The media is not needed anymore to tell us what to think. We are able to research anything now with the internet, so it's much harder for the media to spread falsehoods now.
If there's one "fake news" story that tops the list, in my opinion, it's the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson. When the ACTUAL facts came to light, via autopsy, it was clear he had not been an innocent victim of a racist cop with a grudge. He had just robbed a store, and then fought with the cop, and tried to take his gun. He was shot while CHARGING the officer, head down, hands at his sides. NONE of that was immediately available on the internet, yet millions and millions of people seized on that opportunity to fill in the blanks. The actual report took weeks to generate, as it should, and by the time it came out, there was an entire national movement ("hands up; don't shoot") that was based on a fantastical lie.
How do "we," as a society, function and thrive when there are people like those leading the BLM movement, who are willing to seize on fake news, and create entire polemical fictions, well aware of their specious basis, trying to extract what personal benefit they can from the situation until the truth comes to light?
How do "we," as a society, function and thrive when there are people like those leading the BLM movement, who are willing to seize on fake news, and create entire polemical fictions, well aware of their specious basis, trying to extract what personal benefit they can from the situation until the truth comes to light?