Chapter published in:
Conspiracy Theory Discourses
Edited by Massimiliano Demata, Virginia Zorzi and Angela Zottola
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 98] 2022
► pp. 193–214

Chapter 9
Complementary concepts of disinformation

Conspiracy theories and ‘fake news’

| Open University

This chapter looks at the relationship between two distinct but related forms of disinformation currently widespread in political discourse: ‘fake news’ and conspiracy theories. Both play a significant role in the promotion and circulation of forms of false information which are considered by many as a threat to civil society. They are both frequently co-opted as means of political persuasion, often for propaganda purposes. Despite their similarities, the two exist as distinct genres of disinformation. The aim of the chapter is to analyse the nature of their similarities and differences as rhetorical tools in order to provide a more nuanced picture of the role they both play in contemporary politics.

Keywords: fake news, disinformation, propaganda, rhetoric, persuasion, genre
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Contrasting categories of disinformation
  • 2.Definitions, differences and similarities
  • 3.Conspiracy theories as a genre
    • Purpose (or goal)
    • Outlook (or worldview)
    • Narrative
    • Structure
    • Idiom
    • Context
    • Resources
    • Expectations
  • 4.A return to ‘fake news’
  • 5.‘Stop the Steal’
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.98.09sea
References
Aistrope, Tim
2016 Conspiracy Theory and American Foreign Policy, Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Allcott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow
2017 “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. 31: 211–236. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arendt, Hannah
2005. [1967] “Truth and Politics.” In Truth: Engagements Across Philosophical Traditions, ed. by Jose Medina, and David Wood, 295–314. Oxford: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bakhtin, Mikhail
1986 Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, Austin: TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Barkun, Michael
2003 A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America, California: University of California Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beeman, Richard
(ed.) 2010 The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution, London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Bergmann, Eirikur
2018 Conspiracy and Populism: The Politics of Misinformation, London: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bjerg, Ole, and Thomas Presskorn-Thygesen
2017 “Conspiracy Theory: Truth Claim or Language Game?” Theory, Culture and Society 34 (1): 137–159. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan
2020 “Jan Blommaert on QAnon, conspiracy theories and why they’re persuasive.” https://​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​=OLyKDSE8eGo (accessed 13 December 2020).
Buenting, Joel, and Jason Taylor
2010 “Conspiracy Theories and Fortuitous Data.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 40 (4): 567–578. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Busse, Beatrix
2014 “Genre.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Stylistics, ed. by Peter Stockwell, and Sara Whiteley, 103–116. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byford, Jovan
2011 Conspiracy Theories: A Critical Introduction, London: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheshire, Tom
2016 “Sky Views: Facebook’s fake news threatens democracy.” Sky News 11 November, http://​news​.sky​.com​/story​/sky​-views​-democracy​-burns​-as​-facebook​-lets​-fake​-news​-thrive​-10652711 (accessed 13 December 2020).
Dentith, Matthew R. X., and Brian L. Keeley
2018 “The Applied Epistemology of Conspiracy Theories: An Overview.” In David Coady and James Chase (eds), In The Routledge Handbook of Applied Epistemology, 284–294. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
donaldjtrump​.com
2020 “Trump Campaign Statement on Legal Team” 22 November, https://​www​.donaldjtrump​.com​/media​/trump​-campaign​-statement​-on​-legal​-team/ (accessed 13 December 2020).
Douglas, Karen, Robbie M. Sutton, and Aleksandra Cichocka
2017 “The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 26 (6): 538–542. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Douglas, Karen, Robbie M. Sutton, Mitch J. Callan, Rael J. Dawtry, and Annelie J. Harvey
2016 “Someone is Pulling the Strings: Hypersensitive Agency Detection and Belief in Conspiracy Theories.” Thinking and Reasoning 22: 57–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Farkas, Johan, and Jannick Schou
2020 Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fenster, Mark
1999 Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American culture, Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving
1974 Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Grynbaum, Michael M.
