The shrinking role of facts and evidence-based analysis in American public life poses a threat to democracy, to policymaking, and to the very notion of civic discourse. RAND has launched an ambitious research project, Truth Decay, to define and study the problem with the ultimate goal of working toward innovative solutions.
In this Events @ RAND podcast, a panel of experts discusses the connection between the media and Truth Decay. They address the effects of changes in the information environment, including the rise of social media, the shift to a 24-hour news cycle, increasing partisanship of some news sources, algorithms and filters, and media literacy.
Jennifer Kavanagh
Political Scientist, RAND Corporation; Associate Director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program in the RAND Arroyo Center
Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University; Co-Director, NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks
Executive Director, First Draft; Research Fellow, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Laura Hazard Owen
Deputy Editor, Neiman Journalism Lab, Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University
