Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjunctures

Abstract

Our contemporary moment is preoccupied with arbitrating and articulating ‘reality’. With the spectre of buzzwords like ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth’ we find a scramble to locate or fix some sort of universal, immovable ‘real’ beneath what are positioned as ‘fake’ articulations and discourse. To engage with this crisis, this collection argues for the importance of a new conjuncture in communication and cultural studies of media. Building on Hall’s understanding of ‘conjuncture’ as a way of grasping moments within hegemonic struggle, the essays suggest that the current moment requires a revitalization of the concept of conjuncture. In particular, Post-Truth and the Mediation of Reality confronts questions of how to grapple with mediated politics in what has been dubbed a ‘post-truth’ era. Divided into three sections, the book tackles key sites in which realness is in crisis within contemporary Anglophone media culture, including Trumpism, reality TV, the #metoo movement, and social media productions of the truth.