The New Censorship

A ground-breaking guide to how the media's self-censorship in the face of populist politics threatens democracy.

'Riveting' - Arash Azizi, The Atlantic
'Exceptional' - Michael Hauser-Tov, Haaretz
'Profound, compelling, and fascinating' - Emily Maitlis, The News Agents

As we find ourselves in a time of democratic decay all over the world, with relentless attempts to undermine truth and facts and unprecedented technological tools to spread disinformation and incite violence, brave journalism is needed more than ever.

In The New Censorship esteemed academic, former journalist and activist Ayala Panievsky focuses on the unfortunate and unexpected mechanisms through which today's media has inadvertently amplified the anti-democratic movement that looms over our societies. From the birth of 'the strategic bias' to weaponising liberal norms against liberal democracy, the populist right has found a way to exercise a more effective and socially acceptable type of silencing and manipulation. Instead of banning stories, they spread flows of disinformation, which take hours and days to debunk. Instead of silencing, they shout louder. Instead of blue-pencilling, they employ fake users, bots, and outrageous smear campaigns to dominate the conversation. Heavy-handed censorship is unnecessary when one can manipulate people to censor themselves, or simply stop listening.

Based on cutting-edge empirical research, personal experience in newsrooms and parliament corridors and a decade of living under populism in power in Israel, Panievsky will not only explain how we got here but also lay out what we all could (and should) do to restart the conversation and protect our right to know.