Why The term "Fake News" really bothers me

[Anpu23]

We hear it all of the time....

Fake news this, fake news that.... and often it comes with a political statement that ONLY my news source is legitimate. And we are getting to the point where each party has an approved news source. This is paramount to a state news source. Truth is both sides lie, have issues and twist things to fit their narratives. Ignore inconvenient facts, etc.

In Communist Russia the approved news source was Pravda

Pravda information.

Which translates into the word "Truth" as in the true news, but the Russians had a joke it was "there is no truth in Truth." So every time someone tells me that their news source is the true news source I always think to myself, but there is no truth in Truth.

And I am certainly not saying that any one side is to blame, both political extremes have decried the other sides news as "fake news" or even worse "the enemy" even going so far as to attack news reporters left and right.

The Freedom Of The Press is an important part of democracy, the right to open up discussion is necessary for the continuation of democracy we need to hear the truth and we need to be able to look at other opinions

and without any way to figure out what is real in a scientific, repeatable way we, as a society, will flounder. This is a cliff that we must avoid.

Anyway I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.

Anpu

[A-man-22]

"fake news" comes really for the fact news companies have political views.

News should be impartial or otherwise it can be seen as political brainwashing.

There are a million different ways to report a story.

A left oriented news company with report it differently to a right oriented news company.

Either have a fair share of left and right news companies or make it so they have to be impartial.

The news is very left dominated so having a right minded news channel could help even things out but I'd rather the impartial idea.

[Yessir12]

I think if it can be proved that they lied then they should be criminally prosecuted and banned from ever owning a news station. We can’t let news channels get away with lies.

[Anpu23]

One of the problems with that is that some, or at least one, "news" source has licenced itself as a news entertainment source rather than a news source to avoid legal entanglements.

[CoffeeWC]

For me fake news means the media is biased. And it should be taken. With at least a little speculation.

[Papajohns]

America has had a pretty decent history of reliable news. Companies like Time Magazine and New York Times built huge legacies on journalist integrity and were usually the only reliable places to get news. That changed with the internet. Now anyone can write an article and share it across the world and there is a lot of crazy information out there. That is only made worse by the fact that news institutions have become increasingly politicized and we have a world leader that accuses both sides of being fake. So while the term "fake news" was coined as a political attack against certain institutions, it is not necessarily wrong. Most of the information we have access to is unfiltered and unverified. Until we have a system to fix that, individuals will have to educate themselves on the issues at hand. How scary is that?

[jiffyjeff1029]

The main problem with the mainstream liberal news media is simply this. They take sound bites from Trump speaking and then form a spin to the story that is all a lie.. Basically rip a page out of a book and read it as facts when they have not included the whole speach.
During the 60s and then the 70s when I was growing up the news media just reported the news and let you draw your own conclusions. They didn't hide facts, or not report on subjects that were to be included.
It was a camera and reporter. Like in Vietnam they would take a reporter and embed him with an infantry unit and he would get shot at just like the soldiers. And you would get the whole story with out the political commentary. The fake news is a Trump hating group of people. They don't like him because he's on to their sick propaganda. Trump can't be bribed, blackmailed or controlled and they hate that. And he's actually doing the right thing for the country and it's people

[purplepoppy]

A real journalist and his publisher is subject to many laws and regulations regarding what they can and cannot print. That's not to say they won't be biased or make honest mistakes but they can be held accountable. The problem now is anyway can set up a youtube site or a Facebook page and spout any nonsense they want without any accountability.

[bulletbob555]

I don't like it. So now if its true people doubt it. I'm the US all news is Republican or Democrat leaning. Some are entirely biased to be accurate. News on pbs is not biased towards either. Watching BBC explain something about America I like because they aren't worried about what the president or Congress thinks about them