185 What Individuals Can Do 187 What Society Can Do 193 Notes 204 Annotated Bibliography 219 Works Cited 224 Index 243 fake news,misinformation,disinformation,news outlets,electronic media,truth,manipulation,bias "The world is swimming in misinformation. Conflicting messages bombard us every day with news on everything from politics and world events to investments and alternative health. The daily paper, nightly news, websites, and social media each compete for our attention and each often insist on a different version of the facts. Inevitably, we have questions: Who is telling the truth? How would we know? How did we get here? What can we do? Beyond Fake News answers these and other queries. It offers a technological and market-based explanation for how our informational environment became so polluted. It shows how purveyors of news often have incentives to mislead us, and how consumers of information often have incentives to be misled. And it chronicles how, as technology improves and the regulatory burdens drop, our information-scape becomes ever more littered with misinformation. Beyond Fake News argues that even when we really want the truth, our minds are built in such a way so as to be incapable of grasping many facts and blind spots mar our view of the world. But we can do better, both as individuals and as a society. As individuals, we can improve the accuracy of our understanding of the world by knowing who to trust and recognizing our limitations. And as a society, we can take important steps to reduce the quantity and effects of misinformation."-- Provided by publisher