The Real Fake News

The term “fake news” has become a phrase bandied about by the current President of the United States and used to mean “a news article which is critical of me and I don’t like”. This usage is both infuriating and damaging but that’s not really what I writing about today. No, there are a couple of other types of “fake news” out there these days which I happen to find almost as infuriating.

The first type is what seems to have become accepted as a valid journalistic practice - clickbait as news. The headlines all have a similar pattern to them and it runs something like this:- “Person (x) did (y) and the internet can't cope / has gone crazy / loves it”. Oftentimes that thing that the person has done doesn’t necessarily reflect the title but that’s not always the problem. My main issue with this type of story is the definition of “the internet”. 

The article in question will back up the main assertion with a selection of quotes from Twitter and this is the part that I object to. What this basically boils down to is that the article’s author has seen something in their Twitter feed and turned it into an article. That does not equate to “the internet” - what it equates to is an attempt by the author to generate something from the subsection of the internet that the author looks at. It’s shameless hyperbole designed to draw you in. It’s not news.

The second example is more insidious. I saw an item on a couple of genuine news sites about the launch of new type of burger at an internationally recognised fast food franchise. A menu change at a multinational company isn’t news - it’s advertising and we’re getting more and more of these ads designed as news every day. Top ten programmes on a streaming service? Advert. Item about a new feature being rolled out a social media network? Advert. Story about a fast food chain closing restaurants due to shortages with a link to list of restaurants that are still open? Advert. And that’s not including the actual adverts which are interspersed with a site’s “news” stories in the same design and typeface as the “real” stories.

I’m not looking to trivialise the presidential bandying around of “fake news” as a means to disrupt any dissenting voices. That Is a problem and we should all be conscious of it. However, the main proponent of this method is such an outlandish cartoon villain that it’s fairly obvious what he’s doing*. I'm also conscious that all news is essentially manufactured anyway as the editors and journalists responsible decide what’s new and what isn’t (and I’m a pretentious git what did a media studies degree a lifetime ago). All I’m saying is that we should be aware of what we’re reading. Don’t just accept a story at face value, even when it’s on a reputedly respectable news site. There is real news out there somewhere.

*Yes, I haven’t named him. His name turns up enough on the internet and any publicity, good or bad, feeds him. Any small thing to deny him that food.