Roaming South America

Fake news

June 5, 2018

What is "fake news"?

Just what, exactly, is "fake news"? According to Mirriam-Webster:

"Fake news is, quite simply, news ('material reported in a newspaper or news periodical or on a newscast') that is fake ('false, counterfeit')."

The term actually dates back to the late 18th century, though was rarely used even then. Spreading false propaganda, lies, rumors, and misinformation dates back much further, to the 13th century BC, where we find Rameses the Great spreading false propaganda and lies in regards to the Battle of Kadesh. Even Benjamin Franklin wrote fake news about murderous "scalping" Indians working with King George III in an effort to sway public opinion in favor of the American Revolution. There are written records of such famous people as Marie Antoinette, Joseph Pulitzer, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

We have news articles in legitimate newspapers dating to the 1890's that include the term "fake news". For example:

"Secretary Brunnell Declares Fake News About His People is Being Telegraphed Over the Country."
—Cincinnati Commercial Tribune (Concinnati, OH), 7 Jun. 1890

"The public taste is not really vitiated and it does not in its desire for ‘news’ absolutely crave for distortions of facts and enlargements of incidents; and it certainly has no genuine appetite for ‘fake news’ and ‘special fiend’ decoctions such as were served up by a local syndicate a year or two ago."
—The Buffalo Commercial (Buffalo, NY), 2 May 1891

Prior to those quotations, the term used was "false news", as seen in this quote from 1575:

"Other thinges are in this Court at a good price, or to say it better, very good cheap: that is to wit, cruel lies, false news, vnhonest women, fayned friendship, continuall enimities, doubled malice, vaine words, and false hopes, of which eight things we haue suche abundance in this Courte, that they may set out bouthes, and proclayme faires."
—Antonio de Guevara, The Familiar Epistles of Sir Anthony of Gueuara (trans. By Edward Hellowes), 1575

'If, however, Mr. B. should appear, and not forfeit his recognizance, then that the writer has been guilty of "spreading false news," contrary to law, "no rational man can doubt."'
—Impartial Observer (Richmond, VA), 9 May 1807

"The French press knows little, and under laws which punish "false news," and render a journal liable to suppression if it displeases the executive power, is naturally afraid to say what little it knows."
—The Detroit Free Press, 20 Sept. 1866

From that period of time until November 2016 it was not often used, especially in regards to any of the mainstream news outlets. It has some use in describing such "news"papers as The National Enquirer (and that other one that competed with The Enquirer, but I can't remember the name of it), which everyone knows is fake, but many enjoy reading it anyway. "Fake news" gained some popularity in the early 2000's when it was occasionally used to refer to particular websites, such as Breitbart, The Blaze, and Infowars. Those types of websites create "news" that distorts the facts, or is based on nothing but the writers imagination to drum up feelings of discontent, to sway people's beliefs, and to try to get some people to support them financially.

So what happened in 2016 that finally catapulted the term to the top of just about everyone's minds? November 2016, Donald Trump used the term to describe news releases that did not agree with his opinions.

"The media is really, the word, one of the greatest of all [the] terms I've come up with, is 'fake,'" Trump told former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, CNN reports. The interview took place in October 2017. "I guess other people have used it, perhaps, over the years, but I've never noticed it. And it's a shame. And they really hurt the country. Because they take away the spirit of the country."

Aside from the fact that what Trump says in the above quote is simply ridiculous or senseless, he does claim to have invented the word "fake". Of course he didn't invent a word that dates back more than a few centuries. It is commonly believed he was referring to "fake news", which became his favorite go-to word for anything in the media that did not paint a pretty (positive) picture of him.

The earliest use by Trump of the term "fake new" that I have found is dated Dec. 10, 2016 when he tweeted this: "Reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are ridiculous & untrue - FAKE NEWS!" And he has used the term many hundreds, if not thousands, of times since them.

So, that brings us to today. In today's world the term "fake news" has taken on a new definition: News that does not agree with my beliefs. News that does not paint a pretty picture of what I want to believe is true. Does this match up with the dictionary definition I started this essay with? Not at all. This new definition is the result of a couple years of misuse by the President.

Now I have to ask the people who follow him and believe everything he says - Do you honestly, in your heart, believe that ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, The NY Times, The Wa. Post, etc etc are fake news outlets?

Prior to Trump how many times in your life did you use the term "fake news" for any of those news outlets?

Do you yourself believe wholeheartedly that "fake news" is news you don't agree with? Is my opinion fake becuase it is different from yours? Is your opinion fake because I don't agree with it? Of course not. If what I write, or what you write, were printed in a newspaper column, would they be "fake news"? Of course not. Unless you, or I, made up a legitimately fake story to fool people into believing something that was not true (such as fairy tales, fables, Breitbart News, The National Enquirer all come to mind).

Why is it that only in the last 2 years or so all the main-stream news outlets have become fake? They weren't fake prior to November 2016. Then all of a sudden, boom!, they are all fake news. What's wrong with this picture? If you can't figure that out, then you are indeed closed off to the real world and completely brain-washed by Trump and his proven thousands of lies, his telling you the things you want to hear, and not the actual truth, by his extremism, and you being gullible enough to actually believe

I don't get it. Here is a man who has bazillions of dollars (supposedly), at least a few billion, and is completely out of touch with the middle and lower classes of the US, the "common" man, the working man, yet those are the people who have completely fallen for everything that comes out of his mouth. How many of you were Trump fans before November 2016? How many of you believed everything he said before November 2016? My guess - very few. How did your beliefs relate to his before 2016? How do your beliefs relate to him now?

How many of you voted for him because he was the most qualified for the Presidency? How many of you voted for him because of the words that poured from his mouth? For most of you, voting in the past was either a) vote for the party I am a member of or most relate to, or b) vote for the most qualified person on the ballot. But in November 2016, what happened? The majority of people in the US who voted chose H. Clinton, but the Electoral College voted for Trump, thus putting him in the White House. That's not what the majority of the citizens wanted. That's what the few people in the EC wanted. I believe that is the third time in the history of the country that the EC has chosen a condidate contrary to the popular vote. Obviously, I don't agree with this situation, and I don't think the EC is relevent in the 21st century. But is that going to change? No, because it's in the Constitution, which in the USA, is virtually unchangeable. But it too needs to be updated to better reflect society in the 21st century.

I got off track with that last paragraph, it's just a pet peeve of mine.

In the end, "fake news" is not fake news, it is simply news you don't agree with, so stop using the term "fake news" unless you are referring to The National Enquirer, Breitbart, etc etc. They promote fake news. The majority, by far, of the news on the main stream news outlets (ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, all city/state newspapers, etc) is not "fake news". Get over it, get off the "fake news" bandwagon, and remember that just because you don't agree doesn't mean it is fake. It's not, it's just something you don't agree with. So instead of saying "that's fake news" you should be saying, as you probably did all your life pre-Trump - "I don't agree with that".