What exactly is fake news?

We've all been hearing about Fake News recently, it's a phrase most of us here at ATS have become familiar with. It's when the big news agencies (the BBC in this example) get their teeth into phenomena like this that word of it spreads to those less inquisitive souls who are spoon fed whatever the MSM tells them. Of course, all eyes are on Ttump just now and he's shouting out loud about Fake News louder than anyone else.

The first time I heard the term Fake News it was in relation to something one of the MSM outlets had reported on and, in fact that was the pattern that followed until I happened to catch a bit of a report by the BBC News about all this yesterday. This article seems to be the closest written piece on the issue (although the Beeb has a few stories dedicated to Fake News now)

The deliberate making up of news stories to fool or entertain is nothing new. But the arrival of social media has meant real and fictional stories are now presented in such a similar way that it can sometimes be difficult to tell the two apart.

While the internet has enabled the sharing of knowledge in ways that previous generations could only have dreamed of, it has also provided ample proof of the line, often attributed to Winston Churchill, that "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on".

So with research suggesting an increasing proportion of US adults are getting their news from social media, it's likely that more and more of us are seeing - and believing - information that is not just inaccurate, but totally made up.

There are hundreds of fake news websites out there, from those which deliberately imitate real life newspapers, to government propaganda sites, and even those which tread the line between satire and plain misinformation.

The BBC is basically saying that all Fake News comes from Social Media and sites dedicated to Fake News. This coming from a corporation who, during the Scottish Referendum, peddled Fake News about things like Pensions (among other things). They would repeat the things Better Together were saying (Pensions were under risk if Scotland went Independent) and the nation would lap it up, all the pensioners who don't use Social Media, who believe the BBC word-for-word were taken in by this. Only by turning to Social Media and alternative news sources was the truth (Pensions would have been perfectly safe in an Independent Scotland). This isn't the only time the BBC has been caught out peddling Fake News either, these examples come from Wiki page on BBC Controversies...

Fake child labour footage in Bangalore
The BBC's 50-year-old flagship weekly current affairs programme Panorama had aired a documentary claiming that Bangalore-based suppliers of Primark, a hugely successful retailer with 220 stores across Europe, were using child labour in their production in 2008. Primark could review its decision to cancel contracts. The claim has been found to be untrue and the BBC has apologised to Primark admitting mistake. Responding to Primark's protest, the BBC conceded in a 49-page report that footage of three boys engaged in completing garments for Primark was "more likely than not" to have been "not genuine" after a three-year internal inquiry.

Fake "dog sentenced to stoning" story

The BBC News website featured a story claiming that a dog had been sentenced to death by stoning by an Israeli court. It later transpired that the story was untrue. The story had been sourced from AFP and had originated from Israel's Maariv newspaper as a hoax story.

The BBC published a retraction and an explanation.

I'm sure if I did some more digging I could find even more examples of the BBC punting Fake News if I had the time. All this leads me to ask a couple of questions, first of all are the BBC trying to get Britain to believe that Fake News only comes from Alternative News Sites and Social Media to distract from the fact they have been caught out, on several occasions, of being responsible for Fake News? And, the question that I ask in my thread title, what exactly is Fake News?

I look forward to reading your thoughts...

a reply to: djz3ro

Put enough bias into a story and I consider it fake news. Journalism should answer the Who, What, Why, When and How. If these are not in the story, why are they leaving them out?
I'd call the BBC story on fake news fake news itself, in no way to I see the mainstream media innocent in perpetrating this crime.

I'll use this for an example, it's headline is misleading and they knew it when they put it up.
They claim issues are 'unclear', well they should have cleared it up before publishing, I'm sure they knew exactly what the judges order meant, it wasn't hard to figure out. Misleading and biased article... fake news...suits their agenda....

Federal court halts Trump’s immigration ban

The Verge

Information is all it is. All of it. Fact or fiction, all information. I this brand spanking new world of rapid access information where we flip our hand held and connect to some cyberweb of curiousity has opened us all up to momentous questions of existential proportions. Fact and fiction and is there anything between, know what I mean?

For hundreds of thousands of years, we grouped in small tribal groups and the level of information was regulated by the immediate surroundings of the tribes. Cut forward to a hundred years ago and people were still reading at night by candle and lamp. Cut to forty years ago and people could have basically one wall mounted telephone in their homes.

Sixty years ago some people had one small tv in their homes. Black and white. Three stations and test pattersn all night long. Information flooded from it and it's older step brother radio, it's been around for about a hundred.
So we cruise along for hundreds of thousands of years, everybody having access to limited amounts of information, living out their lives with others who have the same access to the same information .

