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W hen the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912， the crew of the ship used telegraphy technology to not only call for help but to provide updates on the situation in the Atlantic Ocean.1 Unverified and unsigned telegrams were dispatched to Fleet Street.2 Newspapers duly reported that everything was under control and the Titanic， deemed to be unsinkable， was going to survive its brush with catastrophe.3
Those on board the vessel4， however， were not so confident. The press was unable to keep up with what was a rapidly developing situation， going only with the information they had to hand. The effect was one of the earliest examples of what some might call “fake news”.
In November 2017， “fake news” was named Collins Dictionary’s5 word of the year. It defines the expression as “false， often sensational， information disseminated under the guise of news reporting”.6 Its usage， according to Collins， has increased 365% in 2016.
However， fake news is far more nuanced7 than that. “What we refer to now as fake news has been around ever since human communication began，” says O’Shea， the senior manager of fake news exhibitions in 2017 at the National Science and Media Museum. “We still talk of gossips and whispers， when the meaning of something is altered or lost through retellings，or shaggy-dog stories， tall tales that have been added to or exaggerated.8 Stories have always been embellished in certain ways to push a particular agenda.”9
But the modern understanding of fake news deals more with the technology that is behind our media， adds O’Shea. “There’s something fundamentally new... the infrastructure of the internet， overlaid with platforms such as Facebook， Twitter， Buzzfeed... have come together to carve out a media which is not the media we were accustomed to in the 20th century”.10 All this new technology and media， he says， has been “mashed up with some pretty potent political and social events in the past few years， which has created what I see as a perfect storm for fake news.”11
There’re five factors which contribute to the spread of fake news： political gain； misreporting； going viral； financial gain； and“not letting the truth get in the way of a good story”.12
The Titanic disaster is a prime example of misreporting， which does not have to be malicious in intent.13 The museum has worked with the Peace Studies department at the University of Bradford， contributing papers from its archive showing that telegrams stating that all the passengers from the Titanic had been rescued were reported as fact in newspapers， before the full extent of the tragedy came to light.14
“That was more than 100 years ago and this situation has accelerated so much today，” says O’Shea. Social media was abuzz with theories， witness accounts and first-hand reports，15 many of which were taken up by the mainstream media.
The problem with unverified stories being shared， even with the best intentions， is it creates a fog of misinformation. “People want to help in a situation like that，” says O’Shea， “and often all they can do is share social media posts. But if those posts are later discredited or proved unfounded，16 and have been picked up by mainstream media， then people begin to distrust the media.”
Going viral is another defining trait of fake news. In the early 20th century it took years rather than seconds but the principle was the same： people shared the photographs around， not checking the veracity of them， either wanting to believe they were real， or just because they were a novelty.17
It’s long been believed that the motto of Fleet Street was“never let the facts get in the way of a good story”， illustrated by a news story earlier in 2017 that Jeremy Corbyn had refused to bow his head to the Queen at the state opening of Parliament.18 It was accompanied by photos and videos of the apparent snub； only later did it emerge that protocol doesn’t require bowing to the Queen in these situations，19 but that didn’t matter， the story was already out.
The final two criteria20 for a story to be fake news often go hand in hand： as a political tool， and must to make profit. For one of the many examples of the first， there was the row in January， 2017 at Donald Trump’s inauguration when Sean Spicer， the former White House press secretary， claimed the turnout had been the largest ever for such an event.21 This was duly reported， until social media users compared the photos with those of Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
And staging fake news for profit is exemplified particularly well by the Macedonian town of Veles which， in 2016， was the base for more than 100 websites publishing plagiarised news of the US elections.22 How does that make money？ Easier than you’d think. It took only a relatively few people to click on the stories before the algorithms operated by social media sites such as Facebook kicked in； if I click on a story， Facebook will decide that you might like it also， and nudge you towards it.23 And if you read it， then your friends might also be interested. Before long these Macedonian websites with stolen news were clocking up24 astonishing hits， which then attracted Google ads， earning the website owners a nice profit.
Those on board the vessel4， however， were not so confident. The press was unable to keep up with what was a rapidly developing situation， going only with the information they had to hand. The effect was one of the earliest examples of what some might call “fake news”.
In November 2017， “fake news” was named Collins Dictionary’s5 word of the year. It defines the expression as “false， often sensational， information disseminated under the guise of news reporting”.6 Its usage， according to Collins， has increased 365% in 2016.
However， fake news is far more nuanced7 than that. “What we refer to now as fake news has been around ever since human communication began，” says O’Shea， the senior manager of fake news exhibitions in 2017 at the National Science and Media Museum. “We still talk of gossips and whispers， when the meaning of something is altered or lost through retellings，or shaggy-dog stories， tall tales that have been added to or exaggerated.8 Stories have always been embellished in certain ways to push a particular agenda.”9
But the modern understanding of fake news deals more with the technology that is behind our media， adds O’Shea. “There’s something fundamentally new... the infrastructure of the internet， overlaid with platforms such as Facebook， Twitter， Buzzfeed... have come together to carve out a media which is not the media we were accustomed to in the 20th century”.10 All this new technology and media， he says， has been “mashed up with some pretty potent political and social events in the past few years， which has created what I see as a perfect storm for fake news.”11
There’re five factors which contribute to the spread of fake news： political gain； misreporting； going viral； financial gain； and“not letting the truth get in the way of a good story”.12
The Titanic disaster is a prime example of misreporting， which does not have to be malicious in intent.13 The museum has worked with the Peace Studies department at the University of Bradford， contributing papers from its archive showing that telegrams stating that all the passengers from the Titanic had been rescued were reported as fact in newspapers， before the full extent of the tragedy came to light.14
“That was more than 100 years ago and this situation has accelerated so much today，” says O’Shea. Social media was abuzz with theories， witness accounts and first-hand reports，15 many of which were taken up by the mainstream media.
The problem with unverified stories being shared， even with the best intentions， is it creates a fog of misinformation. “People want to help in a situation like that，” says O’Shea， “and often all they can do is share social media posts. But if those posts are later discredited or proved unfounded，16 and have been picked up by mainstream media， then people begin to distrust the media.”
Going viral is another defining trait of fake news. In the early 20th century it took years rather than seconds but the principle was the same： people shared the photographs around， not checking the veracity of them， either wanting to believe they were real， or just because they were a novelty.17
It’s long been believed that the motto of Fleet Street was“never let the facts get in the way of a good story”， illustrated by a news story earlier in 2017 that Jeremy Corbyn had refused to bow his head to the Queen at the state opening of Parliament.18 It was accompanied by photos and videos of the apparent snub； only later did it emerge that protocol doesn’t require bowing to the Queen in these situations，19 but that didn’t matter， the story was already out.
The final two criteria20 for a story to be fake news often go hand in hand： as a political tool， and must to make profit. For one of the many examples of the first， there was the row in January， 2017 at Donald Trump’s inauguration when Sean Spicer， the former White House press secretary， claimed the turnout had been the largest ever for such an event.21 This was duly reported， until social media users compared the photos with those of Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
And staging fake news for profit is exemplified particularly well by the Macedonian town of Veles which， in 2016， was the base for more than 100 websites publishing plagiarised news of the US elections.22 How does that make money？ Easier than you’d think. It took only a relatively few people to click on the stories before the algorithms operated by social media sites such as Facebook kicked in； if I click on a story， Facebook will decide that you might like it also， and nudge you towards it.23 And if you read it， then your friends might also be interested. Before long these Macedonian websites with stolen news were clocking up24 astonishing hits， which then attracted Google ads， earning the website owners a nice profit.