Scott Library
Call Number: PN 4815.2 B37 2017
Distinguish fake news from reliable journalism with this clear and concise handbook by New York Times best-selling author Bruce Bartlett. Today's media and political landscapes are littered with untrustworthy sources and the dangerous concept of "fake news." This accessible guide helps you fight this deeply troubling trend and ensure that truth is not a permanent casualty. Written by Capitol Hill veteran and author Bruce Bartlett, The Truth Matters presents actionable tips and tricks for reading critically, judging sources, using fact-checking sites, avoiding confirmation bias, identifying trustworthy experts, and more.
Scott Library
Call Number: BC 177 L4863 2016
We're surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed.
Scott Library
Call Number: JK 275 R335 2016
A stunning investigation of the history of organized misinformation in politics. In today's post-truth political landscape, there is a carefully concealed but ever-growing industry of organized misinformation that exists to create and disseminate lies in the service of political agendas.
Scott Library
Call Number: E 902 G67 2017
In The Assault on Reason, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore examines how faith in the power of reason--the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate--is in peril. Our democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry and a two-way conversation about ideas, but our public sphere has been degraded by fake news and the politics of fear, partisanship, and blind faith. Now updated to investigate the rise of Trump and post-truth politics, The Assault on Reason is a call to rebuild the vitality of American democracy by restoring the nation's information ecosystem so that we can start making good decisions again.
Scott Library
Call Number: JK 275 W52 2017
A provocative and balanced examination of our current social and political situation -- by a cutting-edge philosopher of our times. In this provocative work, philosopher Ken Wilber applies his Integral approach to explain how we arrived where we are and why there is cause for hope.
Scott Library
Call Number: PN 4815.2 K68 2010
Amid the hand-wringing over the death of "true journalism" in the Internet Age--the din of bloggers, the echo chamber of Twitter, the predominance of Wikipedia--veteran journalists and media critics Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel have written a pragmatic, serious-minded guide to navigating the twenty-first century media terrain. Yes, old authorities are being dismantled, new ones created, and the very nature of knowledge has changed. But seeking the truth remains the purpose of journalism--and the object for those who consume it. How do we discern what is reliable? How do we determine which facts (or whose opinions) to trust? Blur provides a road map, or more specifically, reveals the craft that has been used in newsrooms by the very best journalists for getting at the truth. In an age when the line between citizen and journalist is becoming increasingly unclear, Blur is a crucial guide for those who want to know what's true. Ways of Skeptical Knowing--Six Essential Tools for Interpreting the News 1. What kind of content am I encountering? 2. Is the information complete? If not, what's missing? 3. Who or what are the sources and why should I believe them? 4. What evidence is presented and how was it tested or vetted? 5. What might bean alternative explanation or understanding? 6. Am I learning what I need?
Scott Library
Call Number: DK 510.76 O88 2015
The breakup of the Soviet Union was a time of optimism around the world, but Russia today is actively involved in subversive information warfare, manipulating the media to destabilize its enemies. How did a country that embraced freedom and market reform 25 years ago end up as an autocratic police state bent once again on confrontation with America? A winner of the Orwell Prize, The Invention of Russia reaches back to the darkest days of the cold war to tell the story of Russia's stealthy and largely unchronicled counter revolution. A highly regarded Moscow correspondent for the Economist, Arkady Ostrovsky comes to this story both as a participant and a foreign correspondent. His knowledge of many of the key players allows him to explain the phenomenon of Valdimir Putin - his rise and astonishing longevity, his use of hybrid warfare and the alarming crescendo of his military interventions. One of Putin's first acts was to reverse Gorbachev's decision to end media censorship and Ostrovsky argues that the Russian media has done more to shape the fate of the country than its politicians. Putin pioneered a new form of demagogic populism --oblivious to facts and aggressively nationalistic - that has now been embraced by Donald Trump. In his new paperback preface, Ostrovsky will explore how Putin influenced the US election, the Trump Putin access, and will consider how Putin's methods - weaponizing the media and serving up fake news - came to enter American politics.
Scott Library
Call Number: PN 4888 C6 A85 2017
Ever wonder how politics turned into a take-no-prisoners blood sport? The New York Times bestselling author of Stonewalled pulls back the curtain on the shady world of opposition research and reveals the dirty tricks those in power use to influence your opinions. Behind most major political stories in the modern era, there is an agenda; an effort by opposition researchers, spin doctors, and outside interests to destroy an idea or a person. The tactic they use is the Smear. Every day, Americans are influenced by the Smear without knowing it. Paid forces cleverly shape virtually every image you cross. The trick of the Smear is that it is often based on some shred of truth, but these media-driven "hit pieces" are designed to obscure the truth. Success hinges on the Smear artist's ability to remain invisible; to make it seem as if their work is neither calculated nor scripted. It must appear to be precisely what it is not.
