It’s a compelling look at what we like to think of as a modern phenomenon.” Reaction Life “James Ball’s analysis of all this is careful, methodical and thoughtful.

James Ball has produced a timely and thoroughly readable guide to how to navigate a sea of falsehoods through a storm of hyperbole, bias and propaganda.” Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University

There has never been a time when it was easier to spread stories that were untrue, and never a more important time to be able to sort the facts from the bullshit. “Fake news, post-truth and propaganda are all symptoms of a news ecosystem and political culture that incentivises clickbait and confrontation. In Post-Truth, Ball has put on his Hazmat suit, waded into the most infected areas of the world, and found a way to stop the plague.” Alex Gibney, Academy Award-winning documentary maker “In the era of Trump, bullshit is spreading like a pandemic. “A timely and important book by one of the smartest of the new generation of journalists and thinkers.” Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor-in-chief This is the story of bullshit: what’s being spread, who’s spreading it, why it works – and what we can do to tackle it.īoth Evan Davis and Matthew d’Ancona recently published excellent books on our so-called post-truth era, but I’d like to highlight James Ball’s Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World for its vivid analysis of how the business models and incentives currently prevailing in digital media render decent discourse all but inaudible.

It’s about the slow rise of a political, media and online infrastructure that has devalued truth. This is bigger than fake news and bigger than social media. Bullshit can even pave your way to the Oval Office. Sophistry and spin have coloured politics since the dawn of time, but two shock events – the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s elevation to US President – heralded a departure into murkier territory.įrom Trump denying video evidence of his own words, to the infamous Leave claims of £350 million for the NHS, politics has rarely seen so many stretching the truth with such impunity.īullshit gets you noticed.

2016 marked the birth of the post-truth era.

Evan davis post truth