Inside Culture

Splintering realities

Whether the Fox News trial goes ahead or not, the lawsuit against the broadcaster speaks to a severance of shared truth in mainstream media.

Despite a delay, Fox News may yet face a $1.6 billion defamation trial for intentionally broadcasting false information about election fraud in 2020. The challenge to one of America’s largest and most popular networks speaks to escalating tensions that have resulted from mass polarisation, leading the US population into divergent and vastly differing experiences of reality. People are no longer simply at odds with each other’s values, they are experiencing truth differently. With 64% of Americans saying social media has been a bad thing for democracy, there’s an acceptance that misinformation is abundant and a growing scepticism that anything is objectively true. These challenges are set to explode in the generative AI age, with just 10% of Americans saying they trust the output from these tools and 80% feeling undecided. With mainstream media being held to account in the courts, building trust across all communications and messaging will be a core challenge for businesses when it comes to AI. We’ve already seen platforms like Wired issue statements of intent around how they will work with generative AI this year. With reality up for grabs, how can businesses keep their key audiences grounded and trusting?

10%
of Americans say that they trust the output of generative AIMorning Consult, 2023
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