ABSTRACT

This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of research into discourses of disinformation, misinformation, post-truth, alternative facts, hate speech, conspiracy theories, and "fake news".

Divided into two sections, it provides a detailed look at the methodological challenges and approaches for studying disinformation, along with a wide range of case studies covering everything from climate change denial to COVID-19 conspiracies. The studies address how discourses of disinformation are constructed and developed, what rhetorical and persuasive strategies they employ, how disinformation can be discerned from real news, and what steps we might take in order to create a more trustworthy news environment. 

Authored by leading experts from around the world, and showcasing the most up-to-date methodological approaches to the topic, the volume makes a significant contribution to current linguistic research on politics, and is an essential guide to the discourses of disinformation for advanced students and researchers of English language studies, linguistics, and media and communication studies.

part I|151 pages

Genres and methodologies

chapter 4|12 pages

Introducing Digital Source Criticism

A method for tackling fake news and disinformation

chapter 6|24 pages

Misinformation Detection in News Text

Automatic methods and data limitations

chapter 7|15 pages

Fakespeak in 280 Characters

Exploring the language of disinformation on Twitter through a comparative corpus-based approach

part II|259 pages

Case studies

part A|105 pages

Politics

part B|81 pages

Society

chapter 17|15 pages

(Dis)Information and Ethical Guidelines

A critical discourse analysis of news reporting on violence against women

chapter 19|19 pages

The Rainbow Conspiracy

A corpus-based social media analysis of anti-LGBTIQ+ rhetoric in digital landscapes 1

chapter 21|14 pages

Reframings of Fake in Art Discourse

part C|69 pages

Medical discourses

chapter 23|17 pages

The COVID-19 Infodemic on Twitter

Dialogic contraction within the echo chambers

chapter 25|13 pages

The Impact of COVID-19 Reports on Multicultural Young People's Social and Psychological Well-Being

Novel experiential metaphors in an ELF-mediated debate on fake news