Post-Truth Infodemic of COVID-19: Discursive Practice of Trust and Distrust in Mediapolitics

Abstract

The emerging phenomenon of post-truth has us focus on the conditions of truth instead of objective truth. The world political leaders with the help of their sensationalist media partners use language as a great tool of power to control the behaviors of others by manipulating their thinking with discourse. This study analyses, in the specific context of COVID-19, how the world of post-truth through digitalization of information in media is expanding every hour and becoming a serious threat to humanity trust in media and political institutions. The study is focused on the theoretical framework propounded by Fairclough who believes that discourse refers not only to the linguistic text, but it is, in fact, a social practice and it must be viewed in its whole. The present situation is as lamenting as the distrust of the public in the institutions has been increasing. The post-truth about COVID-19 has shaped the world politics in conflicts and contradiction, which has created so many conspiracy theories. However, the only remedy to these reemerging dark ages is once again the knowledge of truth.