Vol. 15 No. 30 (2024): Putting the Political in Its Place: Towards a Political Sociology of Sustainability
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Fake News and Populism: New Threats to Public Trust

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  • Francesco Pira,
  • Roberta Casagrande
Francesco Pira
University of Messina, Italy
Roberta Casagrande
Università degli Studi di Messina, Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/smp-15456

Published 2024-10-19

Keywords

  • democracy,
  • disinformation,
  • fake news,
  • populism,
  • trust

How to Cite

Pira, F., & Casagrande, R. (2024). Fake News and Populism: New Threats to Public Trust. SocietàMutamentoPolitica, 15(30), 177–182. https://doi.org/10.36253/smp-15456

Copyright (c) 2024 Roberta Casagrande, Francesco Pira

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article analyses the growing distrust of cultural intermediaries and social and political actors, fuelled by phenomena such as fake news, disinformation and denialism. Indeed, post-modernity has eroded trust in traditional media, facilitating the dissemination of unverified information and making it difficult to discern between reliable and unreliable sources. Events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict highlight how communication strategies can profoundly influence public perception. In this context, populism exploits simplifications and emotionally charged narratives, promoting alternative versions of truth that challenge official narratives and contribute to a further polarization of society.

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