The Transformation of Media Discourse in the Post-Truth Era: Hate Speech, Algorithms and the Ethics of Responsibility

Abstract

The paper examines the transformation of media discourse in the post-truth era, where objective facts are replaced by emotional and identity-driven narratives. The author analyzes the phenomenon of the "attention economy," which prioritizes emotional engagement as a primary resource. Drawing on the theories of Niklas Luhmann, Zygmunt Bauman and Michel Foucault, the article discusses the media construction of reality, the increase of moral distance and the principle of the "digital panopticon."

Special focus is placed on Shoshana Zuboff’s theory of "radical indifference" and the mechanisms of algorithmic manipulation, which lead to the devaluation of the ethics of responsibility and the dehumanization of the "Other" as a subjective entity. The study concludes by substantiating the necessity of "existential media literacy" as a vital condition for shaping a new, responsibility-based media culture.