Fake news in the United States

According to the website of the Cambridge English Dictionary, the term fake news "is frequently used to describe a political story which is seen as damaging to an agency, entity, or person. However, . . . it is by no means restricted to politics, and seems to have currency in terms of general news."[1] False news has been defined as "political speech."[2] This article treats of both, within the context of the United States.

Editorial from The Daily Democrat of Hamilton, Ohio, January 27, 1893, defining fake news
See also: False advertising, Fake news, and Fake news websites in the United States

18th Century

In 1762, the Grand Assembly of Virginia enacted the following law to punish "divulgers of false news."

Be it enacted, That what person or persons soever shall forge and divulge such false reports, tending to the trouble of the country, shall be, by next Justice of the Peace, sent for, and bound over to the next County Court, where, if he produce not the author, he shall be fined two thousand pounds of tobacco, (or less) if the Court thinks fit to lessen itt [sic], and besides, give bond for his behavior, if itt appears to the Court that he did maliciously publish and invent it.[3]

19th Century

Pre-Civil War

1809: Insurrections likely

On December 6, 1809, U.S. Representative George W. Campbell of Tennessee, in a speech on the House floor, said that:

Your publick prints teemed with falsehoods, and misstatements on this subject; insurrections were announced in some quarters of the union as likely to take place, and dreadful stress stated to prevail every where. These groundless misrepresentations, circulated for party purposes alone, went abroad, and had, no doubt, considerable influence on the conduct of foreign nations.[4]

1830: Electioneering

The Argus of Western America, Frankfort, Kentucky, related on November 10, 1830, that:

The practice of giving false news for electioneering purposes, in this country, originated with the "National" Intelligencer. Its servile co-workers abroad, of the [Henry] Clay school of politics, have adopted it, and the confident tone in which they now utter falsehoods, proves that the opposition rest their hopes of success upon the gullibility of their readers. . . . Those Siamese twins, the "National" Journal and "National" Intelligencer, of this city [Washington], are constantly in the habit of playing into each others hands by giving false news to their readers. [All italics are in the original.][5]

1840: Van Buren 'victory'

After the 1840 election, the New York Commercial Advertiser opined that

The Van Buren leaders of this city have much to answer for, in regard to the false news of success which they dispatched to the South on Friday. In Washington the office-holders were thrown into a delirium of joy, and fell into the most extravagant antics. Mr. Van Buren himself was heard to declare "that he was now certain of success, for I now know," he added, "that New York is mine!" [Italics are in the original.] He awoke from his reverie, probably, at half past 11 o'clock yesterday morning."[6]

1848: Cuba negotiations

In December 1848, the Heraldo newspaper of Madrid, Spain, denied a report in the New York Herald that the United States was in negotiations with Spain to purchase the island of Cuba. The Heraldo chastised "Anglo-American" newspapers as being "famous, throughout the world, for the false news and dates which they delight to propagate, adorned with a thousand details, intended to give them an appearance of truth."[7]

During the Civil War

1861: Telegraphers

An 1861 editorial in the Memphis Daily Avalanche of Tennessee recommended legislating "a penal offense to send false news over the telegraph line." The editorial noted, however, that it would be "unjust to reproach the telegraph company or agents, for the telegraph is a simple agent for the conveyance of news, and is no more responsible for what is sent over the wires than a horse which conveys false news in the mails. . . . The telegraphers are much annoyed when they are forced by their position to send or receive false news, known by them to be false."[8]

1863: Stock speculations on reported victory

Under a headline reading "Government Connivance at the Transmission of False News Reports," the Burlington (Vermont) Sentinel complained on May 22, 1863, that "disgraceful falsehoods" had been "telegraphed throughout the country regarding the state of affairs in the army and its movements" and that the reason for them "is pretty correctly hinted at by the N.Y. Evening Post, which claimed that cabinet stock speculations were at the bottom of this false information."[9]

The Independent of New York City stated:[9]

It is difficult to dismiss the suspicion that some pretty high parties have been attempted to operate in the gold market. [Italics in the original.] Correspondents here endeavored in vain yesterday to telegraph to their friends that there was not a word of truth in the wild stoies . . . but the government censor would not permit the denial! This is certainly very strange. [Italics in the original.]

