I Don’T Like It, Therefore It’S ‘Fake News’

[sp1814]

According to a recent Gallop poll in the US, 42% of Republicans believe accurate, but negative, stories qualify as ‘fake news’

The figure for Democrats is 17%.

17% is bad enough, but four in ten Republicans?

Is this something that should be blamed on the news media, or social media, PR companies or news consumers?

[Zacs-Master]

I don’t think it should be blamed on any of those things. Deep rooted prejudice, a side order of ‘ma Daddy dun that so i’s a gonna do it too’ attitude and a sprinkling of parochial shortsightedness.

[douglas9401]

or educators or the American dream fallacy or empty cranium syndrome or Oprah or just slack jawed laziness.

I've no real idea but you can't have too many choices.

[Buenchico]

Republican voters are certainly a strange lot. Over 48% of voters in Alabama (which presumably means nearly all of Republican voters in Alabama) gave their backing to Roy Moore in the race for the Senate. They appear to be living in the Dark Ages!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41417203

[ToraToraTora]

put me down for one of the pups.

[youngmafbog]

The media have a fair bit to answer for. Never before have we seen daily attacks on the POSTUS, often proven to be unsubstantiated so much so it is now difficult to tell truth from fiction.

Since Democrats are not under such a hammering it stands to reason they dont think so much about 'fake news'

[mikey4444]

Considering how so many Republicans actually voted for Trump in the first place, I am not sure why we should be at all surprised that 42% of them have this view ?

Trump went after the Stoopid vote and that is exactly what he got.

[youngmafbog]

Ah, of course. Anyone who disagrees with your narrow left wing viewpoint is 'stoopid' arn't they?

[mikey4444]

No YMB. I stand by everything that I have said.

But I suggest that you read SP's post again.

These people that don't acknowledge the news to be truthful, when it is accurate, are stupid, other wise they wouldn't have this daft belief would they ? They are incapable of sorting the wheat out from the chaff.

They will continue to support Trump, no matter what evidence is produced, even when that evidence is the truth.

[ichkeria]

Surely a major factor must be Trump trumpeting "Fake News!" at every story he doesn't like.
That is the pernicious thing about the phenomenon of real fake news (so to speak): it not only misinforms, but it also says "actually, you can't trust any news source"
So you get people glibly dismissing anything they don't agree with as not just inaccurate but deliberately made up

[ichkeria]

There is a difference between saying "I don't like that" or "you're wrong" on the one hand, and suggesting a conspiracy on the other.

[youngmafbog]

Mickey/Ick it is impossible to tell what is fake and what isnt. The MSM have bee on Trumps back daily often with multiple stories which have little if any truth in them.

It is classic cry Wolf and impossible for any lay person to distinguish truth from fiction with any certainty. I am pretty sure there will be things said which are truthful about Trump but now they get buried.

[ichkeria]

It is difficult to sort out fake news from fact if there are a lot of fake news stories about and you have not the means or desire to check the source.
But I absolutely reject the idea that it is impossible to tell the difference. There have always been inaccurate news stories, but that is not what "fake news" is: fake news is stuff that has been deliberately made up.
I challenge you to come up with a single story about Trump that has been deliberately made up (as opposed to something inaccurate)
As I said before, that is one of the worst effects of this stuff: we stop trusting anything

[youngmafbog]

So when does inaccurate become totally wrong and your definition of 'fake News' ?

[ichkeria]

and don't forget this is about stories that were actually correct.
Such as the numbers at the inauguration for example ...

[mikey4444]

YMB....you are avoiding the question.

When a news story is accurate, but negative regarding Trump, why do YOU think that 42% of Republicans dismiss it as fake news ?

[youngmafbog]

As far as the OP is concerned I dont know how Gallop worded their question, so I have answered as best I can.

I still maintain that the sheer avalanche of stuff thrown at the POTUS is ridiculous and will mask things that should be bought to the publics attention.

[ichkeria]

Fake news is stories like the one about the restaurant somewhere in the US which was allegedly the scene of the Clinton foundation murdering children which actually prompted one person to head there with a gun intent on murder
Or Trump being endorsed by the pope
Or Russian state tv's continued self-contradictory documentaries about the MH-17 shooting down.
Or just about anything that ever appeared in the Sunday Sport :-)

[youngmafbog]

I am not voiding any question.

1) I dont know how the figure from the poll were obtained. This could have a major bearing on the replies.

2) I have told you what I think, a few times. Try reading my posts.

[youngmafbog]

I suspect that the poll didnt try to give a definition of Fake News.

[Jackdaw33]

You'll be telling me next that there isn't a London Routemaster bus on the moon and Elvis is not working in a chip shop.