CHS 151: Freshman Speech Communication

Fake news is information that is clearly and demonstrably fabricated and that has been packaged and distributed to appear as legitimate news. Fake news refers to a specific piece of information -- it does not refer to any particular type of news outlet or individual.

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Forms of misinformation that weaponize Fake News: 

• Propaganda: Misleading or highly biased information that is specifically designed to confirm or promote a particular ideological viewpoint
• Clickbait: articles that feature headlines designed to get people to click on them, often by presenting a misleading or warped sense of what the post is about. (This does not necessarily constitute that the article is fake, but fake news often uses a clickbait format.)
• Conspiracy Theory: an explanation or interpretation of events that is based on questionable or nonexistent evidence of a supposed "secret plan" by a group to obscure events.
• Satire: writing or art designed to make social commentary based on mockery or imitation of real-life events or actors. (Some fake news sites claim to be satirists bu do not advertise themselves as satire.)
• Misleading or Out-of-Context Information: this kind of information does not on its own constitute fake news as it is not wholly fabricated and it can exist within a news report that is based on actual events that occurred, but widely shared stories that contain misinformation can feed the larger ecosystem by creating a friendly audience for fabrications.

​Source: mediamatters.org