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<p>Extended Summary</p><p>Background: The past of the debate about the truth is as old and ancient as theeffort to make sense of human existence. Every questioning within the field ofphilosophy is in some way related to truth. Science and religion have also claimedto seek and utter the truth. Especially in the last few decades, we have beenwitnessing the post-truth period. Especially the process that emerged with therejection of universal truth after postmodernism made the era of post-truthpossible. One of the most important reasons for the increasing popularity of theconcept of post-truth has been the emergence of the media, especially socialmedia. Verification of the information stack resulting from digital mediatransforming each user into a news source brings a considerable time-consumingeffort. The modern individual, who does not have this time, accepts the newscirculating in the social media environment created by individuals with the samelike-minded as true. The individual kept on the network with social mediaalgorithms mostly confines himself/herself to the echo chamber where peoplewith the same opinion listen. Is there any way to escape this voluntaryimprisonment?</p><p>Purpose: The aim of this study is to reveal the basic dynamics of the post-truthage. It was discussed how it would be possible to protect from the damagescaused by the loss of importance of the truth by taking a look at the historicalprocess of the post-truth era, which has gained momentum especially with socialmedia. One side of this debate is political debates. In particular, the US electionsin which Trump was elected president and the post-Brexit debates flared up andthe awareness of the issue increased enormously. Although the subject is thoughtto be politically oriented, it should not be considered only on the political level.The subject is important in terms of opening the door to examinations in manydifferent aspects.</p><p>Method: This article is a theoretical article. A theoretical article contains or refersto new or established abstract principles related to a specific field of knowledge.Opinions on the subject have been compiled. Evaluations were made based on the opinions on the subject. The conceptual background of the subject goes backto ancient times. Based on its conceptual background, the evaluations regardingthe recent changes, especially, have been taken into consideration. As a result ofthese evaluations, implications about what kind of solution suggestions can beput forward have been revealed.</p><p>Findings: Considering the conceptual background, when the subject isevaluated within the framework of the current situation, it is revealed that socialmedia is the most important factor in post-truth age. With the developinginternet technologies and transformations, social media and its users havebecome a news source, bringing along a series of problems. The fine line betweennews and opinion has become even more blurred, users have started to shareand circulate unidentified news from anonymous sites and blogs as if they weretrue. Sensational news that was clicked and liked a lot has replaced the right news.In the enormous mass of information that emerges, the modern individual makesthe same decisions as people who agree with him/her. This can lead to deviationsin many areas from education to democracy. As a result, social welfare may sufferfrom this.</p><p>Conclusions: There is a moral distinction between being aware of the truth anddenying it. People who lie are aware of the truth. He knows the truth but saysotherwise. There have been challenges to the concept of truth in the past as well.The distinctive feature of this period is that truth is challenged for politicalinterests and this is imposed on the masses by the new media. In this respect,this concept will always be the focus of recent political debates, and most of thediscourses will be criticized and evaluated by referring to this concept. Thisperiod has an importance that cannot be handled only from the politicalperspective. Damages may arise in many areas from education to democracy. Forthis, children should be educated in schools, especially media literacy. A commonand strong attitude should be taken against fake news with national andinternational partnerships within and outside the country. There is a need forincreased and continuous training on fake news for traditional and social mediajournalists.</p><p>Key Words: Truth, Post-Truth, Social Media, Fake News, Media Literacy<br></p> |
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