The What, How and Why of Fake News: An Overview

Abstract

This article examines the nature of the origin, definitions and functional principles of so-called fake news - reports that are deliberately false in nature which can create a stir in society around a non-existent informational case born of the same news source. In combination with viral technologies and mechanisms of distribution in the media and social networks, fake news in modern political campaigns is becoming a dangerous tool for influencing mass consciousness of societies. The main task of fake news in modern political campaigns and processes is interception of the political agenda, with its subsequent closure to the news feed generated by the fake news itself, as well as creation of general excitement around the given news story. This present article seeks to review and analyse the academic debates on the what (definition), how (operationalization) and why (motivation) questions pertaining to the fake news phenomena. These aspects are then combined to generate the beginnings of creating a conceptual taxonomy to understand this highly topical and emotive concept. © 2021, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Journalism. All rights reserved.