Charlotte Henry - Not Buying It

Luke Akehurst
Steve Andresier
Kate Andrews
Adam Banks
Francesca Barnes
Michael Benson
Emma Burnell
Darren Butler
Tom Cage
Alex Charles
Malcolm Clark
Andy Cohen
Steve Comer
Adam Conn
Vicky Coral
Scott Davies
Dan Davis
Bobby Dean
DG
Kevin Donnellon
Katie Fearn
Barry Ferris
Jonathan Fineberg
Jo and Jeremy Foster
Oli Foster
Daniel Franklin
Andrew Garber
Jacqueline and Gerald Garber
Keith Garber
Steven Garber
Daniele Gibney
Daniel Grabiner
John Grant
Andrew Green
Annabel Green
Daniel Green
David Green
Richard Hanen
Nick Herman Haringman
Jonathan Harrisberg
Daniel Heller
Jan Henry
Sue and Paul Henry
Sarah Henry
Ian Hodge
Amy Hoffbrand
Geoff Hoffman
Marshall Hoffman
Michael Hoffman
Stephen Hoffman
Janice Holve
Bill Horton
Mark Howard
Paula Howard
Lauren Ingram
Anna Isaacs
Bernard Kelly
Cait Kidd
Dan Kieran
Judy Knox
Kirstie Kwan
Pierre LAllier
Ian Langdon
Shane le Prevost
Joel Levitt
Gordon Lishman
Jacob Livingston
Helen Maggs
Mala Mahadevan
Robbi Malandreniotis
Margaret Marsh
Simon McGrath
Robin Meltzer
David Michael
Carl Minns
Erin Mitchell
John Mitchinson
Gaby Morris
Jeremy Nathan
Jeremy Newmark
Niels Aagaard Nielsen
Alexander Nirenberg
Wystan Palm
Andrew Parsons
Jenny and Keith Pearlman
George Pitcher
Justin Pollard
Thais Portilho
Sharon Portner
Rebecca Quick
Jessica Redhead
Chris Richards
Esther Rinkoff
Eleanor Rose
Margaret Rose
Dan Rosenberg
Gemma and James Rosenfeld
Nicola Rosenfeld
Nina Sandler
Richard Sarsby
Philip Saven
Matthew Searle
Emma Shall Elani
Neil Sherlock
Daniel Simons
Daniel Sonabend
Adam Spensley
Ross Stalker
Cathryn Steele
Mark Thompson
Anthony J. Triano
Albert Wallace
Daniel Waterman
Lois Winter
Greg Woodcock
Hilda Worth

The year is 2019, and falsehood and conspiracy have become prominent parts of political discourse around the globe, used by some of the most powerful people in the world to win elections, maintain support from their political bases and destroy their rivals. At the same time, these politicians are branding mainstream media outlets as fake news in an attempt to discredit those who legitimately seek to hold them to account.

Meanwhile, the media itself regularly accuses politicians, and even some other media outlets, of spreading fake news of lying. All too often, they have good reason for doing so. This is an age in which the truth no longer seems to be sacred. Facts do not matter.

Indeed, Donald Trump, who at the time of writing this book is the president of the United States no less, happily dismisses some of the worlds leading media institutions such as CNN and the New York Times as failing and fake news. We normally see this when they seek answers to difficult questions about his conduct and policies or simply publish something that he does not like.

For example, in March 2019 Trump took to the airwaves and Twitter claiming complete exoneration by Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into his campaign.

In the UK, the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign was tainted by lies and misinformation, some of it infamously painted on the side of a bus. So toxic was the atmosphere that Labour MP Jo Cox was attacked and killed by a far-right thug just days before the vote. The discourse in the years following the poll has not improved much. The negotiation period has been tense and some of the language used against Prime Minister Theresa May utterly vicious and often sexist. One of the MPs in Mays own Conservative Party even told a reporter that the prime minister should bring her own noose to a party meeting.

Both sides of the divide in British politics threw out claim and counterclaim, making it almost impossible for members of the general public to decipher what was actually going on. The result was close and divisive tensions remained long after the votes were counted. If anything, they increased, not dissipated, as the painful negotiation process progressed.

Technology inevitably sits at the heart of this story. Information and misinformation are spread with such ease now that lies can take hold in the blink of an eye. The social element of new communications technology means that these lies are so much easier to believe after all, its your friend, whether real or digital, who is sharing the information with you.

It may be hard for some people to accept, but most journalists do genuinely go into work with the best of intentions they want to write good, accurate stories that inform, entertain and hold powerful people to account. It is fair to say that, similarly, most politicians go into public service wanting to improve the lives of their constituents. The problem is that a variety of scandals means that far too many now profoundly doubt this.

As we shall see, fake news is not a new phenomenon, but it is clear that something has changed. This book seeks to understand how this has come to pass and to offer some potential ways of fixing the problem. It is based on my own experience working in the media and politics, as well as a range of exclusive interviews with experts working in the media, politics and academia.