The events surrounding the 2016 US presidential election threw a spotlight on the realities of political communication in a contemporary media landscape. Since then, the themes of that period — fake news, media manipulation, foreign influence, domestic extremism — have become a distinct and urgent area of inquiry. Today, with another contentious election looming, political rhetoric is again ramping up and new technologies are casting a shadow over public deliberation. To understand these problems, we’re fortunate to be able to turn to the rigorous research done over the last decade to understand these problems — and the experts who produced that work and continue to build on it.

In this four-part series, members of our research network reflect on their influential work on mis- and disinformation in the context of today’s challenges, laying out some essential questions and insights to bolster public discourse in fraught times.​