Index

• Affective tipping point, 51, 158–159
• Ailes, Roger, 69–70
• Alternative facts
  • authoritarian politics and, 116
  • Kellyanne Conway and, 6, 145, 152
  • definitions of, 6, 173
• Alt-right, 1, 109, 148–150
• American Petroleum Institute (API), 30–33, 85
• Arendt, Hannah, 114
• Asch, Solomon, 39–40, 60, 62
• Authoritarian politics, 4, 113–114, 116–117, 126

• Backfire effect, 44, 48–51, 55, 57, 158–159, 173. See also Motivated reasoning
• Bedley, Scott, 120–121, 163
• Berube, Michael, 143–144
• Bias. See Cognitive bias; Confirmation bias; Information bias; Left-wing bias; Partisan news coverage; Right-wing bias
• Binkowski, Brooke, 119
• Boykoff, Maxwell, and Jules Boykoff, 83–84
• Brain activity, 47–48, 58
• Breitbart News Network, 97, 108, 148
• Brexit vote, 1–2, 5, 14, 15
• Broadcast media
  • cable news networks, 66–67, 91–92
  • climate change and, 70, 83–85, 157–158
  • economic profits of, 64–65
  • false equivalence and, 92
  • Iran hostage crisis, 65–66, 67
  • media fragmentation, 75–85, 94–95, 153
  • news silos and, 60–62
  • as prestige press, 64–65
  • shifts in, 91–92
• Bush, George W., 5, 48–50, 79, 113–114, 153

• Cable news networks, 66–67, 91–92. See also CNN (Cable News Network)
• Camerota, Alisyn, 3–4
• Cason, James, 160–161
• Cernovich, Mike, 148–150
• Challenger disaster, 169–170
• Cheney, Lynne, 127
• Clickbait, 22, 105, 109
• Climate change
  • George W. Bush and, 79
  • corporate-funded science denial of, 22, 25, 27–33, 79
  • economic interests and, 22, 109
  • fake news and, 70
  • Heartland Institute and, 27–29
  • ID theory and, 139–140
  • manufactured doubt and, 22, 25, 27–33, 79–82
  • media coverage, 70, 83–85, 157–158
  • partisan politics and, 10–11, 70, 160–161
  • postmodernism and, 143–145
  • science denial and, 10–11, 14, 20–21, 27–33
  • scientific consensus on, 29–30, 34, 79–81, 84
  • skepticism and, 28, 70
  • think tanks and, 27–33, 135, 136
  • tobacco industry support for, 25, 29, 170
  • traditional media and, 70, 83–85, 157–158
• Clinton, Hillary, 2, 92, 106–107, 109, 149. See also 2016 presidential campaign
• Clinton, William J. (Bill), 68, 109, 149
• CNN (Cable News Network)
  • emergence of, 66–67
  • partisanship of, 69, 70, 73, 75, 91–92
  • Trump coverage, 3–4, 91–92, 111–112
  • 2016 presidential election and, 91–92
• Cognitive bias
  • behavioral economics and, 43–44
  • brain activity and, 55–56
  • counternarratives and, 82, 153
  • decision making and, 43–58
  • interactive group effect, 59–62
  • negativity bias, 57–58
  • overconfidence bias, 51–55
  • partisan politics and, 57–58
  • post-truth and, 58–62
  • repetition effect, 44
  • scientific reasoning and, 18–19
  • self-affirmation and, 162
  • self-deception and, 53–55
  • social psychology and, 36–43
  • source amnesia, 44
• Cognitive dissonance
  • definitions of, 173
  • doomsday cult, 37–38
  • experimental work on, 36–38
  • interactive group effect, 59
  • irrationality and, 14, 38–42, 45
  • self-value and, 37
  • social pressure and, 37–40
• Colbert, Stephen, 5
• Confirmation bias
  • affective tipping point and, 51, 158–159
  • corrective evidence and, 51, 158–159
  • definition of, 173
  • dissonance reduction and, 44–45
  • information silo and, 63
  • interactive group effect, 59–62
  • logic puzzle study, 59–60
  • motivated reasoning vs., 45–46
  • neural level evidence of, 47–48
  • self-affirmation and, 162
  • social media and, 93–94
• Conway, Erik, 22, 24–25, 27, 136
• Conway, Kellyanne, 6, 145, 147, 149–150, 152
• Corporate interests, 22–25, 27–33
• Counternarratives
  • cognitive bias and, 82, 153
  • falsehoods and, 82, 153, 155–156
  • motivated reasoning and, 82, 153
• Critical thinking, 56–57, 59–60, 104, 120–121, 161, 163
• Cronkite, Walter, 64, 150
• Cruz, Ted, 33

