If you care for freedoms of thought, speech, and association, here are ways to crush fake news, disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories, "pseudo-populism," and propaganda. You'll find ideas to blunt the manufactured outrage that polarizes families, friends, and neighbors. You are invited to help counter that public discourse.

Creative conversation to bridge new understandings for communication is the mission of The Communication Institute. More than 40 years ago, The Institute's founder Rodney G. Miller published the first broad-based journal of communication to encourage interaction among educators and practitioners in Australia. Today's efforts sustain this  commitment to foster inquiry across a broad range of disciplines and application.

The explosion of research into the language and networks for public communication during the last six years or so offers new insights. Some helpful suggestions for dealing with propaganda have emerged, suggesting for example when "prebunking" may blunt conspiracies (Lewandowsky and Cook). 

More recently, Jon Roozenbeek, Eileen Culloty, and Jane Suiter review evidence for the effectiveness of four categories of individual intervention to counter misinformation: boosting (psychological inoculation, critical thinking, and media/information literacy); nudging (accuracy primes and social norm nudges); debunking (fact-checking); and automatic content labeling.

Key areas still require detailed exploration, as the editors of The Sage Handbook of Propaganda indicate, including "The effects of propaganda, particularly on democratic and authoritarian systems and on public opinion, over time."

Through brief commentaries, ongoing publications, and notable references, The Institute fosters inquiry for the development of new ways to strengthen conversations advancing democracy. Current priorities for cooperative initiatives include

* New accountabilities for public figures and the media

* "Constructive journalism" education and practice

* Pragmatics in the theory of communication.

If you would like to discuss these or additional thoughts, please do get in touch via the website's contact form.

References:

Paul Baines, Nicholas O'Shaughnessy, and Nancy Snow (Eds.) (2020), The Sage Handbook of Propaganda, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, p. xxxvii

Jacques Ellul (1965), Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, New York: Knopf, p. 6 

Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook (2020), The Conspiracy Theory Handbook, p. 8. Available at http://sks.to/conspiracy, also at: 

https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ConspiracyTheoryHandbook.pdf 

Jon Roozenbeek, Eileen Culloty, and Jane Suiter  (2022), "Countering Misinformation: Evidence, Knowledge Gaps, and Implications of Current Interventions," European Psychologist, 28(3), pp.189-205, published online July 14, 2023 at: 

https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/10.1027/1016-9040/a000492