The Springfield Republican was quoted as saying: "While the most ridiculous stories about the capture of Richmond were flying through the northern towns, no newspaper correspondent here was allowed the privilege of denying the false rumors. [Italics in the original].[9]

1865-1889

1879: Jay Gould accused
Cartoon from Puck, 1882, depicting Wall Street as "Jay Gould's Private Bowling Alley"

The New York Tribune was charged by The (Philadelphia) Times on November 26, 1879, with printing and editorially endorsing "false news" that brought about "the financial crisis of last week, which took several millions of dollars out of the pockets of men of moderate means to place this vast sum in the strong boxes of Mr. [Jay] Gould and his fellow conspirators on Wall Street." (Financier Gould was principal owner of the Tribune.) According to the Philadelphia Times, the New York Evening Post, however, did "the cause of honest journalism a good service in unearthing a statute which seems to fit the case of . . . Gould exactly." The law forbade anybody from circulating "false intelligence, with the intent of depreciating or advancing the market price" of stocks, bonds, merchandise or commodity. The penalty was set at a fine of "not exceeding five thousand dollars and imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years, or either."[10]

The Philadelphia Times continued:

It would be well for . . . Gould to paste this law in his hat. His enormous profits on his last speculation, through the dissemination of false news, would enable him to pay the fine without pain to his pocket, but the imprisonment would give him some discomfort and the country some satisfaction.[10]

1884: Election results

Five years later, the New York Tribune was accused by The Journal of Commerce with "willful and deliberate forgery" in printing "false news" concerning New York State's results in the 1884 Presidential election. The New-York Times urged that the State legislature should "so amend the law as to bring within its provisions the most mischievous and flagitious of all the varieties of the offense of willfully publishing false news."[11]

1890-1899
Main article: Fake news in the United States in the 1890s

False news was recognized as a problem in the United States in the 1890s. One editorialist wrote in 1896 that:

The American newspapers are fairly beating their own record at the present time in their success in getting up sensations and setting afloat fake news. . . . our people are in a frame of mind which accepts without question the most absurd statements the mind of man can conceive, and even try to invent excuses for their credulity.[12]

Twentieth Century

Twenty-first Century
During a joint news conference, President Trump said he was "very proud" to hear Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro use the term "fake news".[13]

Fake news in the United States became a global subject and was widely introduced to billions as a prominent issue, especially due to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][22] President Donald Trump tweeted or retweeted posts about "fake news" or "fake media" 176 times as of December 20, 2017, according to an online archive of all of Trump's tweets.[23] Governmental bodies in the U.S. and Europe started looking at contingencies and regulations to combat fake news specially when as part of a coordinated intelligence campaign by hostile foreign governments.[24][25] Online tech giants Facebook and Google started putting in place means to combat fake news in 2016 as a result of the phenomenon becoming globally known.[26][27] Google Trends shows that the term "fake news" gained traction in online searches in October 2016.[28]

Professor Philip N. Howard of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford studied web traffic in the United States prior to the election. He found that about one half of all news on Twitter directed at Michigan was junk or fake, and the other half came from actual professional news sources.[29]

According to BuzzFeed, during the last three months of the presidential campaign, of the top twenty fake election-related articles on Facebook, seventeen were anti-Clinton or pro-Trump. Facebook users interacted with them more often than with stories from genuine news outlets.[30]

Debate over the impact of fake news in the election, and whether or not it significantly impacted the election of the Republican candidate Donald Trump, whom the most shared fake stories favored,[31][32] led researchers from Stanford to study the impact of fake news shared on social media, where 62% of U.S. adults get their news from. They assessed that 8% of readers of fake news recalled and believed in the content they were reading, though the same share of readers also recalled and believed in "placebos" — stories they did not actually read, but that were produced by the authors of the study. In comparison, over 50% of the participants recalled reading and believed in true news stories. The authors do not assess the final impact of these numbers on the election, but seek to "offer theoretical and empirical background" for the debate.[33]

In the United States in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, fake news was particularly prevalent and spread rapidly over social media by "bots", according to researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute.[34][35] In a speech shortly after the election, former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton warned of the "real-world consequences" of fake news.[36] Shortly thereafter, in the early weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump frequently used the term "fake news" to refer to traditional news media, singling out CNN.[37] Linguist George Lakoff says this creates confusion about the phrase's meaning.[38] According to CBS 60 Minutes, President Trump may use the term fake news to describe any news, however legitimate or responsible, with which he may disagree.[29]

After Republican Colorado state senator Ray Scott used the term as a reference to a column in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the newspaper's publisher threatened a defamation lawsuit.[39][40]

In December 2016, an armed North Carolina man, Edgar Maddison Welch, traveled to Washington, D.C., and opened fire at the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria, driven by a fake online news story known as the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which accused the pizzeria of hosting a pedophile ring run by Democratic Party leaders.[41] These stories tend to go viral quickly. Social media systems, such as Facebook, play a large role in the broadcasting of fake news. These systems show users content that reflects their interests and history, leading to fake and misleading news. Following a plea agreement with prosecutors, Welch pleaded guilty to the federal charge of interstate transport of firearms and a District of Columbia charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. Welch was sentenced to four years in prison on June 22, 2017 and agreed to pay $5,744.33 for damages to the restaurant.[42]

A situation study by The New York Times shows how a tweet by a person with no more than 40 followers went viral and was shared 16,000 times on Twitter.[43] The tweet concluded that protesters were paid to be bussed to Trump demonstrations and protest. A Twitter user then posted a photograph of two buses outside a building, claiming that those were the Anti-Trump protesters. The tweet immediately went viral on both Twitter and Facebook. Fake news can easily spread due to the speed and accessibility of modern communications technology.