• Death of Expertise, The (Nichols), 68
• Dennett, Daniel, 147–148
• Derrida, Jacques, 124, 131, 135
• DeSteno, David, 46–47
• Discovering the News (Schudson), 98–99
• Doomsday Cult, The (Festinger), 37–38
• Doubt, 10–11, 22–27
• Dunning, David, 44, 51–53, 55–58
• Dunning–Kruger effect, 44, 51–53, 55–58, 173

• Elections. See 2016 presidential campaign
• Elliot, George, 154–155
• Evolution, 136–140, 148
• ExxonMobil, 27–28, 30

• Facebook, 93, 94–95, 108, 109, 118–119
• Fact-checking, 33–34, 84–85, 119
• “Fact-Free Science” (Warner), 134–135, 136
• Fake news
  • clickbait, 22, 105, 109
  • climate change and, 70
  • as comedy or satire, 73–75, 106
  • definitions of, 105, 173
  • as disinformation, 105–108, 109–110, 112
  • fact-checking and, 117–121
  • false equivalence and, 117–118
  • financial incentives, 105, 106, 107
  • Fox News and, 70, 71–73
  • history of, 97–105
  • left-wing bias and, 117
  • murder rate decline, 2–4, 10
  • partisan politics and, 71–72, 74, 105, 106, 108–109
  • pizzagate, 109, 149
  • postmodernism and, 148–150
  • post-truth and, 121–122
  • as propaganda, 87, 91, 112–115, 116–117
  • right-wing bias and, 108
  • 2016 presidential election and, 58, 105–111
• False equivalence
  • definition of, 173
  • ideological frameworks and, 62
  • news media and, 60–62, 77, 92, 157, 163
  • post-truth and, 10–11
• Falsehood
  • counternarratives and, 82, 153, 155–156
  • definition of, 7–8
  • fact-checking, 33–34, 84–85, 119
  • fighting back against, 155–156
  • lie vs. falsehood, 8
  • willfull ignorance and, 7–8, 108, 155–156
• Fascism, 116–117, 126
• FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), 2, 4, 10, 108, 167
• Fessler, Daniel, 57–58
• Festinger, Leon, 36–38, 62
• Feynman, Richard, 170
• Financial incentives
  • clickbait, 22, 105, 109
  • corporate-funded science denial and, 85
  • fake news, 105, 106–107
  • media and, 82–83
  • public relations and, 23, 24–25, 29, 63, 170
  • right-wing bias and, 137–138
  • smoking debate, 22–25
• Foucault, Michel, 124, 126, 141
• Fox News
  • fair and balanced coverage of, 75–76, 81
  • fake news and, 70, 71–73
  • partisanship of, 69, 70
  • 2016 presidential election and, 91–92
• Fragmentation, 94, 153, 155
• Frankfurt, Harry, 10

• George C. Marshall Institute, 29
• Gibbs, Nancy, 152
• Gingrich, Newt, 2–4, 10
• Global warming. See Climate change
• Goebbels, Joseph, 114
• Google, 95, 106, 111, 118, 119
• Gross, Paul, 129–130, 132
• Group thinking, interactive group effect, 59–62
• Gun control, 70

• Hannity, Sean, 71–72, 74
• Hansen, James, 79–81
• Harris, Cameron, 107–108
• Heartland Institute, 27–29
• Higher Superstition (Gross and Levitt), 129–130, 132
• Hill, John, 22–23
• Holocaust, the, 111, 116
• How Propaganda Works (Stanley), 112–115, 116–117

• Ideological frameworks
  • backfire effect and, 50
  • corrective evidence and, 50–51
  • doubt and, 9–10
  • expertise and, 68, 84–85
  • false equivalence and, 62
  • ideological conformity, 62
  • interactive group effect and, 59–62
  • postmodernism and, 116–117, 126, 126–128
  • post-truth and, 11–13
  • propaganda and, 113
  • right-wing postmodernists, 133–148
  • science denial and, 18–19, 21
  • smoking debate and, 22
  • social constructivism, 128–130, 140–143
  • think tanks and, 135, 136–137
• ID (Intelligent Design) theory, 135, 136–137, 139–140, 148
• Information bias, 83–84, 153
• Information silo, 43, 60–62, 63, 94–97
• Infotopia (Sunstein), 59
• Inhofe, James, 33, 55, 135
• Interactive group effect, 59–62
• Iran hostage crisis, 65–66, 67

