Courses

Generative AI and social media are accelerating the circulation of rumors. Yet our current surge of disinformation has striking historical precedents. Gutenberg’s printing press not only facilitated the scientific revolution but also led to a proliferation of pamphlets about various monsters. In the 1840s, the rotary printing press brought about a wave of fabricated news stories. Nearly a century later, the live transmission of radio made listeners of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds believe Martians were really invading. But radio was also the medium in which FDR’s fireside chats successfully countered banking rumors.

This seminar examines how successive media revolutions have shaped the propagation of rumors and falsehoods, from printed broadsides to QAnon, anti-vax campaigns, deepfakes, and generative AI. We will also analyze the limits of fact-checking and how counternarratives that gain wide circulation can displace disinformation.