ABSTRACT
Fake news should be a serious topic in the political economy of communication because it brings into sharp relief a critique of the news industry and of journalism from a critical theory perspective. This chapter suggests that fake news is a symptom of the current twin crises afflicting modern mainstream journalism; the declining trust factor, and the broken business models. The News Establishment creates its own versions of “fake news” for a variety of reasons; some are purely commercial—for the profitable clicks, views, likes and shares it generates—and others are highly political—for deliberate and systemic propaganda effect. From a progressive political economy perspective, the symbolic content of “fake news,” such as represented in VNRs, or even by Trump supporters, has a long and political history that is intimately and dialectically bound to the commodity form of journalism in a capitalist market economy.