• Johnson, Phillip, 137–139

• Kahneman, Daniel, 43–44, 51
• Kerry, John, 153–155
• Keynes, John Maynard, 17
• Koch, Charles, and David Koch, 27–28
• Koppel, Ted, 65, 66, 67, 70–72
• Kruger, Justin, 44, 51–53, 55–58
• Kuklinski, James, 159

• Latour, Bruno, 140–143
• Latsabidze, Beqa, 105–106
• Left-wing bias, 6, 73–77, 117, 123, 129–130, 134–135, 143–148. See also Partisan politics; Post-modernism
• Levitin, Daniel J., 120
• Levitt, Norman, 129–130, 132
• Lies. See Falsehood
• Limbaugh, Rush, 68–69
• Lynch, Michael, 123–124
• Lyotard, Jean-Francois, 124, 131, 135

• Manjoo, Farhad, 153–154, 153–154
• Marche, Stephen, 73–74
• Marcus, Ruth, 165–166, 167–169
• Martin, Dorothy, 38
• Mbeki, Thabo, 10
• Merchants of Doubt (Oreskes and Conway), 22, 24–25, 27, 136
• Misbehaving (Thaler), 43–44
• Mooney, Chris, 134–136, 137
• Moral reasoning, 46–47
• Motivated reasoning
  • affective content and, 47–48
  • affective tipping point, 51, 158–159, 159
  • backfire effect, 44, 48–51, 55, 57, 158–159, 173
  • brain function and, 47–48
  • confirmation bias vs., 45–46
  • corrective evidence and, 50–51, 51, 158–159
  • counternarratives and, 82, 153
  • definitions of, 45, 173
  • Dunning–Kruger effect, 44, 51–53, 55–58, 173
  • emotional context and, 47–48
  • partisan politics and, 158–159
  • social media and, 93–94
  • team affiliation and, 46–47
• Moynihan, Patrick, 163
• MSNBC, 69, 71, 91–92
• Murder rate decline, 2–4, 9

• New York Times
  • balanced reporting and, 83–84, 97, 103
  • climate change and, 28, 83–84, 141–142
  • fake news and, 105–106, 107–108, 165
  • as prestige press, 63–64, 103
  • Donald Trump and, 8, 165
• Nichols, Tom, 68
• Nietzsche, Friedrich, 125
• Nunes, Devin, 167
• Nyhan, Brendan, 48–51, 158–159, 162

• Objectivity. See also Postmodernism; Science denial
  • concept of truth and, 6–7, 127
  • definition of, 81
  • partisan news coverage and, 75–77, 82, 99–100, 103–104
  • partisan politics and, 75–76, 77–85, 97–98
  • perspectivism, 125–126
  • postmodernism and, 6, 125–126, 127, 133–134
  • post-truth and, 4–5
  • print media and, 101–103
  • radical skepticism, 125–126
  • science denial and, 77–85, 128–130
  • traditional media and, 103–104
• On Bullshit (Frankfurt), 9
• “Opinions and Social Pressure” (Asch), 39–40, 60
• Oreskes, Naomi, 22, 24–25, 27
• Orwell, George, 1, 4, 35, 63, 123, 151

