The Resisting Information Disorder study is concerned with how to conceptualise and govern the contemporary social turbulence driven by transformations in digital technologies. Digital industrialisation across the social landscape has led to large public-interest media organisations being systematically hollowed out in the 21st century, resulting in the collapse and capture of viable press. What has resulted is a destabilised public sphere and democratic life where there are few credible information sources or reliable public interest journalism. Authoritarian regimes, multinational corporations and powerful states take advantage of this context. As such, there is a need to understand how the Global South is impacted, taking into account local politics, post-colonial histories, neo-colonial subordination, and the looping effects of globalisation. This study employs an International Political Economy of Communication (IPEC) methodology to highlight how information disorder is the by-product of ordinary business routines by Big Tech companies. In this usage, the concept of information disorder can be productively deployed to examine how information and communication technologies short-circuit fair democratic discussions about the governance of the digital goods.
Research agenda
- Shifting academic focus from the Global North to the Global South
- Moving beyond identifying symptoms to understanding underlying thematic factors and root causes of information disorder in the Global South
- Developing and evaluating suitable strategies and interventions to counter information disorder
- Supporting policy and regulatory changes that mitigate information disorder while promoting freedom of expression
- Analysing information disorder from a Global South perspective, accounting for local politics, post-colonial states, and globalisation effects
- Investigating the relationship between local and regional politics and drivers of information disorder in Sub-Saharan Africa
Partners
Stellenbosch University Department of Journalism, InternetLab, LIRNEasia and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism / Arab Fact-Checkers Network.
