Context
Fake news is not a new phenomenon.
In The Long and Brutal History of Fake News, Soll (2016), writing in Politico, states that:
fake news soon became prevalent at the same time that news began to circulate widely, after Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439 and that "real” news was hard to verify in that era.
Although there were many news sources—from official publications by political and religious authorities, to individual eyewitness accounts, there was no concept of journalistic ethics or objectivity.
The rise of internet-generated news seriously challenged journalistic norms, and fake news became a pervasive force. Digital news has brought yellow journalism back to the forefront. Algorithms that create news feeds and compilations have no regard for accuracy and objectivity. At the same time, the digital news trend has decimated the force—measured in both money and human resources—of the traditional, objectively minded, independent press.
Soll concludes that real news is not coming back in any tangible way on a competitive local level, or as a driver of opinion in a world where the majority of the population does not rely on professionally reported news sources and so much news is filtered via social media, and by governments; as real news recedes, fake news will grow.
Research
- American Thought and Culture in the 21st Century Find in Library Find in Worldcat American Thought and Culture in the 21st CenturyThis volume considers the changing patterns of American thought and culture in its transition into the early twenty-first century. One of the questions this book tackles is whether the twenty-first century will prove to be "the next American century", or one in which challenges to the structure of nation-states will radically transform the status, prestige and global role of the United States.
- The Art of Manufactured NewsThis article considers the morphing of news and public relations. Instead of sending out video news releases in hopes that stations and cable networks will air them, PR firms are actually creating the newscast, then buying spots on networks the way a Madison Avenue firm would. If viewers were confused before, they’ll certainly have a hard time discerning news updates from mini-infomercials now.
- Caveat Lector: Fake News as Folklore.We are awash in words and images that sound and look like real news, but are not. This article considers certain kinds of fake news as a genre of digital folklore and attempts to sort out the differences among fake news hoaxes, pranks, satires, and parodies. It offers examples of each and tries to show how fake news functions as folk political commentary or folk media criticism.
- News: The Politics of IllusionToday, the familiar news organizations of the legacy press are operating in a fragmenting and expanding mediaverse. At the same time, the rise of serious investigative organizations such as ProPublica presents yet a different challenge to legacy journalism. The tenth edition of this classic critical overview describes how and why the media and news landscapes are being transformed. Subject areas include "News in a Changing Information System", "News Stories: Four Information Biases That Matter" and "Citizens and the News: Public Opinion and Information Processing".
- Post-truth: Study epidemiology of fake newsThe results of the 2016 US presidential election and the UK vote to leave the European Union (Brexit) have raised questions about the influence of fake online news and social-media "echo chambers". The propagation of such information through social networks bears many similarities to the evolution and transmission of infectious diseases.
- The Role of Journalist and the Performance of Journalism: Ethical Lessons From “Fake” News (Seriously)Some have suggested that Jon Stewart of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report represent a new kind of journalist. We propose, rather, that Stewart and Colbert are imitators who do not fully inhabit the role of journalist. Rather than evaluating the work of Colbert and Stewart in the role of journalists, we propose analyzing their contributions to media ethics in the role of media critics.
- The Routledge Companion to News and JournalismThe Routledge Companion to News and Journalism presents a comprehensive assessment of diverse forms of news media reporting – past, present and future. Including 60 chapters written by of internationally respected authors, the Companion provides scholars and students with a reliable, historically informed guide to news media and journalism studies.
- The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion : Developments in Theory and PracticThis work provides readers with logical, comprehensive summaries of research in a wide range of areas related to persuasion. From a topical standpoint, this handbook takes an interdisciplinary approach, covering issues that will be of interest to interpersonal and mass communication researchers as well as to psychologists and public health practitioners.
- Trefis: Fake News, Farcical Policies, and Phony MarketsIn this article, the author describes his growing frustration with biased political news and relates it market forces, giving trade predictions.
- When Fake News Becomes Real: Combined Exposure to Multiple News Sources and Political Attitudes of Inefficacy, Alienation, and CynicismThis research assesses possible associations between viewing fake news (i.e., political satire) and attitudes of inefficacy, alienation, and cynicism toward political candidates. Using survey data collected during the 2006 Israeli election campaign, the study provides evidence for an indirect positive effect of fake news viewing in fostering the feelings of inefficacy, alienation, and cynicism, through the mediator variable of perceived realism of fake news.