• Pakistan nuclear story, 111
• Papazoglou, Alexis, 125–126
• Partisan news coverage. See also Fake news; Partisan politics
  • arguments against, 70–72
  • balanced reporting and, 83–84
  • cable news networks and, 75
  • climate change and, 10–11, 70, 160–161
  • commercial success of, 69–71
  • denial discourse and, 84
  • economic potential of, 71
  • fact-checking and, 84–85
  • fair and balanced reporting and, 75–76, 79–82, 83–85
  • fake news and, 71–72, 74
  • false equivalence and, 60–62, 77, 92, 157, 163
  • manufactured doubt and, 79–82
  • news media and, 66–75
  • objectivity and, 75–77, 82, 99–100, 103–104
  • talk radio, 68–69
• Partisan politics. See also Fake news; Partisan news coverage
  • affective tipping point and, 51, 158–159
  • backfire effect and, 48–51, 50
  • brain function and, 58
  • climate change and, 70
  • cognitive bias and, 57–58
  • corrective evidence and, 50–51
  • expertise and, 68, 84–85
  • fake news and, 105, 105, 106, 108–109
  • false equivalence and, 60–62, 77, 92, 157, 163
  • gullibility and, 58
  • ideological conformity and, 62
  • interactive group effect and, 59–62
  • murder rate decline, 2–4, 10
  • negativity bias, 57–58
  • news media and, 60–62, 77, 92, 157, 163
  • objectivity and, 75–76, 77–85, 97–98
  • political identity and, 58
  • postmodernism and, 141–148
  • post-truth and, 158–159
  • right-wing postmodernists, 133–148
  • science denial and, 33–34, 133–148
  • self-affirmation and, 162
  • talk radio and, 68–69
  • think tanks and, 135, 136–137
  • willfull ignorance and, 7–8, 108, 155–156
• Peer pressure, 37–40
• Pennock, Robert, 137–139, 148
• Pizzagate, 109, 149
• Polarization, 94
• Postmodern Condition, The (Lyotard), 124, 131, 135
• Postmodernism. See also Objectivity
  • authoritarian politics and, 126
  • climate change and, 143–145
  • deconstruction, 124–125, 138
  • definitions of, 123–127, 173
  • evolution and, 136–140, 148
  • fake news and, 148–150
  • fascism and, 116–117, 126
  • ideological frameworks and, 116–117, 126, 126–128
  • ID theory and, 139–140
  • left-wing postmodernism, 129–130, 134–135, 136, 143–148
  • objectivity and, 6, 125–126, 127, 133–134
  • partisan politics and, 141–148
  • post-truth and, 123, 126–127, 147–148, 148–150
  • right-wing postmodernists, 6, 126–127, 133–148
  • science denial and, 134–135
  • skepticism and, 147
  • social constructivism, 128–130, 140–143
  • Sokal hoax, 130–133
• Post-truth
  • affective tipping point and, 159
  • backfire effect and, 158–159
  • cognitive bias and, 58–62
  • consequences of, 169–170
  • definitions of, 1–2, 4–5, 7–9, 11–13, 173
  • emergence of, 1–2
  • fake news and, 121–122
  • false equivalence and, 10–11
  • fighting post-truth, 117–122, 155–165, 171
  • ideological frameworks and, 11–13
  • interactive group affect and, 59–62
  • journalism and, 85–87
  • news silos and, 60–62
  • objectivity and, 4–5
  • partisan politics and, 158–159
  • political value of understanding, xiii–xiv
  • postmodernism and, 123, 126–127, 147–148, 148–150
  • pre-truth vs., 165–171
  • respecting truth, 11–13
  • satire and, 73–74
  • science denial and, 33–34
  • social media and, 121–122
  • Donald Trump and, 151–153
  • truth, concept of, 6–7, 152, 153–157
• Presidential campaign. See 2016 presidential campaign
• Prestige press
  • balanced reporting and, 83–84
  • definitions of, 173
  • golden age of news and, 63–64
  • reliable truth and, 94–97, 119–120
• Pre-truth, 165–171
• Print media. See also under individual media outlets
  • bias and, 83–84
  • reliable truth and, 94–97
  • yellow journalism and, 100–103
• Propaganda, 87, 91, 112–115, 116–117

• Rabin-Havt, Ari, 21, 23
• Rational thinking
  • cognitive dissonance and, 14, 36–43, 45
  • dissonance reduction, 45
  • ego defense and, 35–36
  • emotional contexts and, 45
  • interactive group effect, 59–62
  • irrationality and, 14, 38–39, 40–42, 45
  • team affiliation and, 46–47
• Reagan, Ronald, 25, 170
• Reasoning. See Moral reasoning; Motivated reasoning
• Redlawsk, David, 51, 158–159
• Reifler, Jason, 48–51, 158–159
• Repetition effect, 44, 114
• Respecting truth, 11–13
• Rice, Susan, 149
• Right-wing bias. See also Fake news; Partisan news coverage; Partisan politics
  • fake news and, 108
  • financial incentives and, 137–138
  • negativity bias and, 58
  • postmodernism and, 6, 126–127, 133–148
  • science denial and, 6, 134–148
  • Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and, 154–158
  • 2016 election and, 108
• Rove, Karl, 113–114
• Russia, 2, 8, 106–107, 108, 167