Scott Library
Call Number: BD 171 B18 2017
How did we find ourselves in a "post-truth" world of "alternative facts"? And can we get out of it? A Short History of Truth sets out to answer these questions by looking at the complex history of truth and falsehood. It identifies ten types of supposed truth and explains how easily each can become the midwife of falsehood. There is no species of truth that we can rely on unquestioningly, but that does not mean the truth can never be established. Attaining truth is an achievement we need to work for, and each chapter will end up with a truth we can have some confidence in. This history builds into a comprehensive and clear explanation of why truth is now so disputed by exploring 10 kinds of truth: 1. Eternal truths.2. Authoritative truths.3. Esoteric truths.4. Reasoned truths.5. Evidence-based truths.6. Creative truths.7. Relative truths. 8. Powerful truths9. Moral truths.10. Holistic truths. Baggini provides us with all we need to restore faith in the value and possibility of truth as a social enterprise. Truth-seekers need to be sceptical not cynical, autonomous not atomistic, provisional not dogmatic, open not empty, demanding not unreasonable.
This volume explores how educators can leverage student proficiency with new literacies for learning in formal and informal educational environments. It also investigates critical literacy practices that can best respond to the proliferation of new media in society. What sorts of media education are needed to deal with the rapid influx of intellectual and communication resources and how are media professionals, educational theorists, and literacy scholars helping youth understand the possibilities inherent in such an era? Offering contributions from scholars on the forefront of media literacy scholarhip, this volume provides valuable insights into the issues of literacy and the new forms of digital communication now being utilized in schools. It is required reading for media literacy scholars and students in communication, education, and media.
Media Literacies: A Critical Introduction traces the history of media literacy and grapples with the fresh challenges posed by the convergent media of the 21st century. The book provides a much-needed guide to what it means to be literate in today's media-saturated environment. Updates traditional models of media literacy by examining how digital media is utilized in today's convergent culture Explores the history and emergence of media education, the digitally mediated lives of today's youth, digital literacy, and critical citizenship Complete with sidebar commentary written by leading media researchers and educators spotlighting new research in the field and an annotated bibliography of key texts and resources
The Onion, with its unique brand of deadpan satirical humor, has become a familiar part of the American scene. The newspaper has a readership of over a million, and reaches millions more with its spin-off books and Onion News Network. The Onion has shown us that standard ways of thinking about the news have their grotesque and silly side, and this invites philosophical examination. Twenty-one philosophers were commissioned to provide witty philosophical perspectives on just what makes the Onion so truthful and insightful. Former Governor Sarah Palin reported: "I just couldn’t put it down. The Onion and Philosophy is the most exciting book I’ve read since Principia Mathematica.” Are the Onion writers truly cynical, or just cynically faking it? Does the Onion really have a serious point of view on religion? On sex? On politics? Who cares what Area Man thinks? If everyone’s so dumb, how come so many Onion readers keep on laughing at how dumb they are?
Steacie Science & Engineering Library
Call Number: Q 175.37 G736 2007
The main ways that people can corrupt science - or at least try to - are through hoax and fraud. Both may be perpetrated by laymen or scientists and also through ideological and political corruption; the intent in both instances is to mislead the public. This sequel to Grant's 'Discarded Science - Ideas That Seemed Good at the Time' - introduces the world of fraud and deception rather than the gentler realms of mistake and ignorance - a serious and timely theme. For everyone interested in the history of scientific thinking and the evolution of ideas and theories.
Steacie Science & Engineering Library
Call Number: Q 175.5 L4745 2017
The Butter-Up and Undercut. The Certain Uncertainty. The Straight-Up Fabrication. Dave Levitan dismantles all of these deceptive arguments, and many more, in this probing and hilarious examination of the ways our elected officials attack scientific findings that conflict with their political agendas. The next time you hear a politician say, "Well, I'm not a scientist, but...," you'll be ready.
Steacie Science & Engineering Library
Call Number: R 730 H597 2005
This interesting book is a compilation of recent stories from a regular column called “Science Monitor” in The Straits Times, Singapore's main English daily. They focus on exposing health and beauty fads and fallacies like purported breast enlargement methods, baldness treatment and skin renewal therapies which have begun plaguing consumers in Asia. Written by a well-known columnist, Andy Ho, PhD, this book provides a handy review of what cutting-edge research says about these scams. Readers can apply these valuable insights, which the author has backed up by poring over medical books and journals and by talking to the best physicians and scientists, and then decide for themselves if they want to part with their money, or worse, gamble with their health.
