APSA Pre-Conference in Political Communication

The Age of MisInformation

30 Aug 2023, UCLA

The APSA Pre-Conference in Political Communication was held at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-organized by scholars at the Communication and Politics Group at UCLA and the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC Chapel Hill. The conference was funded by the Political Communication Division of the American Political Science Association (APSA), CITAP at UNC Chapel Hill, and the Department of Communication at UCLA, with additional reception funding from the Journalism and Political Communication Unbound book series from Oxford University Press.

As the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting Theme Statement notes, “Mis- and disinformation are not new, but these phenomena are becoming increasingly prevalent and problematic across the world.” Political communication scholars are at the forefront of work on mis- and dis-information. Indeed, the subfield has since its inception been concerned with these themes, alongside biases and/or failures in media coverage more generally. A combination of technological development and political change has thrust the problems of mis- and dis-information to the forefront of current debates about media and politics, however – not just within the academy, but in public debate as well. The APSA Pre-Conference in Political Communication accordingly included a series of panels – running throughout the day – focused on the creation, identification, dissemination, causes, and consequences of mis-information and dis-information.

Submissions to the pre-conference were solicited early in 2023, and travel grant applications were made available through the Political Communication section.

The final conference program is available HERE.

The Organizing Committee

Tim Groeling (UCLA), Georgia Kernell (UCLA), Shannon McGregor (UNC) and Stuart Soroka (UCLA)