ABSTRACT
One commonplace feature of a “post-truth” environment is so-called “fake news,”. The problem was not just that so-called “fake news” had saturated our social media feeds, we were also confronted with everyone—from left to right on the political spectrum—accusing the mainstream media of publishing “fake” news too. To define “fake news” as only a Trump-related issue, or as a conspiracy to spread Russian influence in the West, does not provide a lens for examining the broader issue of truth and meaning in the public sphere. One cybersecurity company claimed it had evidence that Russian government agents had been actively soliciting and planting fake news items to help the Trump campaign. In dealing with the fake news problem is to have a fuller understanding of why the fake news phenomenon has gained such a strong foothold in the media, particularly online and in social channels.
