Cheap Speed: The Future of Local News Coverage

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In 1995, Eugene Volek predicted that without intermediaries, we'd have a much better information environment. But now it's very easy to get your message out on social media and other platforms. And so I mean cheap speech in the second sense of a system where lower valued information is prioritized over higher valued information. The risk is not only that some people will be taken in by misinformation, but that people will just discount the value of all information.

It’s easy to mock those spouting outlandish and off-base claims on social media networks, but are there more effective ways to counter the spread of misinformation? Our guest Rick Hasen believes there are other solutions to tackling false information – whether it’s spread unintentionally or intentionally – which could pave the way for more lasting change.

Is it a matter of personal responsibility? Legislative fixes? Media reform? And what about the responsibilities of Big Tech and social media platforms?

In this episode, we talk about his latest book, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure It, and some of the legal and political remedies he sees as potential solutions to the threat disinformation poses to our democracy and an informed electorate.

GUEST: Rick Hasen, Author, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure It

Richard “Rick” Hasen teaches law and political science at the University of California Irvine, where he also is co-director of the university’s Fair Elections and Free Speech Center. His latest book, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics ― and How to Cure It, examines the dangers of disinformation, its viral spread, and the actors that are helping to push it into the mainstream. He is a nationally recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation. He has written more than 100 articles on election law issues, and remedies, in numerous publications. His op-ed and commentary works have appeared in major publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Slate. He is also the author of Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy and Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections.

LINKS:
Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure It
Results of YouGov poll on 2020 U.S. presidential election
Public Research Institute poll results
Jan. 6 , 2021 invasion of U.S. Capitol

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