Richard Fording, Author at Public Seminar

The critical factor connecting protest and electoral politics today

There has been extensive commentary about the protests over the recent murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, with some suggesting parallels to the 1960s. But a number of observers have incisively pointed out differences as well, noting the racial diversity of today’s protesters compared to those who took to the streets ...

Feature

The Fox News-Fake News-Trump Nexus

On the link between political orientation and the inclination to believe fake news

March 24, 2018 • by Sanford Schram and Richard Fording

In today’s overheated political climate, people are increasingly noting how difficult it is to convince others, who disagree, to alter their beliefs. Public discourse seems ever more compartmentalized in “silos,” where people express themselves in an “echo chamber” or “bubble” that reinforces their pre-existing biases. Contravening facts rarely get in ...