LamarkNewAge writes:
What is behind the "False News" paranoia? Is it paranoia? Does "False News" exist?
I think False/Fake News exists.
I think it's existed long before the last 5 years or so.
I think it's term has sort of been abused lately, though.
It seems to mean "news I don't want to hear about" more than purposefully-inaccurate news, though.
News has it's own built-in method for detecting falsities.
Sort of like science, but not quite as rigorous.
When news is inaccurate - people know about it. They complain and the news agency corrects it.
If too many complain about the same company, or if a company slacks off on making accuracy corrections - people simply go somewhere else for their news.
The dollar talks, and forces news companies to remain accurate.
Do some things slip through the cracks? Absolutely. Some by accident, some on purpose.
Is this anything more than a blip on the radar? No.
Is there a wide-scale, multiple news-agency conspiracy to force inaccurate stories onto the public? Absolutely not. There's too much money to be made proving them to be false and taking over their business.
So, what is the current day usage of "Fake News?"
It's a term used by people who want to say-whatever-they-can in order to make whatever-point-they-want at the moment.
It's usage today, has no connection with 'actually inaccurate news' because accurate news stories are called "Fake News" all the time, most notably by Trump.