EDITORIAL: Breaking news: Fake news is back

Donald Trump invented the term that best describes the product dispensed by a large sector of today’s information media: “fake news.”

Trump employed the term frequently in his 2016 presidential campaign to attack mainstream media for reporting unflattering (though real) news about him.

Since then, fake news has been in semi-retirement from the political lexicon, but now its services are needed again. The information many Americans receive via social media and accept as fact is inaccurate or downright false with no verifiable facts or sources. It’s fake news.

This fake news is not the malign spewings of disinformation by the far right extremist QAnon or its liberal equivalent BlueAnon. Rather, it is misinformation that is taken seriously by many who receive it because it comes from what might be called mainstream social media, digital powerhouses such as Meta, X and YouTube.

News of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump had barely broken before fake news stories on social media reported that the shooting was an inside job carried out by Secret Service operatives and orchestrated by President Joe Biden, while others reported it was staged by Trump’s people to burnish his image as a bold leader.

Many of these postings criticized the slow pace of reporting on the assassination attempt by the traditional mainstream media, claiming it was an attempt to minimize the seriousness of the crime.

Unlike fake news, which is fabricated, the real thing takes time to get right, and journalists worked carefully to get at what really happened at the Butler, Pa., Trump rally. That is what journalists trained in news reporting and editors who verify sources and check for accuracy do, and it is what distinguishes the mainstream media from social media purporting to be news outlets.

It would be an understatement to say the mainstream media, generally thought to consist of newspapers and network television news operations, are not loved. After major news events—disasters, political upheavals, crimes, scandals of the rich and famous—news media are likely to be faulted by one faction or another for biased reporting or even complicity.

It is ironic that distrust of the mainstream  media has contributed to the rise of social media as a news source, given the fundamental untrustworthiness of digital platforms that allow postings unhindered by any form of vetting for truth.

When Twitter became X, its new owner, Elon Musk, not only removed safeguards against misinformation, but initiated a policy of paying creators for posting audience-pleasing but inflammatory content without regard for its accuracy or truthfulness.

In 2021, when the Jan. 6 mob assaulted the U.S. Capitol, Meta quickly suspended accounts that had promoted lies about the election and deleted posts that praised the insurrection. But since then, its guards against false information have faded.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media keep plugging away, reporting real news and irritating their numerous critics. Those critics vary in sync with the presidential administration in power.

When it was Trump, his supporters characterized the press as a sinister force doing the bidding of Democrats to take down the president. When Biden moved into the White House, members of his administration railed constantly against the press for coverage that was as intense as what Trump faced.

The journalism produced by mainstream media is far from flawless. Errors and omissions happen. In the case of President Biden, the press might be faulted for not reporting more aggressively about the age issues administration staffers were determined to hide from the public.

That may be disappointing, but it is far from the murky realm of fake news. For that, social media sites are eagerly accepting visitors.