Why should we as the audience want to waste our time watching or listening to information that really isn't even correct. To someone who had no idea what fake news was, they would listen intently and absorb all the information in thinking that it's real; propaganda? I can think of a few famous propaganda scandals from world war II that pretty much started the war, so how can we differentiate fake news from propaganda. In today's standards, fake news is usually a form of entertainment, it is simply a passtime that pokes fun at current on going events. When a US senator or congressmen or some sort of political figure gets caught trying to provoke someone to have an affair with them, the mainstream media is not going to risk their reputation making fun or slandering this figure, that is the job of the fake news media. They really have no reputation to uphold because all of their news is fake, it is there for entertainment not for the record.
Fake news is not a recent phenomenon, the practice has been around since mainstream media itself, and the purpose has remained the same; to entertain the public and to get a message across that most 'real' news publications cannot or will not publish. In 1835 there was a hoax using a newspaper called the Great Moon Hoax, where one author published articles that claimed a then famous astronomer had built an entirely new and powerful telescope and had it aimed at the moon, the articles then went on to say that they had discovered life there. The articles described the creatures in vivid detail and said they had seed oceans and forests as well. A smart move by the New York Sun as after their fake news story, their circulation was the highest of any newspaper in the entire world; 19, 360. Even after the event was released as a hoax, the paper never lost popularity. This is not the only time fake news has persuaded the public, some may disagree with me but I believe that the famous Saturday Night Live skits which bashed Sarah Palin helped to lose her the election, and gain popularity in the ratings department.
It really is amazing how much power the media has over the public, I think it's because when society looks for information that they know everyone else is going to also hear, they look to the media. It is a trusted source of information, even fake news is sometimes taken as accurate. When an event happens in the world, we turn to our media sources for the information, then we turn to our fake news sources for the entertainment and to see what they have to say about the issue. Most of the time we can relate to what Colbert or Stewart are saying, we have thought the same things; but hearing it on television really solidifies our judgments, and I believe as long as the news exists, there will always be fake news to make fun of it.
Brown, R. J. "Great Moan Hoax of 1835." History Buff. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
