Fake News

As long as people have communicated, “fake news” has circulated with real news.

Misinformation is incorrect information distributed by those who believe it is true. Fake news is false information that people disseminate intentionally, knowing it is untrue, in order to deceive others or cause harm. Both circulate in abundance. When legitimate media outlets make a mistake, they correct themselves with a statement or retraction. The skill with which fake news purveyors deceive readers, listeners and viewers resists anyone’s attempts to set the record straight. This difference between misinformation and false information is a vital distinction.

Fake news is nothing new. Whether it’s rumors and gossip spread by word of mouth, yellow journalism, satire, hoaxes or tabloids, people have long used deliberate untruths for entertainment, profit, persuasion and provocation. Benjamin Franklin was famous for his 18th-century hoaxes and satires. Some journalists deliberately turned voters against Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 election by stoking fears of miscegenation, a word they invented to describe the mixing ...