Mr. Trump has often suggested that he coined the term “Fake News.” That’s fake news. The term dates back to the late 19th century. In 1895 a journal declared “we never copy fake news.” In 1896, a journalist in San Jose, California criticized another journalist by writing, “It is his habit to indulge in fake news…He will make up news when he fails to find it.” In the 1890’s William Randolph Hearst and others used “melodrama, romance, and hyperbole,” emphasizing “sensationalism over facts” to sell their newspapers. This “fake news” was called “Yellow Journalism.” Oliver Malloy reminds us that “Hitler loved to describe any newspaper that exposed him for what he was as “Luegenpresse,” which is German for fake news.”
Today, Mr. Trump, announced that as the “inventor” of the term “fake news” in reference to the media (which is “fake news” as indicated above), he was no longer satisfied with it. He thus coined a new one: “corrupt news.” He insists that “Fake News” has “never been more dishonest” and has become corrupt: “I don’t even use ‘fake’ anymore,” he said, “I call the fake news now ‘corrupt news,’ because ‘fake’ isn’t tough enough.”
Technology (live news conferences, websites, cable news, etc.) has made all NEWS of any kind available to us, almost instantaneously. There are hundreds of websites reporting misinformation and deceptive content. Often times these website articles are copied and pasted on Facebook without fact-checking. Snopes.com and FactCheck.org are organizations that work to debunk such misinformation. When I suggested to a Facebook friend that he check out his post with these groups, he responded by telling me that these organizations were part of the “fake news” being promulgated by Liberals. Another friend responded to my questioning of his Facebook post by saying that these groups work hand-in-hand with the Republican establishment. So much for fact-checking!
Some years ago during the sharing time in morning worship, a person announced that so-and-so had died. The whole congregation was shocked by this news. After the worship service I immediately went to the “deceased” person’s home to offer my sympathy to his wife. I knocked on the door and much to my surprise, the door was opened by the “deceased!”
In this age of fake news, corrupt news, and alternative realities (misinformation and deception) it is imperative that we go to the source, knock on the door, check it out, listen carefully and cautiously. Hopefully when we knock on truth’s door we will find that truth has not died.
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| Let not "Truth" be eclipsed. |
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