Fake News

Who doesn't love the Daily Show? Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert just have an uncanny way of making sad things funny.

Fake news doesn't necessarily just mean satiricial news though, and after journalism's long love-affair with yellow journalism, hoaxes, fictionalized stories and other general non-"truthiness" it's a miracle that the media has any credibility left at all.

In the past sensationalism was used to sell stories and while it's been toned down a little, it's still part of the news-gathering package because if anything people's attention has only become harder to grab, never mind hold. Of course this is problematic for a publications/station's credibility if a big cocktail of hype is all that's making headlines.

So modern journalists are in a tricky situation. There's an expectation that- ideally- journalists should be objective, balanced and able to provide reliable, accurate information. However, they also must be entertaining, especially if they're on TV. I think that expectations are higher and less people feel that they need to (or should) take their morning news with a grain of salt.

The evolution and changing function of journalism is a fascinating thing. Robert Love's article on fake journalism "Before Jon Stewart" has some fun facts and I would totally recommend it except anyone reading this blog has among certainly already read it.