Note from the editor:

Nothing in life works without facts.

A society that isn’t sure what’s true can’t function. Without facts there can be no government or law. Science is ignored. Trust evaporates.

People everywhere feel ever more alienated from – and mistrustful of – news and those who make it. We no longer seem to know who or what to believe. We are living through a crisis of ‘information chaos’.

“News: and how to use it” is a glossary for this bewildering age. From AI to bots, from climate crisis to fake news, from clickbait to trolls (and more), here is the definitive user’s guide for how to stay informed, tell truth from fiction and hold those in power accountable in the modern age.