What role does language play in the production and proliferation of fake news?

Bedford Room, G37, Ground Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

, 9:30AM – 7:30PM

This conference will focus on the linguistic evolution of fake news from the dawn of journalism to today.
It will offer insights on the dissemination and reception of fake news by addressing an important question: What role does language play in the production and proliferation of fake news?

All times in BST. This is a hybrid event that will be held in person and online.

9:30 – 9:45  Welcome & introduction
Carlotta Paltrinieri (Royal Holloway University of London)

9:45 – 11:15  Keynote
Jo Fox (School of Advanced Study, University of London)

11:15 – 12:30  Panel 1
Wan Liwu (Liaoning University): ‘Practical “Disinformation”: A Communication Interpretation of “Jiatuo” in Ancient China’ [online]
Nicholas Brownlees (University of Florence): ‘Using a newspaper of record for misinformation: the role of translation and the manipulation of news in La Gazette de Londres (1666-1705)’
Peadar Kavanagh (University of Chicago): ‘‘Faux bruits’ and ‘fausses nouvelles’ under Louis XIV:  An Early Modern Discourse on Fake News’ [online]

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch Break (own arrangements)

13:30 – 14:45  Panel 2
Yawen Guo (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) & Tieyu Zhou (University of Amsterdam) & Linyi Gao (University of Amsterdam): ‘Xiaohuamei Incident in Fengxian, Xuzhou, China’ [online]
Ganiyat Tijani-Adenle (Lagos State University) [in person] & Jamiu Folarin (Olabisi Onabanjo University): ‘Discourse Analysis of ‘Fake News’ in Nigeria Socio-Political Lexicon and Public Sphere’ [online]
Chris Miles (Bournemouth University): ‘Rhetorical Strategies of Resistance to Fake News: An Analysis of Beau of the Fifth Column’s YouTube Channel’

Tea & coffee break 

15:00 – 16:15  Panel 3
Masoumeh Rahimi (Vrije Universiteit Brussels): ‘Fake News in Translation: Kayhan’s Representation of the Iran Nuclear Deal in Persian Translations’
David Spieser-Landes (University of North Carolina Wilmington):’Posthuman White Supremacist Rhetoric in Pandemic-Style “fèqueniouze” (Fake News) France’
Helen Murphey (University of St Andrews): ‘Instrumentalising ‘Fake News’ to Quell Unrest: Contesting ‘Fake News’ in a Pseudo-Democratic Context’

16:15 – 17:45  Panel 4
Jean Wyllys (University of Barcelona): ‘The Nation as a Sect: The Role of Disinformation in Processes of Subjectivation’ [online]
Rosana Pinheiro-Machado (University College Dublin): ‘Fake News as a Political Project and Collective Identity in Brazil’ [online]
Francesca Dell’Olio: ‘Fake News and Propagandistic Language in the Rise of Right-wing Governments’
Jamille Pinheiro Dias (ILCS, University of London): ‘The Amazon in the Age of Post-Truth: On Denialism, Pseudoscience and the Climate Crisis’

17:45 – 18:00  Concluding Remarks
Carlotta Paltrinieri (Royal Holloway University of London)

18:00 – 19:30
Reception at Senate House

For more details please check the Conference Website

Contacts: ilcs@sas.ac.uk

Generously supported by the Society for Italian Studies and the Royal Holloway University of London Centre for Visual Cultures

All are welcome to attend this free event which will be held online and in person.  
Attendance fee for the Reception: £5

Please register here (Registration Page). The zoom link will be sent out a week beforehand to all those who register to attend online