Fake news
In the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise November 8 2016 electoral victory, attention fell on the extent to which voter opinions could have been shaped by alternative news websites. Many supposedly "Fake News" from Infowars, Breitbart, Project Veritas, etcetera, proved more viral on social media than important stories from the Mainstream Media.
The election results prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who represents a centre-right political party, to caution against "Fake News" circulated in Social media:
| “ | Something has changed — as globalization has marched on, debate is taking place in a completely new media environment. Opinions aren’t formed the way they were 25 years ago ... Today we have fake sites, bots, trolls — things that regenerate themselves, reinforcing opinions with certain algorithms, and we have to learn to deal with them. I believe we should not underestimate what is happening in the context of the Internet and with digitalization; this is part of our reality ... We have regulations that allow for our press freedom, including the requirement for due diligence from journalists. Today we have many that experience a media that is based on very different foundations and is much less regulated[1] | ” |
"Undoubtedly the new main psyop against independent media is flooding the web with fake news, and mainstream media putting out fake news, and setting themselves up like a super-Snopes, to be the arbiter of what’s real and what’s not," countered Alex Jones from Infowars in the wake of criticism of the Alternative Media on the part of Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton supporters following Trump's win.[2]
Melissa Zimdars, a far left professor had compiled a list of “fake and misleading” news websites, including Breitbart, Infowars, Twitchy, The Blaze, Bizpac Review, that was heavily promoted in the Mainstream Media.[3]
Zimdars later removed her "Fake News" list, claiming she had been "harassed" and "doxed".[4]
While liberals frequently accuse conservative or alternate media sites of being dishonest, they typically gloss over the massive failings of the mainstream media to accurately and fairly cover the news.