Despite being a widespread problem in countries in the Global South, the study of disinformation remains dominated by examples, case studies and models from the Global North. Knowledge about the various manifestations of disinformation, the range of responses and success rate of interventions to counter disinformation remains fragmented and partial.

In order to gain a better understanding of the knowledge gaps and areas where further research is required, as well as to identify opportunities for inter- and intra-regional cooperation, more research into the types of disinformation, the social factors enabling its spread, and possible contextually relevant interventions is needed.

This talk will provide an overview of some of these research efforts.

International Affairs faculty Sean Jacobs will moderate this event.

Speaker Bio:

Herman Wasserman is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and currently a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Houston. He has published widely on the media in Africa. His latest book is "Media, Conflict and Democracy in Africa" (Oxford University Press) and the forthcoming co-edited collection (with Dani Madrid-Morales), "Disinformation in the Global South" (Wiley-Blackwell. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa. He is Editor-in-Chief of African Journalism Studies and the Annals of the International Communication Association. He currently leads a multi-regional study on Information Disorder in the Global South supported by the Canada’s International Development Research Centre (some of the material in the talk will be drawn from that study).