The Invented State

In The Invented State, Emily Thorson argues that a problematic and understudied aspect of misinformation is public misperception about what the government does. Because much of public policy is invisible to the public, there is fertile ground for false beliefs to flourish, leading to what Thorson terms the "invented state": systematic misperceptions about public policy. Contrary to pundits' assumptions of a public who is largely indifferent to policy, there is a deep public desire to learn basic facts about how the government works. Thorson meets that desire with analysis on how the news media can identify and effectively correct substantive policy misperceptions.