Fake news

‘Fake news’ has become a household term in contemporary discourse. A review of the Nexis Uni database shows that, in any given week, it appears in dozens of news stories in elite newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post, and in hundreds of segments across American television media.

In the first 10 days following Nancy Pelosi’s announced impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, 'fake news' was referenced in relation to 'Trump' and 'impeachment' in nearly 1,200 newsprint articles in English-language media.

Following the announcement of the impeachment inquiry, Trump dismissed as 'fake news' any reporting claiming he sought to extort Ukraine’s president to obtain political information against Democratic Presidential frontrunner Joe Biden. Brian Klaas at the Washington Post responded that Trump was pushing a “fake scandal” of his own by claiming Biden intimidated Ukraine’s government to fire a prosecutor bringing charges against Burisma Holdings, for which his son worked.

As this back-and-forth suggests, there is disagreement about what 'fake news' actually means. But the risk endemic in exchanges like these is that 'fake news' is defined simply through partisan politicking. It becomes a rhetorical tool for those holding power to settle grudges against their enemies.

In a perverse 'post-fact' political-media landscape, it’s difficult to find a workable definition of fake news. Even tabloid 'news', despite its blatantly fraudulent and sensationalist format, is deemed credible, as seen in reporting that Trump sought to “buy all the dirt on him collected by the tabloid National Enquirer” for fear that these stories would damage his credibility in the 2016 electoral race.

I sought to inquire into the public meaning of fake news, to understand how Americans engage in the concept. I reviewed the two most authoritative surveys done on the subject – the June 2018 NORC national survey and the January 2018 Knight Foundation survey – and supplemented them with my own original survey, conducted through Harris Polling in August 2019.

Knight’s polling results provide some indication of what Americans think is fake news. The most commonly accepted definition – shared by 48 percent of Americans – is that fake news is journalists “knowingly portraying false information as if it were true.” It is rare to be able to demonstrate this level of deception among journalists. It does happen on occasion, however, for example when former New York Times reporters Jayson Blair admitted to fabricating stories out of thin air in relation to mass shootings and war.

According to Knight, the second most common definitions of fake news – both held by 35 percent of Americans – are when journalists report stories “before they check all their facts and sources to be sure they are accurate,” and when they “slant” their stories “to promote a certain point of view.” The concerns with slant and failed fact-checking are understandable, in a political era where “Russiagate” can become a major political scandal before the FBI even released its findings regarding the claims of Trump’s collusion with the Russian government to impact the 2016 election.

Finally, just 28 percent of Americans agree fake news is “accurate stories casting a politician or political group in a negative light.” This definition comes closest to Trump’s, as he has explicitly linked “fake news” to any reporting that’s critical of his administration. Perhaps the most egregious example of this practice is found in Trump’s Twitter feed, where he complains:

“The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?”

This lament is astounding, but unsurprising in a post-truth era, in which “negativity” and “false” are synonymous in the Trump administration’s attacks on the press.

Excerpted from: 'Fake News in Trump’s America'.

Courtesy: Counterpunch.org