--- title: 'Fake news: what it means, where it came from, documented cases' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/ description: Fake news means fabricated stories made to look like journalism, and a label for reporting someone distrusts. Origin, documented cases, the laws. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an intelligence briefing room with case files and behavioral-analysis notes on a chalkboard.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-learn.jpg) Learn # Fake news: what it means, where it came from, documented cases Fake news means fabricated stories made to look like journalism, and a label for reporting someone distrusts. Origin, documented cases, the laws. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Learn](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/) 3. [Types of propaganda: source, aim and 42 techniques](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/) 4. Fake news: what it means, where it came from, documented cases [What does "fake news" mean?](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/#what-does-fake-news-mean) [The genre is older than the phrase](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/#the-genre-is-older-than-the-phrase) [The label became common after 2016](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/#the-label-became-common-after-2016) [Why the archive treats the label as a technique](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/#why-the-archive-treats-the-label-as-a-technique) [Telling a documented case from a claim](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/#telling-a-documented-case-from-a-claim) ## What does "fake news" mean? "Fake news" means two different things. As a **genre**, it is fabricated content made to look like real journalism, written to deceive readers or to earn money from clicks. As a **label**, it is a charge made against reporting the speaker wants an audience to distrust, whether or not the reporting is accurate. Researchers and governments who study the problem mostly avoid the phrase for that reason, and prefer "disinformation" for deliberate falsehood and "misinformation" for falsehood shared without intent to deceive ([disinformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/disinformation/)). ## The genre is older than the phrase Fabricated news stories predate the internet by centuries. The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, a series of articles in the New York *Sun* describing life on the Moon and attributed to the astronomer Sir John Herschel, was invented by the paper. The phrase "fake news" itself appears in print by the 1890s, in the era of sensationalist newspapers. Explain moreShow less Forged and planted stories were also a state tool in the twentieth century. The "Zinoviev letter" was a forged document published by the *Daily Mail* days before the British general election of October 1924, and a 1999 Foreign Office historical paper (Gill Bennett) concluded it was a forgery. Operation INFEKTION, a Soviet campaign that spread the false claim that the United States created AIDS, is documented in a 2009 CIA journal study (Thomas Boghardt). Both are covered on the [disinformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/disinformation/) page. In each case a particular actor, a particular text and a particular route to the public can be named, which is what separates a documented case from a suspicion. Profit can drive the genre as much as politics. In November 2016 BuzzFeed News reporters Craig Silverman and Lawrence Alexander traced more than a hundred US-politics websites to the town of Veles in North Macedonia, run mainly for advertising revenue rather than for any party. ## The label became common after 2016 After the 2016 US election the phrase spread quickly, and Collins Dictionary named "fake news" its word of the year for 2017. US President Donald Trump is credited with popularising the label sense by applying it to negative coverage of himself, and journalists such as Margaret Sullivan urged colleagues to stop using the phrase. Governments in other countries adopted it too, and "fake news" has been written into law in several places. Singapore's 2019 law allows ministers to order a correction notice on posts they judge to be false statements of fact. The government says the law does not reach opinion, and critics say it can reach disputed political claims ([Operation Spectrum: Singapore's 'Marxist conspiracy' and its answers](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/singapore-operation-spectrum/)). Explain moreShow less In 2018 the European Commission's High Level Expert Group dropped the phrase, calling it "inadequate" and noting that politicians used it against outlets they disliked. ## Why the archive treats the label as a technique Calling a report "fake" without checking it is [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/). Refusing to engage with the record by attacking the reporter is [Ad hominem](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/ad-hominem/). Those apply to whoever does it, whatever side they are on. Where a claim is checkably false, the archive says so and cites the primary source, and where the label is applied to a disputed claim it records the dispute. ## Telling a documented case from a claim 1. Is the claim checkably false, against which primary source? 2. Is intent shown by documents, admissions or coordination, or only inferred from effect? 3. Is the origin disclosed or concealed ([Narrative laundering](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/narrative-laundering/), [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/))? 4. Would the same label be applied if the source were on the side you favour? The full set of definitions, documented cases and critiques of the term is on the [disinformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/disinformation/) page, and the wider map is on [types of propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/). Sources and further reading ## Sources Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan, Information Disorder , Council of Europe report DGI(2017)09 (2017). Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan, *Information Disorder*, Council of Europe report DGI(2017)09 (2017). High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation, *A multi-dimensional approach to disinformation* (European Commission, 12 March 2018). Cherilyn Ireton and Julie Posetti (eds), *Journalism, 'Fake News' and Disinformation* (UNESCO, 2018). Gill Bennett, *The Zinoviev Letter of 1924* (Foreign and Commonwealth Office historical paper, 1999). Thomas Boghardt, "Operation INFEKTION," *Studies in Intelligence* 53, no. 4 (2009). Craig Silverman and Lawrence Alexander, "How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News," BuzzFeed News, 3 November 2016. Collins Dictionary, Word of the Year 2017.