Fake news: where there’s smoke, there might be a fog machine.
Far gone are the days when mainstream news outlets were widely trusted sources. In 2020, “truth” is more often experienced as a nebulous political construct than a lack of fiction. Fact checking is ignored because the narrative does not require it. Fake news is not a monolith, it is a process; reporting, or lack thereof, becomes the story itself.
When talking about fake news, it’s important to understand that the phrase has several potential meanings, each of which has different implications and impacts on journalism. “Fake news” can refer to satire, mistakes or fabrications, partisan clickbait and political manipulation. It is also used as a general criticism of media outlets and practices, especially by current political leaders. There is some overlap of these categories.
In the case of satire, authors tell stories that might mimic the format of a legitimate news story, but the content is humorous fiction. Satire news sites like The Onion and Clickhole often attempt to “punch up” with biting social commentary and sarcasm. (“Satire” that punches down against individuals and groups who are already marginalized and disenfranchised is anything but- real satire attempts to pull the rug out from under people and groups in positions of power by knocking them down from a social pedestal. When no such pedestal exists, “satire” is just a haughty regurgitation of bigotry.) When outlandish satirical headlines manage to pass for fact at first glance, readers might stop to consider what circumstances have led society to a point of such deep suspension of disbelief that troubling and confusing realities go unquestioned.
Some news contains honest mistakes or errors. When responsibly addressed and corrected, these problems generally do not constitute fake news for long. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some news contains intentional fabrications. These kinds of fabrications are meant to mislead rather than entertain or spark discussion, as is the case with satire.
Even the most information-literate readers can sometimes fail to pick up on fabrications when learning from a source they believe to be reputable. It’s important to hold ever news outlet accountable to the same level of accuracy regardless of political alignment or a history of accuracy.
Partisan clickbait is a more outrageous form of misleading content that, while not always completely inaccurate, is used to entice readers with particular political view or values into reading. This content has a very obvious slant. Authors of this kind of content might use it as a bad faith attempt to sway readers to a belief. They might also use it in order to garner advertising money based on viewership
One form of fake news that has become synonymous with the 2016 presidential election is foreign political manipulation. Ties between Donald Trump and Russia have been a matter of investigation for the past several years with prominent accusations of voting manipulation and fraud.
Consequently, the final form of fake news is an accusation often leveled by the president himself. Some political leaders criticize any negative publicity they receive, including information that has been independently fact checked and verified, as partisan witch hunting and media bias. There are many nonpartisan fact checking organizations that attempt to level the playing-field regarding fake news, one of the most well known (and often cited as the oldest) being Snopes. Others include FactCheck.org, which was created by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University during the early 2000s as a fact-checking source for federal-level politicians.
Knowing how to spot fake news is not always cut and dry, but taking steps to validate information before spreading it goes a long way in the fight for facts.
