Posttruth: Media Spectacle of Populism in Commercial Social Media
Zhu Hongjun1， Ji Chenghao2， Pu Xiao1
1. Institute of News and Communication, China Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100732; 2. School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100062, China
Abstract：The “posttruth” fever from 2016 had a long history and multifarious meanings, with the traditional characteristic of being highly coupled to the politics. Donald Trumps unexpected victory in the USA election and UKs withdrawal from the European Union made this characteristic more prominent. This paper argues that populism, commercialism and social media drove the posttruth into a media spectacle. On one hand, the “posttruth” spectacle may have negative impacts such as the subversion of professional ethics, the destruction of modern democratic politics, and the retrogression of the enlightenment spirit. On the other hand, it was possible to have positive effects. Therefore, in order to prevent and control the negative social impact of the “posttruth” spectacle, China needs to make efforts in network populism governance, public social media literacy education and establishment of social media operating norms.
2019, Vol. 21 
