The Disinformation Age

W. Lance Bennett is Professor of Political Science and Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication at the University of Washington. The focus of his work is how communication affects democratic life. He has held visiting professorships at Harvard, Uppsala, Stockholm, and Free University Berlin. In addition to honorary doctorates from Uppsala and Bern, he has received career achievement awards from the American Political Science Association, the International Communication Association, and the US National Communication Association. His publications include The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics (with Alexandra Segerberg, Cambridge, 2013). Steven Livingston is Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs with appointments in the School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) and the Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA) at George Washington University. He is also the founding director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics (IDDP). He has held visiting professorships and fellowships at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, the Free University in Berlin, Canterbury University in New Zealand, St. Galen University in Switzerland, and the Brookings Institution.

• Preface. The origins and political importance of disinformation; Author Biographies; Part I. Disinformation in Political and Historical Context: 1. A brief history of the disinformation age: information wars and the decline of institutional authority W. Lance Bennett and Steven Livingston; Part II. The Current Situation: 2. A political economy of the origins of asymmetric propaganda in American media Yochai Benkler; 3. The flooded zone: how we became more vulnerable to disinformation in the digital era Paul Starr; Part III. Historical Roots of Disinformation: 4. How American businessmen made us believe that free enterprise was indivisible from American democracy: the National association of manufacturers' propaganda campaign 1935–1940 Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway and Charlie Tyson; 5. 'Since we are greatly outnumbered': why and how the Koch network uses disinformation to thwart democracy Nancy MacLean; Part IV. The Policy Problem: 6. How digital disinformation turned dangerous Dave Karpf; 7. Policy lessons from five historical patterns in information manipulation Heidi Tworek; 8. Why it is so difficult to regulate disinformation online Ben Epstein; Part V. The Role of Public Broadcasting: 9. US public broadcasting: a bulwark against disinformation? Patricia Aufderheide; 10. The public media option: confronting policy failure in an age of misinformation Victor Pickard; Part VI. Conclusion: Defending Democracy in the Disinformation Age: 11. The coordinated attack on authoritative institutions: defending democracy in the disinformation age Steven Livingston and W. Lance Bennett.

'This is a hard-hitting book that is richly layered theoretically. It adds much to our understanding of disinformation in democracy while also serving as proof of the necessity of making research on disinformation an area of study across disciplines. The intellectually diverse and distinguished contributors have produced a must-read volume for all interested in disinformation and anyone interested in the future of democracy.' Bruce Bimber, University of California, Santa Barbara