What is Fake News?

Settling on a collective definition for “fake news” is challenging because perspectives naturally differ among members of the two main political parties in the United States.  Bovet and Makse (2019) defined fake news as “fabricated information that disseminates deceptive content, or grossly distorts actual news reports, shared on social media platforms” (p. 2). 

That academic definition may be suitable for liberal voters, but conservatives would see things very differently (Attkisson, 2017).  Many of them mistrust the mainstream media, which they have frequently labeled the “liberal media.”  They are skeptical of any reporting that comes from sources that they perceive as being cozy to Democratic party interests.  For them, reporting that may conflict with their own beliefs is considered “fake news.”  Supporters of the mainstream media argue that the press maintains professional ethics and standards that prevent them from deliberately making up news stories to fit their agenda.  When mistakes do occur, reporters are supposed to be held accountable and risk losing their jobs and livelihoods. 

However, journalists have not always successfully made the case that they adhere to standards and a code of ethics.  For example, on January 20, 2017, Time magazine reporter Zeke Miller tweeted out – incorrectly – that President Trump had removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.  It turned out that the bust was “obscured by a door and an agent” (Sutton, 2017, para. 2).  Miller later said he looked around and when he did not see the bust, he tweeted out the erroneous information without verifying his suspicions.  Miller apologized for the mistake, but the damage was done: the report had made its way into the White House press pool report and was widely shared. 

President Trump seized on the example to suggest that the media are intentionally reporting false information to smear his administration.  Attkisson (2017) observed, “To an outsider, it almost looks like toddlers slinging peas at one another: as fast as reporters manage to call out Trump for supposedly committing fake news, he hits them back with his own examples of their supposed false reports.  Pretty soon, Trump has effectively co-opted the phrase” (p. 273).  By repeatedly referring to the mainstream media as “fake news,” President Trump has weaponized the term (Ashley, Roberts, & Maksl, 2018).  He has used that label for the reporting of stories that he does not like or that are highly critical of his administration.  Nevertheless, this website will examine the impact of fake news or disinformation, the deliberate spreading of false information, through the lens of the academic definition of the phenomenon.