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It's easy to mock those spouting outlandish and off-base claims on social media networks, but are there more effective ways to counter the spread of misinformation? Our guest Rick Hasen believes there are other solutions to tackling false information – whether it's spread unintentionally or intentionally – which could pave the way for more lasting change. Is it a matter of personal responsibility? Legislative fixes? Media reform? And what about the responsibilities of Big Tech and social media platforms? In this episode, we talk about his latest book, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure It, and some of the legal and political remedies he sees as potential solutions to the threat disinformation poses to our democracy and an informed electorate.GUEST: Rick Hasen, Author, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure ItRichard “Rick” Hasen teaches law and political science at the University of California Irvine, where he also is co-director of the university's Fair Elections and Free Speech Center. His latest book, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics ― and How to Cure It, examines the dangers of disinformation, its viral spread, and the actors that are helping to push it into the mainstream. He is a nationally recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation. He has written more than 100 articles on election law issues, and remedies, in numerous publications. His op-ed and commentary works have appeared in major publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Slate. He is also the author of Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy and Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections.LINKS:Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure It Results of YouGov poll on 2020 U.S. presidential election Public Research Institute poll resultsJan. 6 , 2021 invasion of U.S. CapitolFollow us on Twitter @speakgoodpodCheck out our blogGot an episode idea?
Richard L. Hasen is one of the nation's foremost experts on election law. He teaches law and political science at the University of California-Irvine. He is co-director of the Fair Elections and Free Speech Center. He runs the Election Law Blog. And he has written numerous previous books, including The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown, in 2012, Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court and the Distortion of American Elections in 2016, and Election Meltdown in 2020.Hasen's new book - "Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics - and How to Cure It" - lays out a diagnosis of the problem. "The survival of American democracy depends on the success of free and fair periodic elections in which voters have access to reliable information to make ballot decisions that are consistent with their preferences and interests, and where the losers accept the results as legitimate and agree to fight another day."The entire second half of Hasen's book is a fairly detailed examination of potential ways to ameliorate the problem. Several are legal and regulatory, and then a few have more to do with civil society. In the legal arena, Hasen says that the U.S. Supreme Court is a likely obstacle to several reforms. " Hasen said the court's conservative justices have an “outmoded” view of how to apply the First Amendment's free speech protections that relies on a “marketplace of ideas model in which citizens debate ideas publicly and the truth rises to the top.” Hasen is skeptical that such a purely self-regulating marketplace of ideas has ever existed, but he is adamant that it does not now. “The marketplace of ideas is experiencing market failure,” he writes.He says that the First Amendment is a vital “bulwark against government censorship,” but adds that “the greatest danger today is a public that cannot determine truth or make voting decisions that are based on accurate information, and a public susceptible to political manipulation through repeatedly amplified, data-targeted, election related content, some of it false or misleading.”In this conversation, we talk a little bit about some of his proposed reforms, and why the Supreme Court's conservative justices are a likely obstacle to them. And we also discuss why decisions by social media platforms to remove public figures is not, in his view, censorship. You can listen to Rick's previous appearance on "The Long Game," from July 2020, here. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelonggame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In response to the growing influence of money in politics in recent elections, the Brennan Center hosted a workshop to discuss Professor Rick Hasen’s most recent contribution to the debate – his new book Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections. He was joined by several other leading academics in the field.
Richard L. Hasen has written Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections (Yale University Press, 2016). Hasen is Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. In the midst of the most expensive presidential contest in U.S. history, is money buying access and influence? Are super PACs corrupting the democratic process? Or are eager supporter simply exercising their First Amendment rights? In Plutocrats United, Hasen argues that these may be the wrong questions and the long-standing debate between corruption and free speech – so long a part of constitutional discussions of the issues – is in need of an overhaul. Instead, he suggests that a renewed focus on political equality could reshape the way the country and the Supreme Court considered the role of money in politics. Hasen makes specific policy recommendations for what a new campaign finance regime might look like, and why this new approach would advance the democracy as well as the principle of political equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Richard L. Hasen has written Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections (Yale University Press, 2016). Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. In the midst of the most expensive presidential contest in U.S. history, is money buying access and influence? Are super PACs corrupting the democratic process? Or are eager supporter simply exercising their First Amendment rights? In Plutocrats United, Hasen argues that these may be the wrong questions and the long-standing debate between corruption and free speech – so long a part of constitutional discussions of the issues – is in need of an overhaul. Instead, he suggests that a renewed focus on political equality could reshape the way the country and the Supreme Court considered the role of money in politics. Hasen makes specific policy recommendations for what a new campaign finance regime might look like, and why this new approach would advance the democracy as well as the principle of political equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Richard L. Hasen has written Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections (Yale University Press, 2016). Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. In the midst of the most expensive presidential contest in U.S. history, is money buying access and influence? Are super PACs corrupting the democratic process? Or are eager supporter simply exercising their First Amendment rights? In Plutocrats United, Hasen argues that these may be the wrong questions and the long-standing debate between corruption and free speech – so long a part of constitutional discussions of the issues – is in need of an overhaul. Instead, he suggests that a renewed focus on political equality could reshape the way the country and the Supreme Court considered the role of money in politics. Hasen makes specific policy recommendations for what a new campaign finance regime might look like, and why this new approach would advance the democracy as well as the principle of political equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Richard L. Hasen has written Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections (Yale University Press, 2016). Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. In the midst of the most expensive presidential contest in U.S. history, is money buying access and influence? Are super PACs corrupting the democratic process? Or are eager supporter simply exercising their First Amendment rights? In Plutocrats United, Hasen argues that these may be the wrong questions and the long-standing debate between corruption and free speech – so long a part of constitutional discussions of the issues – is in need of an overhaul. Instead, he suggests that a renewed focus on political equality could reshape the way the country and the Supreme Court considered the role of money in politics. Hasen makes specific policy recommendations for what a new campaign finance regime might look like, and why this new approach would advance the democracy as well as the principle of political equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Richard L. Hasen has written Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections (Yale University Press, 2016). Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. In the midst of the most expensive presidential contest in U.S. history, is money buying access and influence? Are super PACs corrupting the democratic process? Or are eager supporter simply exercising their First Amendment rights? In Plutocrats United, Hasen argues that these may be the wrong questions and the long-standing debate between corruption and free speech – so long a part of constitutional discussions of the issues – is in need of an overhaul. Instead, he suggests that a renewed focus on political equality could reshape the way the country and the Supreme Court considered the role of money in politics. Hasen makes specific policy recommendations for what a new campaign finance regime might look like, and why this new approach would advance the democracy as well as the principle of political equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Richard L. Hasen is Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at UC Irvine School of Law. He is a renowned expert on election law, legislation, remedies, and torts. His newest book is "Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections." In this episode of UCI Law Talks, recorded at a book talk, Prof. Hasen discusses the contentious issue of campaign financing, with commentary by Dean Chemerinsky. In Plutocrats United, Prof. Hasen argues that both left and right avoid the key issue of the new Citizens United era: balancing political inequality with free speech. More about Prof. Hasen: www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/ More about his new book: http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300212457/plutocrats-united
Prof. Rick Hasen discusses his new book, “Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections,” with commentary by Dean Chemerinsky.