ABSTRACT
The analysis of media systems began as a mid-twentieth-century approach whose deficiencies were recognised and at least partly tackled in the early twenty-first century. Misinformation thus provides a form of stress testing of media systems analysis, one which can help to identify more integrative and forward-facing approaches. Misinformation has several connected aspects that are especially pertinent to the discussion of media systems analysis. Misinformation involves both ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ processes and flows; it occurs in the gaps identified by critiques of media systems analyses. The ambition for a more effective analysis of misinformation and media systems will be to enhance dialogue across work centred on both, within a broader, revising approach. The key reason to integrate misinformation into media systems analysis is that identifying interconnections across ‘system’ variables is vital for analysis, evaluation, and policy proposals. The reconfigurations arising from bringing together misinformation and media systems research can hopefully strengthen how this vital, synthesising work is pursued.
