Fake news continues to be the pop culture rage. People on the left and right point to articles that don’t match their side of the story and exclaim the downfall of the Press. Somehow they all want to ignore a fact that has been around since (at least) the 80s: most news is opinion, not fact.
Opinionists are not classic journalists. When a classic journalist breaks news, they do so with limited spin or interpretation. They allow the facts to stand for themselves until a large portion of the story is known. Opinionists immediately grasp onto new stories and try to build it into the on-going framing they’ve been using. In this style, “groundhog sees shadow” can take on ominous tones.
Limiting communication to facts only is extremely challenging. Facts on their own are from the past and do not necessarily predict the future. Interpretation is required to take the facts to look into the future. Where things get colored is the other variables that go into the interpretation. The sources used can point the direction chosen more than the facts used.
Being able to identify the difference between fact and opinion is a skillset required in this digital era. Lots of Opinionists do their best to look and appear like classic journalists. Misinterpreting the point of view of the person providing information is what Fake News is.