Fake News

The term fake news, once used to describe satirical news and parody that no one was meant to believe, became topical when it was used to describe invented, unreliable, or incorrect information circulating as news during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. At one level, fake news became the descriptor for a range of misleading or deceptive information emanating from untrustworthy websites, often purporting to be legitimate news outlets. But the fake news phrase was also adopted by U.S. President Donald Trump during his campaign and subsequent victory as a means[Page 596] of deriding and downplaying personal criticism in the media. The immediate impact of President Trump’s use of the term was to reinforce a growing sense among some members of the public that the mainstream ...