The Real and the Fake in Democracy

In the life of a robust democracy, the presence of fake news sounds almost like an oxymoron. In such forms of democracy, reality, howsoever inconvenient it may be, finds its expression both in the speech of political leaders and other social forms of assertion. The existence of the real has to be transparent, both through its circulation in and by the media as well as its argumentative articulation in deliberative democracy. A normatively responsible media through its communication affect has the responsibility to circulate the content of reality without distortion. The media plays an important role in connecting social consciousness with the consequences of reality. It has much greater responsibility in building up democratic discourse around what is real in society. It is in this context that fake news seems contrary to the ideal of democracy. And, yet, we often hear, both in the West as well as in India, about the phenomenon of fake news corrupting the texture of democracy.

Fake news, however, is not limited to the circulation of unreal or distorted information, or misinformation. Even making false promises, particularly during election campaigns, or projecting failure as spectacular success also form a part of fake news. The complaints that are usually made by the opposition forces are validated by this observation.