The post-truth condition: Distrusting experts after postmodernism

Fake news is not a unique or stand-alone phenomenon. It is situated in a wider context of a post-truth condition, characterized by a breakdown of clear-cut categorical distinctions such as objective–subjective and fact–value. The naïve calls for returning to the mythical ‘golden standards’ of journalism are not rooted in history. While the contemporary public tends to distrust the press, historical research indicates that this is not unprecedented. A particularly unique feature of our times is the decline in the trust of the educated masses in public experts. In the background of these phenomena one may find postmodern tendencies towards the erosion of scientific and democratic meta-narratives within the circles of the ironic intellectuals, which have recently spilled over into the discourse of the mass-educated general public. Fact-checking or censoring the media by experts is premised upon the faulty assumption that the public trusts both the experts and the media, while neither is the case.