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by jimmytucson 2629 days ago
This is the essence of “fake news”.

Most people think fake news is reporting false information. But nowadays it’s relatively easy to fact-check something. Much more onerous is selecting facts to report on so as to tell a story that fits an agenda. It’s harder to recognize, and hey—it’s facts! What could go wrong?

2 comments

> This is the essence of “fake news”.

No, it's opinions and editorializing. Because if all news that are made to fit an agenda are "fake news", all news would be "fake"

What exactly about this is fake news?
That's his point - both pieces are factually correct, but give completely opposing interpretations of those facts. It's harder to recognize "fake news" when the "fake" part is heavy editorializing of an otherwise truthful set of news.
"News" has always been heavily editorialized from the start.

"Fake news" is just propaganda presented as "news."

There used to be some news outlets that were mostly even-keeled with their interpretation of facts. That's decreasingly the case.
Fake news is generally understood to be baseless lies. Incorrect or misleading news describes most of all genuine news coverage.