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In 2017, Collins Dictionary's lexicographers named fake news the word of the year because of its widespread use. A prominent part of his political rhetoric, former U.S. President Donald Trump even claimed to have invented the term. But the etymology of the word, according to language experts, gained traction earlier than Trump’s usage in political and media discourse to capture “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.”
Remember that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) has called fake news an “oxymoron” because malicious actors use the term to discredit the credibility of journalists and the news media who publish and broadcast reliable information. The Nazis, for example, called the news media the “Lügenpresse” (lying press). Adolf Hitler used the expression to stigmatize his critics and inflamed hatred against Jews and communists, frequently branding his critics as part of the “Lügenpresse apparatus.”
While the disputed term took off in our collective vocabulary in recent years, fake news is not all that new. Octavian spread disinformation about Marc Antony during the Roman Republic to gain the upper hand in their leadership struggle.
In the 1800s, the penny press dressed up false information as news. Lurid, exaggerated and sensational reporting – so-called “yellow journalism” – circulated during the circulation war of the 1890s between William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World definitely didn’t let facts stand in the way of a good story.
Many newspapers began as actual political party organs. In the early days of the American republic, political parties sponsored their own newspapers. In the early days of the new nation, Federalist newspapers published stories claiming Thomas Jefferson was dead to discourage votes for the third president of the United States. In Canada, the current Globe and Mail came about as the merger in 1936 of the liberal paper (The Globe) and a conservative paper founded by John A. Macdonald (The Mail, later The Mail and Empire).
Video
Video
While misinformation has always been around, it has morphed into something different, more significant - and more troubling – in recent years, as Timothy Caufield explains in this video.
Timothy Caulfield teaches at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law and School of Public Health. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Health and Law Policy. He is a world-leading thinker on misinformation and disinformation.
In this video, you hear about the history of misinformation and how it has changed in recent years. You also learn how the increase in misinformation in recent years has impacted our lives and our democratic society.
Test Your Knowledge
Test Your Knowledge
Answer the questions below and when you're ready reveal the answer
What best defines yellow journalism?
Answer:
True or false, fake news is a relatively new phenomenon?
Answer: False
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