2017a “Trump Strategist Stephen Bannon Says Media Should ‘Keep Its Mouth Shut’.” New York Times 26 January, http://​www​.nytimes​.com​/2017​/01​/26​/business​/media​/stephen​-bannon​-trump​-news​-media​.html (accessed 13 December 2020).
2017b “Trump Calls the News Media the ‘Enemy of the American People’.” New York Times 17 February, https://​www​.nytimes​.com​/2017​/02​/17​/business​/trump​-calls​-the​-news​-media​-the​-enemy​-of​-the​-people​.html (accessed 13 December 2020).
Guardian
2019 “Trump Campaign Cuts Ties with Attorney Sidney Powell after Bizarre Election Fraud Claims” 23 November, https://​www​.theguardian​.com​/us​-news​/2020​/nov​/23​/trump​-campaign​-cuts​-ties​-with​-attorney​-sidney​-powell​-after​-bizarre​-election​-claims (accessed 28 May 2021).
Halliday, Michael A. K., and Ruqaiya Hasan
1989 Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-semiotic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
House of Commons
2019 “Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report.” Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. https://​publications​.parliament​.uk​/pa​/cm201719​/cmselect​/cmcumeds​/1791​/1791​.pdf
McIntyre, Lee
2018 Post-Truth. Boston: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Melley, Timothy
2000 Empire of Conspiracy: The Culture of Paranoia in Postwar America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Muirhead, Russell, and Nancy L. Rosenblum
2019 A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nera, Kenzo, Sarah Leveaux, and S., & Pit P. L. E. Klein
2020 “A ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Conspiracy? A Mixed Methods Investigation of Laypeople’s Rejection (and Acceptance) of a Controversial Label.” International Review of Social Psychology (33:1): 13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
NPR
2017 “Donald Trump’s Press Conference, Annotated.” January 11, http://​www​.npr​.org​/2017​/01​/11​/509137239​/watch​-live​-trump​-holds​-first​-press​-conference​-as​-president​-elect (accessed 13 December 2020).
O’Reilly, Bill
2004 “Defining the Elite Media.” Fox News 8 March, http://​www​.foxnews​.com​/story​/2004​/03​/08​/defining​-elite​-media​.html (accessed 13 December 2020).
Popper, Karl R.
1972 “The Conspiracy Theory of Society.” In Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, 165–168. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Procházka, Ondřej, and Jan Blommaert
2021 “Ergoic Framing in New Right Online Groups: Q, the MAGA Kid, and the Deep State Theory.” Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. 44 (1): 4–36. DOI logo (accessed 13 December 2020).Google Scholar
Rev
2021 “Donald Trump CPAC 2021 Speech Transcript” 28 February, https://​www​.rev​.com​/blog​/transcripts​/donald​-trump​-cpac​-2021​-speech​-transcript (accessed 1 March 2021).
Seargeant, Philip
2020 The Art of Political Storytelling: Why Stories Win Votes in Post-truth Politics. London: Bloomsbury. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taavitsainen, Irma
2001 “Changing Conventions of Writing: The Dynamics of Genres, Text Types, and Text Traditions.” European Journal of English Studies 5 (2): 139–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tandoc, Edson. C., Zheng Wei Lim, and Richard Ling
2018 “Defining ‘fake news’.” Digital Journalism 6: 137–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018 “Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Interim Report” 29 July, https://​publications​.parliament​.uk​/pa​/cm201719​/cmselect​/cmcumeds​/363​/36302​.htm (accessed 13 December 2020).
Uscinski, Joseph E., and Joseph M. Parent
2014 American Conspiracy Theories, Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Uscinski, Joseph E., Klofstad, Casey, and Matthew D. Atkinson
2016 “What drives conspiratorial belief? The role of informational cues and predispositions.” Political Research Quarterly 69 (1): 57–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Leeuwen, Theo
2007 “Legitimation in discourse and communication.” Discourse & Communication 1 (1): 91–112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Varis, Piia
2019 “Conspiracy Theorising Online: Memes as a Conspiracy Theory Genre, Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies, 238. https://​www​.tilburguniversity​.edu​/sites​/default​/files​/download​/TPCS​_238​-Varis​.pdf (accessed 13 December 2020).
Ward, Jon
2020 “How Trump Made 2020 the Year of Disinformation.” Yahoo! News 17 December, https://​news​.yahoo​.com​/how​-trump​-made​-2020​-the​-year​-of​-disinformation​-223602486​.html (accessed 17 December 2020).
Wardle, Claire, and Hossein Derakshan
2017 Information Disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making, Council of Europe, https://​edoc​.coe​.int​/en​/media​/7495​-information​-disorder​-toward​-an​-interdisciplinary​-framework​-for​-research​-and​-policy​-making​.html (accessed 10 January 2022).
Wodak, Ruth
2021 The Politics of Fear. The Shameless Normalization of Far-Right Discourse. Second edition. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Young, Katherine K. and Paul Nathanson
2010 Sanctifying misandry: Goddess ideology and the fall of man. Ithaca: McGill.Google Scholar