In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, fake news abounded, with false stories about both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spreading across social media.
The problem has not abated. On December 4, a gunman walked into the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C. and opened fire. He was there, he said, to investigate the fallacious conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and her aide John Podesta had run a sex ring out of the restaurant's basement (a room it doesn't have).
Then, on Tuesday, the U.S. president-elect tweeted in condemnation of fake news. His tweet, it seems, was aimed at BuzzFeed's decision to publish a dossier alleging that Russia has been assisting and supporting Trump for at least five years.
FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
But Trump's own team has been guilty of retweeting or sharing fake news in the past. One of his closest advisors, Steve Bannon, is the former chair of Breitbart, a news organization that has published several stories with serious factual inaccuracies.
The Guardian columnists Hadley Freeman and Owen Jones joined Newsweek's Mirren Gidda to discuss fighting fake news and the rise of the right-wing press.
Newsweek's Foreign Service is recorded and edited by Jordan Saville.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
