We are living in an anxious moment where social media and AI have led to the proliferation of rumors and misinformation. But this is not new. At various historical junctures, the emergence of new media technologies has increased the circulation of falsehoods and disinformation.
This class will explore rumor, hearsay, disinformation, propaganda, and their interrelations to specific media formats and technologies. Topics include: "hearsay," glory, and the oral tradition in Homer's "Odyssey;" Gutenberg's printing press and anti-catholic propaganda pamphlets; the rotary printing press and mid-nineteenth-century fake news; radio panic and the "War of the Worlds;" anti-vaccine rumors; QAnon and other conspiracy theories; social media; deep fakes and AI.