Scott Library
Call Number: PN 4888 F35 J36 2017
Our society faces international challenges from cyber attacks and dissemination of fake news with a goal to destabilize our society. Fake news can be used as a weapon with destructive effects as powerful as any military attack. Fake news can spread as fast as a wildfire carried on the winds of social media. Students and all citizens need to be prepared and informed of ways to quickly understand and distinguish real and fake news. Preventing the potential destructive effects of fake news is the purpose of this book. The focus is upon providing a resource for educators to develop "news literacy" skills of students in objectively evaluating the news.
Scott Library
Call Number: PN 4888 F35 M36 2018
Fake News: Falsehood, fabrication and fantasy in journalism examines the causes and consequences of the 'fake news' phenomenon now sweeping the world's media and political debates. Drawing on three decades of research and writing on journalism and news media, leading scholar Brian McNair engages with the fake news phenomenon in accessible, insightful language designed to bring clarity and context to a complex and fast-moving debate. McNair presents fake news not as a cultural issue in isolation but rather as arising from, and contributing to, significant political and social trends in twenty-first century societies. Chapters identify the factors which have laid the groundwork for fake news' explosive appearance at this moment in our globalised public sphere. These include the rise of relativism and the crisis of objectivity, the role of digital media platforms in the production and consumption of news, and the growing drive to produce online content which attracts users and generates revenue. The book also considers the decline of trust in journalism, and the how the traditional left critique of 'dominant ideology' and 'ruling elites' in media has been appropriated by the alt-right, nationalists and populists all over the world. This book rejects the left-right division in discussion of what is and is not 'fake news'. Rather, it aims to provide students, teachers, journalists and general readers with the tools necessary to navigate the digital journalism landscape in the era of President Donald Trump, and to filter out the 'fact' from the 'fake' in their news.
Scott Library
Call Number: P 91.27 M57 2018
Lies and inaccurate information are as old as humanity, but never before have they been so easy to spread. Each moment of every day, the Internet and broadcast media purvey misinformation, either deliberately or accidentally, to a mass audience on subjects ranging from politics to consumer goods to science and medicine, among many others. Because misinformation now has the potential to affect behavior on a massive scale, it is urgently important to understand how it works and what can be done to mitigate its harmful effects. Misinformation and Mass Audiences brings together evidence and ideas from communication research, public health, psychology, political science, environmental studies, and information science to investigate what constitutes misinformation, how it spreads, and how best to counter it. The expert contributors cover such topics as whether and to what extent audiences consciously notice misinformation, the possibilities for audience deception, the ethics of satire in journalism and public affairs programming, the diffusion of rumors, the role of Internet search behavior, and the evolving efforts to counteract misinformation, such as fact-checking programs. The first comprehensive social science volume exploring the prevalence and consequences of, and remedies for, misinformation as a mass communication phenomenon, Misinformation and Mass Audiences will be a crucial resource for students and faculty researching misinformation, policymakers grappling with questions of regulation and prevention, and anyone concerned about this troubling, yet perhaps unavoidable, dimension of current media systems.
Steacie Science & Engineering Library
Call Number: QA 99 S45 2010
From the author of Zero, comes this "admirable salvo against quantitative bamboozlement by the media and the government" (The Boston Globe) In Zero, Charles Seife presented readers with a thrilling account of the strangest number known to humankind. Now he shows readers how the power of skewed metrics-or "proofiness"- is being used to alter perception in both amusing and dangerous ways. Proofiness is behind such bizarre stories as a mathematical formula for the perfect butt and sprinters who can run faster than the speed of sound. But proofiness also has a dark side: bogus mathematical formulas used to undermine our democracy-subverting our justice system, fixing elections, and swaying public opinion with lies. By doing the real math, Seife elegantly and good-humoredly scrutinizes our growing obsession with metrics while exposing those who misuse them.
Media Literacy Education in Action brings together the field's leading scholars and advocates to present a snapshot of the theoretical and conceptual development of media literacy education--what has influenced it, current trends, and ideas about its future. Featuring a mix of perspectives, it explores the divergent ways in which media literacy is connected to educational communities and academic areas in both local and global contexts. The volume is structured around seven themes: * Media Literacy: Past and Present * Digital Media and Learning * Global Perspectives * Public Spaces * Civic Activism * Policy and Digital Citizenship * Future Connections Compelling, well-organized, and authoritative, this one-stop resource for understanding more about media literacy education across disciplines, cultures, and divides offers the fresh outlook that is needed at this point in time. Globally, as more and more states and countries call for media literacy education more explicitly in their curriculum guidelines, educators are being required to teach media literacy in both elementary and secondary education contexts.
A useful guide to understanding the structure and meaning of media and its messages.
