Fake News: A Dangerous Rhetorical Meme

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, noted for hard-line policies, recently said that what he called "left-wing" Israeli media outlets in Israel of encouraging law enforcement officials to charge him with various crimes. During a speech at a political rally, Netanyahu called this "fake news," echoing President Donald Trump's frequent use of the phrase. "Their purpose," Netanyahu said, "is a governmental coup." Pretty harsh words, no?

Netanyahu & Trump at WH

The term "fake news" has become a rhetorical meme, and dangerous one. There is such a thing as fake news, but the term is now being misused by anyone who dislikes a news story. To a communication specialist, such as me, fake news is a very particular phenomenon. Fake news, which is usually spread on the Internet, comes from agencies and individuals who mimic the appearance and content of real news sites, but which have no news-gathering capabilities at all. A fake news site simply invents stories out of thin air, going to great lengths to make them look like the products of a real news agency. They include headlines, photos, and quotations. The quotations are typically fabricated. Photos are usually unrelated to the actual story. If you look at a fake news site carefully, there is usually a note saying that it is satire and should not be taken seriously.

Ben Franklin, fake news editor

Really bad news reporting is nothing new. Our great founding father, Benjamin Franklin, was regrettably known to publish entirely fabricated stories. I do not recommend following his example in that respect.

There are other kinds of bad news other than fake news. Some news agencies, such as, for example, BBC News and The New York Times, employ professional reporters, carefully fact check what they publish, and withdraw any stories that are discovered to be inaccurate. Some of the supermarket tabloids are, unfortunately, despite their large circulation, sometimes less scrupulous. That does not make them fake news; it simply makes them not as good. They still employ reporters, editors, and so forth, and make at least some effort to get information. That does not mean that readers should believe their stories; it means that they are not fake news. And there are other kinds of bad news stories other than the ones that fake news sites produce.

Nothing should be said in defense of careless news reporting, whether it is fake news or not. For example, Fox News recently published what appears to have been a fabricated story about the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. They withdrew the story after several days. That does not make Fox News a fake news site. It means that they made a bad mistake, published a poorly-researched story, and were slow about correcting it. That was a very poor job of journalism, but it was not fake news. Fox News is a real news agency with reporters, editors, and publishers, who, in this case, did a poor job and published an inaccurate story. A fake news site, in contrast, does not engage in reporting or fact checking, ever. I have never heard of a fake news site withdrawing an inaccurate story. If they withdrew their inaccurate stories, they might have no stories at all.

I want to make it clear that I have no idea whether the news stories about Mr. Netanyahu are correct, nor do I intend to express any opinion about Israeli politics. I do urge audiences, however, to be careful when they hear a speaker use the term "fake news." I also urge speakers to use the term "fake news" more carefully, to avoid misleading the public.

What can the public do? Your best protection is to get news from multiple sources that take multiple viewpoints. People who live in a media bubble will end up believing many silly things.

Official White House Photo by Leslie N. Emory, via Wikimedia 

 Joseph Duplessis - metmuseum.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12154958