A CNN investigation examined exactly how fake news can start to trend.[44] There are "bots" used by fake news publishers that make their articles appear more popular than they are. This makes it more likely for people to discover them. "Bots are fake social media accounts that are programmed to automatically 'like' or retweet a particular message."[45]

An investigation by The Michigan Daily in October 2019 into statewide networks of conservative-leaning, pseudo local news sites, published by Locality Labs and the Metric Media Foundation, revealed connections between the operation and Dan Proft, the Liberty Principles PAC, and the Nexstar Media Group. Metric Media is reportedly planning on creating more sites across the nation in what critics have dubbed a disinformation campaign that may be attempting to influence 2020 elections.[46]

Fraudulent stories during the 2016 U.S. presidential election included a viral post popularized on Facebook that Pope Francis had endorsed Trump, and another that actor Denzel Washington "backs Trump in the most epic way possible".[47][48] Trump's son and campaign surrogate Eric Trump, top national security adviser Michael Flynn, and then-campaign managers Kellyanne Conway and Corey Lewandowski shared fake news stories during the campaign.[49][50][51][52]

Starting in July 2017, the 2020 presidential campaign launched Real News Update, an online news program posted on Facebook. The series reports on Trump's accomplishments as president of the United States and claims to highlight "real news" as opposed to alleged "fake news". Lara Trump introduced one video by saying "If you are tired of all the fake news out there...we are going to bring you nothing but the facts" and "I bet you haven't heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week, because there's so much fake news out there".[53] The show was labeled as "propaganda".[54]

In January 2018, it was reported that a Gallup-Knight Foundation survey found that 17% of Democrats and 42% of Republicans "consider accurate news stories that cast a politician or political group in a negative light to always be 'fake news.'"[55] A June 2018 poll by Axios and Survey Monkey found that 72% of Americans believe "traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes," with 92% of Republican and Republican-leaning independents and 53% of Democrats believing this.[56]

A series of fabricated stories in Europe’s largest weekly magazine, Der Spiegel, prompted U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to call for an independent investigation.[57][58] Grenell wrote that "These fake news stories largely focus on U.S. policies and certain segments of the American people."[59]

gollark: Hmm, they're fine now.
gollark: Apparently pet name STARVED!
gollark: That is your thing, no?
gollark: Look, GIVE ME IDEAS I NEED IDEAS TO IMPLEMENT FOR IT TO BE GOOD.
gollark: Surveys on bread? Really?