• Sausage factory article, 105–107
• Schudson, Michael, 98–99
• Science denial. See also Objectivity; Scientific reasoning
  • antiretroviral drugs and, 10
  • climate change and, 10–11, 14, 20–21, 27–33
  • corporate-funded science denial, 25–27
  • doubt and, 22–27
  • economic agendas and, 21
  • evolution and, 136–140
  • ideological frameworks and, 21
  • Intelligent Design theory, 136–140, 148
  • objectivity and, 77–85, 128–130
  • partisan politics and, 133–148
  • postmodernism and, 134–135
  • post-truth and, 33–34
  • public relations and, 22–23, 24, 25, 29, 170
  • right-wing bias and, 6, 134–148
  • scientific consensus and, 2, 23–24, 29–30, 33–34, 79–81, 84
  • smoking debate and, 22–25
• Scientific reasoning, 18–19, 19–20, 22–27, 128–130, 140–143. See also Science denial
• Sinclair, Upton, 45
• Skepticism, 28, 70, 125–126, 147. See also Doubt
• Smoking debate, 22–27
• Snopes, 117, 119
• Snyder, Timothy, 116
• Social conformity, 37–40, 62. See also Asch, Solomon; Festinger. Leon
• Social constructivism, 128–130, 140–143
• Social media
  • alt-right media and, 148–150
  • confirmation bias and, 93–94
  • decline of traditional media and, 89–97
  • Facebook, 93, 94–95, 108, 109, 118–119
  • information silos and, 43, 60, 63, 94–97
  • motivated reasoning and, 93–94
  • post-truth and, 121–122
  • Twitter, 93, 108–109, 149–150, 166, 169
  • YouTube, 93
• Social pressure, 37–40
• Social Text hoax, 129–130, 132
• Sociology of science, 128–130
• Sokal, Alan, 130–133, 145
• Spanish-American War, 100–101, 111
• Spicer, Sean, 6, 145
• Sports fans, 46–47
• Stanley, Jason, 112–115, 116–117
• Stem cell research, 48–49, 50
• Stewart, Jon, 73–74
• Sunstein, Cass, 59
• Sweden incident, the 166
• Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign, 153–155

• Talk radio, 68–69
• Team affiliation, 46–47
• Telling the Truth (Cheney), 127
• Thaler, Richard, 43–44
• Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger), 36–37, 62
• Tobacco industry, 22–24, 25, 29, 170
• Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC), 22–24, 29
• Traditional media
  • alternative media vs., 86–87
  • climate change and, 70, 83–85, 157–158
  • decline of, 63–75, 85–87, 89–90
  • fact-checking, 33–34, 84–85, 119
  • fact-driven reliability of, 94–97
  • fragmentation of information sources, 94, 153, 155
  • Internet and, 89
  • investigative reporting, 64
  • media fragmentation, 75–85, 94–95, 153
  • network television, 63–66
  • objectivity and, 103–104
  • polarization and, 94
  • prestige press and, 63–65, 75–77
  • profits and, 100–101
• True Enough (Manjoo), 153–154
• Trump, Donald
  • alt-right media and, 148–150
  • Art of the Deal, 82
  • authoritarian politics of, 115
  • birther conspiracy, 34
  • climate change and, 10–11, 33
  • CNN coverage of, 3–4, 91–92, 111–112
  • fake news and, 86, 105–106, 110–111, 115
  • Fox News and, 91–92
  • post-truth and, 151–153
  • pre-truth era and, 1–3, 165–171
  • propaganda and, 10–13
  • Russia and, 2, 9, 106–107, 108, 167
  • social media and, 87
  • Sweden incident, 166
  • Trump Tower surveillance, 166–167
  • Twitter and, 166, 169
• Truth, concept of, 6–7, 152, 153–157
• Tucker, Eric, 107–108
• Tversky, Amos, 43–44, 51
• 2016 presidential campaign. See also Clinton, Hillary; Trump, Donald
  • clickbait and, 105, 109
  • Eastern Europe and, 105–106
  • fake news and, 58, 105–111
  • partisan politics and, 107–109
  • Russia and, 2, 8, 106–107, 108, 167
  • television media and, 91–92
• Twitter, 93, 108–109, 149–150, 166, 169

• Uniform Crime Report, 2–4. See also FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

• Vaccine-autism link, 77–78, 82–83, 157
• Vietnam era, 67, 86, 151, 153–155

• Wakefield, Andrew, 82–83, 157
• Warner, Judith, 134–135, 136
• Washington Post, 63–64, 70, 83–84, 117, 119, 165
• Wason, Peter Cathcart, 40–42, 44
• Weaponized Lies (Levitin), 120
• Weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), 48–49
• Willfull ignorance, 7–8, 108, 155–156

• YouTube, 93, 94–95, 108, 109, 118–119

• Zucker, Jeff, 92