‘Post-truth’ was not a new concept when it was selected as the international word of the year (2016) by Oxford Dictionaries. In the context of communications research, scholars were discussing journalism in the ‘post-factual’ age some thirty years ago (Ettema 1987). In the digital era, journalistic practice itself has changed; stories are generated by a multiplicity of actors in a participative and interactive way. This paper contemplates the nature of journalists’ information practices in the 21st century and relates these to the roles of information and social media in civil society. The methodology draws on the findings of pilot research studies investigating journalists’ information practices in the digital realm (Martin 2014; 2015) and investigates the pressures of verification. The author posits that that we are ostensibly living in a ‘post-truth’ society largely due to the impact of changes in the news milieu in the digital age. With so many diverse voices in the mix, it is increasingly difficult for citizens to separate fact from fiction; journalists thus have a role as verifiers. It is crucial for information consumers (citizenry) to have the requisite skills and knowledge to critically evaluate media content and deal with information and communication overload.

中文翻译：

---

新闻，公民社会的验证压力和真相观念

牛津词典（Oxford Dictionaries）将“后真相”作为一个国际年度词汇（2016年）时，它并不是一个新概念。在传播研究的背景下，学者们在三十年前的“事后”时代讨论新闻事业（Ettema 1987）。在数字时代，新闻业本身已经发生了变化。故事是由众多演员以参与和互动的方式产生的。本文考虑了21世纪记者信息实践的性质，并将其与公民社会中信息和社交媒体的作用联系起来。该方法借鉴了对新闻记者在数字领域的信息实践进行调查的初步研究结果（Martin 2014； 2015），并调查了验证的压力。作者认为，表面上我们生活在一个“后真理”的社会中，很大程度上是由于数字时代新闻环境变化的影响。各种各样的声音混杂在一起，公民越来越难以将事实与小说区分开。因此，记者可以充当验证者的角色。对于信息消费者（公民）来说，拥有必要的技能和知识来严格评估媒体内容并处理信息和通信过载至关重要。