Our entire history mentally speaking is being turned up side down in a matter of a few generations and a wave of entropy is crashing towards us and we are squabbling over half of us can't tell fact from fiction and the other half fiction from fact. its a madhouse.

We need to realize that the rapid advances in our information and communication technologies have taken us all to a world spanning craps game and the dice have been rolled.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Three stations and test pattersn all night long. Information flooded from it and it's older step brother radio, it's been around for about a hundred.

Friends had common ground to talk about back then. Odds were they watched the same shows. Now with hundreds of channels to choose from, good luck finding someone that picked the same as you did. Great post, you described this modern information age well.

Just keep in mind this one thing when asking a question: What is fake news?

a reply to: djz3ro

When confronted,always best to use common sense,these people are experts at pulling people in telling them things they want to hear,while slipping the BS in,they trend towards liberal's who believe anything said in their favor,facts irrelavent

To put it most simply, fake news is a news report delivered to the general public that does not use objective or respectful journalism in it's content.

Fake news is reporting an event in such a way as to manipulate the public to a specific ideology through the use of clever "spin" wording or a propagandized approach. It is biased reporting.

Fake news can be as little as one person's opinion stated as fact without basis, research or support through resources or other references and can even be whittled down to a commercial. Ex: "This Superfood can add 20 years to your life!"

Remember Bat Boy!!! from the World Weekly News you see in the supermarkets? Same thing, but classier and much more sneaky.

originally posted by: D8Tee
a reply to: djz3ro
Put enough bias into a story and I consider it fake news. Journalism should answer the Who, What, Why, When and How. If these are not in the story, why are they leaving them out?
I'd call the BBC story on fake news fake news itself, in no way to I see the mainstream media innocent in perpetrating this crime.

I tend to agree with you and you have a good point about this also being fake news...

The media repeating over and over again that this is a Muslim ban even though it clearly is not.

originally posted by: djz3ro
What exactly is fake news?

It appears to be anything critical of Trump, like 'unfair'...

originally posted by: namelesss

originally posted by: djz3ro
What exactly is fake news?

It appears to be anything critical of Trump, like 'unfair'...

Being critical of trump is fine. Why do you think that gives you and your media a pass to blatantly lie? The media is clearly partisan and in the tank for Democrats. We went from an 8-year honeymoon with the president to trying to destroy the president before he even took the oath.

Anything that doesn't agree with the right is fake news. Plain and simple

a reply to: djz3ro

Websites and TV media make statements that are hooks to get you to click on the story or wait for the commercials to end to see the story. The hooks sometimes contain half-truths and exaggerations to keep the audience engaged. Rush Limbaugh says outrageous things to keep his audience spitting mad. Alex Jone's InfoWars is famous for exaggerating the implications of facts.

It's all entertainment. It's all about ratings. It has nothing to do with reality or real news.

a reply to: djz3ro

Any news that deviates from the truth,even if it has some facts that are true,the reason was for a diversion,one thing out of fact then news is fake,not the truth

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

That is a pretty succinct description of things there and I agree with you...

originally posted by: Skywatcher2011
Just keep in mind this one thing when asking a question: What is fake news?

love it, i used this graphic to advetise my Karaoke sessions once haha

I can say with some degree of certainty that the BBC are indeed punting this fake news article in a bid to make the more sheep-like followers of theirs think 'Fake News' is an online phenomenon. Make them trust the BBC more...

originally posted by: D8Tee
a reply to: djz3ro

Put enough bias into a story and I consider it fake news. Journalism should answer the Who, What, Why, When and How. If these are not in the story, why are they leaving them out?
I'd call the BBC story on fake news fake news itself, in no way to I see the mainstream media innocent in perpetrating this crime.

I'll use this for an example, it's headline is misleading and they knew it when they put it up.
They claim issues are 'unclear', well they should have cleared it up before publishing, I'm sure they knew exactly what the judges order meant, it wasn't hard to figure out. Misleading and biased article... fake news...suits their agenda....

Federal court halts Trump’s immigration ban

The Verge

It's not fake just because the reader fails to discern between fact and opinion. It's not the changing face of MSN, it's been biased and opinionated from the get go. What most are calling fake news is really just differing opinions and opposing points of view.

originally posted by: TheBulk
The media repeating over and over again that this is a Muslim ban even though it clearly is not.

Couldn't agree more, I've also seen Christian Families knocked back in news reports too. I can't say I really support it but he's doing what he promised to do...

a reply to: djz3ro

“[The English language] becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts... if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
― George Orwell, Politics and the English Language