References
  1. "Words at Play; the Real Story of Fake News"
  2. Unidentified author, "Fake News Versus False News: Why They're Different, and Why It Matters," WGBH News, Boston, November 21, 2016
  3. Knoxville (Tennessee) Register, quoted in "After the Lincolnites," The Athens (Georgia) Post, May 15, 1862, page 1, and cited to the Petersburg Express The Post added that "Such a law at this time, or one similar to it, would rid us of the thousand false and exaggerated reports, that almost daily reach us."
  4. No headline, United States Gazette, March 6, 1809, page 2
  5. "The Sins of Editors," Page 1, Column 3
  6. "The Manufacturers of False News and Their Dupes," Daily Pittsburgh Gazette, November 16, 1840, Page 2 Same headline, The Madisonian, Washington, D.C, November 13, 1849, Page 3. New York State actually voted for William Henry Harrison that year.
  7. "The Negotiation for the Purchase of Cuba," The New York Herald, December 16, 1848, Page 1
  8. "Justice to the Telegraph," The Avalanche, Memphis, Tennessee, April 16, 1861, Page 2
  9. Page 2
  10. No headline, The Times, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1879, Page 2, Column 2
  11. No headline, November 25, 1884, Page 4, Column 2
  12. "Fake News," The New Era, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1896, Page 4
  13. "Trump says he's 'very proud' to hear Bolsonaro use the term 'fake news'". The Hill. March 19, 2019.
  14. Leonhardt, David; Thompson, Stuart A. (June 23, 2017). "Trump's Lies". New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  15. Qui, Linda (April 27, 2017). "Fact-Checking President Trump Through His First 100 Days". New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  16. Kessler, Glenn; Lee, Michelle Ye Hee (May 1, 2017). "Fact Checker Analysis – President Trump's first 100 days: The fact check tally". Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  17. Drinkard, Jim; Woodward, Calvin (June 24, 2017). "Fact check: Trump's missions unaccomplished despite his claims". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  18. "To Fix Fake News, Look To Yellow Journalism". JSTOR Daily. November 29, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  19. "Fake news in 2016: What it is, what it wasn't, how to help". BBC News. November 3, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  20. "2016: The year of fake news". The Somerville Times. January 11, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  21. "Google Trends: "fake news"". Google Trends. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  22. Web searches for the term 'fake news' began to rise during the weeks prior to the election, and then more sharply starting several days after the election.[21]
  23. Galvin, Gaby. "From Trump to Other Leaders: The Globalization of 'Fake News'". Archived from the original on 2017-12-30.
  24. "FBI 'investigating role of Breitbart and other right-wing websites in spreading fake news with bots'". The Independent. March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  25. "Russia is targeting French, Dutch and German elections with fake news, EU task force warns". The Telegraph. January 24, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  26. "Fake news: Facebook and Google team up with French media". BBC News. February 6, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  27. "Facebook, Google and Others Launch Drive against Fake News in France". Scientific American. Reuters. February 6, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  28. Leetaru, Kalev. "Did Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Coin The Phrase 'Fake News'?". Forbes. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  29. 60 Minutes: How fake news becomes a popular, trending topic. CBS News. March 26, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  34. John Markoff (November 17, 2016). "Automated Pro-Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Researchers Say". The New York Times.
  35. Gideon Resnick (November 17, 2016). "How Pro-Trump Twitter Bots Spread Fake News". The Daily Beast.
  36. Borchers, Callum (January 3, 2017). "How Hillary Clinton might have inspired Trump's 'fake news' attacks". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  37. "'Very Fake News': Pres. Trump Questioned on Intel Leaks by CNN's Acosta". Fox News. February 16, 2017.
  38. "With 'Fake News,' Trump Moves From Alternative Facts To Alternative Language". NPR. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  39. Callum Borchers (February 15, 2017). "One newspaper in Colorado is standing up to charges of 'fake news'". The Washington Post "The Fix" blog. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  40. "When A Politician Says 'Fake News' And A Newspaper Threatens To Sue Back". NPR. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  41. "Evidence ridiculously thin for Clinton sex network claim". PolitiFact.com. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  42. "'Pizzagate' Gunman Sentenced To 4 Years in Prison". NPR.org. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  43. "How Fake News Goes Viral". March 23, 2017.
  44. "'Very Fake News': Pres. Trump Questioned on Intel Leaks by CNN's Acosta". Fox News. February 16, 2017.
  45. John Markoff (November 17, 2016). "Automated Pro-Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Researchers Say". The New York Times.
  46. Dominick Sokotoff; Katherina Sourine. "Pseudo local news sites reveal nationally expanding network". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  47. Alyssa Newcomb (November 15, 2016). "Facebook, Google Crack Down on Fake News Advertising". NBC News. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  48. Schaede, Sydney (October 24, 2016). "Did the Pope Endorse Trump?". FactCheck.org. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  49. Tapper, Jake (November 17, 2016). "Fake news stories thriving on social media – Phony news stories are thriving on social media, so much so President Obama addressed it. CNN's Jake Tapper reports". CNN. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  50. Dewey, Caitlin (November 17, 2016). "Facebook fake-news writer: 'I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me'". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  51. Drum, Kevin (November 17, 2016). "Meet Ret. General Michael Flynn, the Most Gullible Guy in the Army". Mother Jones blog. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  52. Masnick, Mike (October 14, 2016). "Donald Trump's Son & Campaign Manager Both Tweet Obviously Fake Story". Techdirt. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  53. Sophia Tesfaye (August 2, 2017). "Trump's daughter-in-law pushes his propaganda: Lara Trump launches "real news" show to praise the president". Salon. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  54. Blake, Aaron. "Trump TV accused of broadcasting state propaganda after 'real news' segment debuted". The Independent. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  55. Wemple, Erik. "Study: 42 percent of Republicans believe accurate — but negative — stories qualify as 'fake news'". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  56. "92% of Republicans think media intentionally reports fake news". Axios. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  57. "Der Spiegel 'fake news' reporter could face charges". BBC News. 23 December 2018.
  58. Connolly, Kate; Le Blond, Josie (23 December 2018). "Der Spiegel takes the blame for scandal of reporter who faked stories". The Guardian.
  59. "Der Spiegel to press charges against reporter who made up article about Fergus Falls, Minnesota". Star Tribune. 24 December 2018.
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