Dakota Beacon

Speeding headlong toward campaign season brings citizens face-to-face with the prevalence of “fake news.” Many media types and internet gurus desire to sway an election.

What is fake news and what are fake news sites? Conventional wisdom holds that TV and traditional print journalism moved to the left long ago and do not reflect a conservative point of view. For the sake of brevity, focus on the internet and social media.

The New York Times defines internet fake news as “fictitious articles deliberately fabricated to deceive readers, generally with the goal of profiting through clickbait.” PolitiFact similarly describes fake news as “fabricated content designed to fool readers and subsequently made viral through the Internet…” Keep in mind that such sites must not be confused with truly satirical or humorous sites designed to poke fun.

Some leftist websites are of recent origin and include Raw Story dubbed by the major media as an investigative news site, progressive, left-leaning, independent, and an alternative news site. In April 2018, Raw Story announced that they had acquired left-of-center website AlterNet.

Fake news made its appearance on the internet prior to 2016. Before we had the internet fake news was called “yellow journalism.” After 2016, the issue of fake news turned into a political weapon with supporters of left-wing politics saying that supporters of right-wing politics spread false news while the latter claimed that they were being "censored". These back-and-forth complaints rendered the definition of fake news much more vague.

For example, along with authoritative news sources like The New York Times and CNN there are also respected educational institutions above reproach -- like Harvard, the most trusted name in college education. Harvard offered a guide to “Fake News, Misinformation, and Propaganda.” This guide compiled 916 sites into one handy list. The list originated with a highly respected assistant professor from a local community college. Her most significant qualification came from her diverse background. Her list contains some of the worst offenders including The Blaze, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, The Weekly Standard, WorldNetDaily, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, and The Washington Free Beacon.

OUCH!! I just bit my tongue!

There is more to fake news than omitting some information, embellishing other bits, or simply posting blatant lies and half-truths on the internet. Fake news websites per se include those which intentionally publish hoaxes and disinformation for purposes other than news satire. Such websites use homograph spoofing attacks and other deceptive strategies like those used in phishing attacks.

For news consumers, the biggest threat is what's referred to as "typosquatting." Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, relies on mistakes made by Internet users when typing a website address into a web browser. Spoofing happens when a scammer pretends to be a premium publisher. These criminal activities can potentially extract personally identifiable information, download malware to a device, or spoof news sites to spread disinformation. Here are some examples.

abcnews.com.co should read abcnews.go.com

cbsnews.com.co should read cbsnews.com

nbc.com.co should read nbcnews.com

usatodaynews.me should read usatoday.com

More specifically, such fake news sites deliberately publish hoaxes and disinformation to drive web traffic inflamed by social media. These are not to be confused with truly satirical sites or sites designed to poke fun.

In the end, voters hold personal beliefs which they prefer over other beliefs. Perhaps those beliefs make them feel better about themselves or perhaps those beliefs forge group loyalty. Either way, those beliefs operate as a personal default system within their world and require a gargantuan effort to be displaced or changed. This preference of some beliefs over others dominates the voter’s behavior. Consequently, voters consistently elect politicians that represent their preferred beliefs. This should be obvious.

Finally, after all the intellectual machinations and massaging of the news, voters will vote based on personal preference and their own biases. Accordingly, fake news and its near cousin, fact checking, may in the end be of minimal effect.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).