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Post-truth: what is it and what can we do about it?

With James Ball, Tracey Brown, Will Moy, Professor Helen Margetts, and Hetan Shah
Date & Time:
18:00 - 19:30,
Tuesday 7 February, 2017

About

Oxford Dictionaries named ‘post-truth’ as its word of the year in 2016. The EU referendum and the American election are both examples where the political misuse of statistics and facts has become commonplace. There are also increasing concerns about the rise of ‘fake news’. But what is ‘post-truth’? Is there something genuinely new about our current era, or is this a new word about the same old age problem? And what can be done to ensure that statistics, facts and evidence are part of a balanced debate in the media and politics? The RSS, in association with Sense about Science, Full Fact and the Oxford Internet Institute is delighted to host a panel discussion to debate the phenomenon of ‘post-truth’. We have a fantastic panel to shed light on the issues:

  • James Ball ( , and author of forthcoming book on ‘post-truth’)
  • Tracey Brown (Sense about Science)
  • Will Moy (Full Fact)
  • Helen Margetts (Oxford Internet Institute)
  • Hetan Shah (Royal Statistical Society, chair)
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