Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) director Kathleen Hall Jamieson appeared on the PBS show “The Open Mind” this week to discuss cyberwar, hacking, and internet trolls with host Alexander Heffner.
Jamieson discussed the findings of her book, “Cyberwar: How Russians Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President,” which draws on polling data, academic research on political campaigns, communication, agenda setting, and voter choice to determine what impact troll posts and hacked content may have had on the outcome of the 2016 election.
“One of the things that I’m concerned about is that we learn all the lessons we can from 2016,” Jamieson noted, going on to say that while the social media platforms have been subjected to high scrutiny and have started to put some changes in place, she would “like to see them do more.” She stressed the importance of holding the press accountable as well, noting that, “It’s the reporters I’m actually most concerned about not being self aware of the extent to which they played a role in becoming accomplices in the Russians activities,” and also suggested a moratorium on the term “fake news” in favor of the more accurate “viral deception” or VD.
Click here for the full video and transcript from “The Open Mind.”
