The stratagems of post-truth

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2018-1317

Keywords:

Post-Truth, Fake News, Rhetoric, Discourse, Effects of Meaning, Europe, Postmodernity, Realism, Truth

Abstract

The concept of post-truth has become commonplace, a buzzword that is used to describe the alleged overcoming of a previous state in which, apparently, truth was the norm, and to legitimize certain procedures that have much more to do with the sphere of power (including discursive power) than with the sphere of truth. This article analyses the foundations and ramifications of the concept of post-truth, by linking it with such notions as “(objective) facts”, the supposed decline of Europe, information in the digital environment and postmodernity. Departing from the aporetic nature of the dominant discourse around post-truth, its use is examined as a rhetorical stratagem that has a strong ideological baggage and is linked to conservative and regressive ways of thinking, in the theoretical and social as well as political and cultural realms. As a way of conclusion, the article proposes a dialectical approach to the notion of post-truth, that is, an approach that takes into account its rhetorical, political, material and ideological dimensions.

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Author Biography

Pilar Carrera, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Pilar Carrera holds a MA degree in Communication from the University of the Basque Country where she obtained her PhD with a thesis on Walter Benjamin, after completing her doctoral studies at L'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.

She is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), where she teaches Media Theory and Documentary Theory. She is Director of the Master Program in Transmedia Documentary and Reportage, in collaboration with Radio-Televisión Española, and the MA in News Agency Journalism, in collaboration with EFE. Former Vice Dean of Journalism, and current Vice-President of Communication and Culture at UC3M.

She has been a visiting researcher at the London School of Economics, Yale University and Harvard University.

Author of numerous articles published in indexed journals and books from publishers indexed in the first tertile of the SPI ranking. Her publications include: Andrei Tarkovski. La imagen total (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2008), Aki Kaurismäki (Cátedra, 2012), Nosotros y los medios. Prolegómenos para una teoría de la comunicación (Biblioteca Nueva, 2016), El irresistible encanto de la interioridad (Biblioteca Nueva, 2016), Las moradas de Walter Benjamin (Biblioteca Nueva, 2017) and Michael Cimino (Cátedra, 2018).

Co-author of the following reports on journalism and digital society: Periodismo en la era de Internet (Ariel, 2008), Periodismo digital en tiempos de crisis (Ariel, 2009), El periodista en la encrucijada (Ariel, 2012) and the book of poetry and photography Al otro lado del espejo (Abada, 2017), in collaboration with Jenaro Talens, with whom she has also edited, translated, and introduced the volume Walter Benjamin. Mediaciones (Biblioteca Nueva, 2017) and co-written El relato documental. Efecto de sentido y modos de recepción (Cátedra, 2018).

Research lines: Communication theory, film and documentary theory, digital journalism and transmedia narratives. Member of national and international research groups: PASEET (UC3M), TECMERIN (UC3M), Équipe Cinéma & Audiovisuel (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne).

She has directed research projects on journalism, social networks, digital culture and transmedia narratives, and participated as a researcher in several projects. She has directed six doctoral theses on issues related to journalism, design, social networks, photography, film distribution and media and gender. Member of the Editorial Committee (Associate Editor) of Communication & Society (University of Navarra) and EU-topias (Global Studies Institute, Université de Genève).

She has reviewed articles for international journals of Communication situated in the first quartile of the JCR. She has directed e-learning innovation projects as the bilingual (Spanish-English) MOOC “Documentary. New trends, new formats” for the edX platform.

References

Brecht, B. (1970): Sur le réalisme. Paris: L’Arche

Carrera, P. (2016a) El irresistible encanto de la interioridad. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva.

Carrera, P. (2016b) Nosotros y los medios. Prolegómenos para una teoría de la comunicación. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva.

Carrera, P. (2017) “La sociedad sin espectáculo”, EU-topias. A Journal on Interculturality, Communication, and European Studies, 13, pp. 37-46.

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Lyotard, J. F. (2012) La posmodernidad (Explicada a los niños). Barcelona: Gedisa.

McIntyre, L. (2018), Post-Truth, Massachusetts: MIT Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11483.001.0001

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Todorov, T. (2008), La peur des barbares. Au-delà du choc des civilisations. Paris: Robert Laffont.

Wilde, O. (2013), La decadencia de la mentira. Madrid: Siruela.

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Published

2018-11-29

How to Cite

Carrera, P. . (2018). The stratagems of post-truth. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, (73), 1469–1481. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2018-1317

Issue

No. 73 (2018)

Section

Miscellaneous
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Europe PMC