Democracy in a Post-Truth Information Age

A St George’s House Consultation

Thursday 18th to Friday 19th January 2018

EJN Director Aidan White was invited to St George’s House, Windsor Castle on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th January 2018 to join a debate on the challenges of living in a post-truth information age.

The event considered the following questions and issues:

Are our democratic processes under threat?
Is there a danger of giving free rein to extremism and further destabilising society?
Or is this the predictable response of the establishment as alternative viewpoints and information become a greater part of mainstream debate?
Either way, society faces significant challenges. What are the responsibilities of citizens, governments, business and the media in this swiftly evolving landscape?

About the event – Democracy in a Post-Truth Information Age

The year 2016 witnessed the UK vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald F Trump as President of the United States of America, two seismic events in the history of these democracies.

Both events brought to the fore significant debate regarding the nature and quality of information available to the voting public. In particular, the Internet and social media were regarded as key emerging battle grounds. The debate honed in on two discrete topics: how information is accessed and shared in an Internet society; and the nature of the information disseminated, especially an increased focus on ‘false’ information. Such was the prevalence of the debate that the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year for 2016 was ‘post-truth’.

About St George’s House

St George’s House exists to enable people of influence to discuss issues of national and international importance. Each Consultation brings together some thirty key people over a twenty-four hour period during which the topic is discussed and debated in depth.

More information to follow.