What, no siren? No banner headline on Drudge linking to the New York Observer story today about “fake news” in which this tantalizing (I Rule!) bait beckons, courtesy of an unnamed political reporter? (Maybe it’s old hat to Drudge by now.)
The gist of the Observer piece is this:
Several reporters and editors say they’re noticing an increasingly changed dynamic where more stories with little fresh news are getting packaged with strong placement. We’ll call it fake news: stories that are driven by speculation, or a rehashing of collected detritus that was already circulating among blogs and the gossip mill on a reporter’s beat. As editors feel an increasing crunch…is the belt loosening for getting a story in the paper?
Further:
Weighing false leads versus real ones are what reporters do all day—but there’s so much of it now, and so much of it is fake!
Not everyone, however, is feeling overwhelmed.
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.“There’s a lot more stuff out there that’s undercooked,” said Adam Nagourney, chief political reporter for The New York Times. “I don’t find myself tracking down too many false leads … but I’ve been doing this a while.”
