Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. —Thoreau Trust is a fundamental foundation of human relationships and the building block of a democratic society. The notion of truth, however, has taken a battering – in no small part thanks to fake news, a shifting media landscape, and compulsively liars in the public domain.
Today we are living in a post-truth world, characterised by a climate where “alternative facts” replace actual facts, feelings have more weight than evidence, and ideology takes precedence over reality. This month we look at the truth in an uncertain era.
Our THOUGHT article investigates how Trump, Brexit, institutional scandals, mainstream and social media, and our own cognitive biases have created a situation where we can no longer trust what we read. In GUIDE we construct a lie detector kit for you to do your own due diligence. In TREND we look at how ‘glassbox brands’ are commercialising truth to offer customers a more transparent transaction. In EQUIP we review The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in The Age Of Trump by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michiko Kakutani. Our month ends with a hard-hitting INSIGHT featuring Australia’s top investigative journalist Kate McClymont, Anglican Pastor Toby Neal, and Professor Nick Enfield, head of the Post Truth Initiative Stay true.
