Baskadia

Lies have been around for a long time, but there are differences about lying in the Post-truth era. Post-truth thrives in a society that is disillusioned and dissatisfied with politics. The truth is not disputed but the truth is made secondary, what is prioritized is negative prejudice that is intensified by manipulating people's emotions and emphasizing sensations. Information ethics and communication ethics are put aside. Stupid people and smart people can fall for hoaxes because of their ideological beliefs. Lies are always enticing because those who lie follow the beliefs of those who are deceived. Faced with this, don't be easily fascinated by the beauty of words. But must still be able to think critically and rationally. Apart from that, it is also necessary to verify the unity of words and deeds.

Lies and manipulation have in fact dominated belief and political discourse since the dawn of human civilization. In the Ancient Roman Republic, for example, populist orations in the senate were more concerned with rhetorical agility than data accuracy. Even in the modern era, hoaxes and sentiment have become the fuel of the greatest conflict in history: Nazi propaganda during the Second World War.

This means that the era of "truth" practically never existed. Prejudice, emotion, and belief have always been easier to dominate public opinion than ratios. As a concept, post-truth began to be discussed along with the development of the internet and new media, which challenged the dominance of mass media as an information channel. From here I will argue that what is implied by the concept of post-truth as the era of truth, is actually the golden age of mass media: the era of a hundred years back before the internet began to dominate, when information was dominated by print, radio and television media. We call this era the Mass Media Regime.

Well, in this Mass Media Regime, the press is an "information caste" which is the backbone of the regime. They are the arbiters who determine what is right and what is wrong. They curate what we need to know, and what we need to ignore.

The existence of a code of ethics in press work practices and the dissemination of information that is more centralized indeed makes certain disinformation easier to control. But to assume that in this era "truth" dominates public conversation is a big mistake. The press and mass media have uniformed "truth", but in fact they have never been an objective judge. The press does have wider access to key sources, and the professional tradition of the press makes them have a tendency to approach data and scientific sources. But the press also has a strong tendency to lean towards the state and official sources, which makes them close to the interests of power.

The reason why disinformation circulates more widely in today's society is not because people's views have shifted in the meaning of "truth", but because the way information is produced, disseminated, and consumed is changing drastically.

Information that was previously disseminated through one door by the mass media and the press is now being disseminated far more freely in new media. The press is no longer the gatekeeper, because new media and the internet have become the new gatekeeper in a much more open world.

The Mass Media regime that was once in power had many shortcomings, but one of the most obvious: it was too dominant. There shouldn't be any party or group that has a monopoly on the flow of information like the press in its heyday. You could say the new media fix this weakness; Never in human history has information been such a free commodity as it is now. But the press has something that has not been developed by new media: the awareness that the press industry has great power and responsibility.

The awareness that the press industry is not just a means of making profits, but also a key player in the circulation of public information, has been growing for more than a century. This has fostered the development of various codes of ethics and regulations in an effort to ensure that the press does not forget their public function as a conduit of good information.