Fake News 101: How to recognize fake news and avoid being fooled by it.

Fake stories have been passed off as news for a long time. Since the turn of the millennium, fake news has been evolving at an alarming pace.

Aside from disconnecting and finding a wireless cave to live in, there’s probably no way to avoid fake news completely. However, it is possible to avoid being fooled by fake news.

Fake News 101 will help readers to recognize various types of fake news including satire, alternative facts, propaganda, and more.

If you’re ready to join the battle against fake news and become a Fake News Warrior, Fake News 101 will be an indispensable resource.

Now available in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon.

Danny Murphy is an informative and entertaining public speaker. He is available to speak on topics related to Fake News at conferences, seminars, and other events. Send him an email to check into his availability.

Danny@DannyMurphyAuthor.com

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Satire and Fake News

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Abraham Lincoln

According to Wikipedia, satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. 

The United States has had a rich tradition of satire. Some of the country’s most notable satirists have been Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers. The late Art Buchwald and P.J. O’Rourke are two of our more recent satirists. Television shows like Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and many others present satire as well. Mad Magazine, Cracked, and National Lampoon have all put a great deal of satire into print. The Wittenburg Door, which published some of my satire, billed itself as “The world’s  pretty much only religious satire magazine.”

Jack O'Lanterni accepts Liar of the Year Award on behalf of Fake News

“Each year, Politifact awards a ‘Lie of the Year’ to take stock of a misrepresentation that arguably beats all others in its impact or ridiculousness. In 2016: where to start? With such a deep backlash against being truthful in political speech, no one person (though there are world-class frontrunners) and no one political claim perfectly stands out as the dust settles from an extraordinary campaign. Because of its powerful symbolism in an election year filled with rampant and outrageous lying -- PolitiFact is naming Fake News the 2016 winner." Angie Drobnic Holan 

Although there was no formal event for the presentation of the award, Jack O'Lanterni, President of Fake News International, has accepted the award.

Not all fake news is created equally.

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain

There are several varieties of fake news. Here are two of the most common forms.

Michael Mullen and Jon Stewart

Satire

The most obvious type of fake news is satirical fake news. This includes everything from material in The Onion, to Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live, to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. The emphasis is on humor and getting laughs. Sometimes people are not aware that they’re reading or watching satire. Some people take satire completely seriously. Also, there are people who don’t understand what satire is or how it works through irony, exaggeration, and by other methods.