Book review of 'Truth Decay. An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life' by Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael D. Rich, RAND Corporation, 2017, 324 p.

Abstract

Significant developments that occurred in the past two decades in the media and information system, such as the rise of the internet and social media or even the commentary based journalism that adopted a 24-hour coverage, led to a continuously rising process of creating, disseminating and consuming information. Nevertheless, the enormous amount of information that crosses the public space is not always supported by factual information, data, analysis or statistical representations. In fact, this large volume of information circulating in the public sphere is rather based on personal interpretation, misleading content, false assumptions or intentionally manipulated stories. Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael D. Rich, authors of the complex exploratory research called Truth Decay. An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life argue in favor of the term ”Truth Decay” to define the current changes of political and civil discourse in the U.S.