Native and Indigenous Scholars and Journalists in the ‘Post-Truth’ Communications Environment

Abstract

When the Oxford Dictionaries chose the term “post-truth” as its new “word of the year” in 2016, it was actually acknowledging a concept that has long been recognized as a threat to public discourse and free speech in mass media. The publishers of this internationally recognized dictionary define the term as “an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’.” Since the very idea of public discourse relies so directly upon its adherents’ commitment to factual evidence in pursuit of the truth, the idea that individuals involved in public debates should be exempt from that standard because they advocate for a certain policy would seem to disqualify those individuals from serious policy debates. Scholars and journalists seem to share that value of truthfulness in their evidence even when they disagree among themselves in policy debates. Yet the post-truth approach is now common in political debates and news commentary, especially among right-wing politicos.

Use of false evidence to support policy endeavors is nothing new, but the normalization of such a questionable practice in the highest levels of government would seem to undermine the very process of democratic policy-making. While truth may be in the eye of the beholder, public policy demands a measured standard of accuracy in order to protect what some call the “public good” from exploitive forces that have always threatened democratic society. The fact that even writing this analysis can now be considered by some as a political position demonstrates the dynamic power the term “post-truth” connotes in confounding the rational debate of public policy. Perhaps now is the time for scholars to review the history of the liberal, left-wing and conservative, right wing viewpoints as the public understands those political stances. For that popular culture review, the readers of this paper area encouraged to read about the basis for liberal and conservative agendas in public policy.