The Fake News Formula in 5 Steps
What is Fake News? In the new paradigm, it is, simply, getting people to believe something that is not supported by facts or in contradiction to them. So it’s lying, right? It can be or it can not be, depending on whether you define lying in a purely empirical fashion (stating something that is explicitly false) or a normative fashion (deceiving someone in a hope to have the believe something false, while not necessarily saying explicitly false things). Sometimes the media lies outright, but usually they go the other route. Here is how it works, and how they (often) avoid…