# Should the term "Fake News" be regulated in it's public use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 16, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930 "2020-05-16T16:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/21 "2020-05-18T23:40:37Z")
> [@Sdowiat](#): > > And who do you think should possibly be put in charge of what YOU call “Regulating” its use? Let me guess… You or Someone LIKE you? > > Why do so many liberals nowadays want to control what everyone can say ( and do to a big extent - ( except when a woman wants to kill her unborn kid )) > > No. Your thoughts, and ideas and skill at communication should be plenty enough to combat incorrect claims of “Fake News”. It will also help if your media would get out of bed with their favorite politicians and begin “Just Reporting” the news instead of trying to steer the narrative. Are you yelling into the mirror? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/22 "2020-05-19T01:16:14Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > We have never seen a major tv network call another one fake news. Ever. And we are not the americans of 1840. We have been lulled into sleep by the fairness doctrine which we thought was forever and came from God. But really it was just a window. “Never”? What does that even mean? Major TV networks have only existed for, what, 90 years? Before TV, news was radio and before that newspapers. And they have been calling each other fake since the beginning. Propaganda has always been a thing, and calling for the government to somehow regulate it is asking for the foxes to run the hen house. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/23 "2020-05-19T01:17:51Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > “Never”? What does that even mean? Major TV networks have only existed for, what, 90 years? > > Before TV, news was radio and before that newspapers. And they have been calling each other fake since the beginning. Propaganda has always been a thing, and calling for the government to somehow regulate it is asking for the foxes to run the hen house. Never meant never. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/24 "2020-05-19T03:14:04Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > The amazing thing is it’s actually OUR JOB to figure out what is true and what is not true. But thinking is really hard. It’s so much easier if I let the fine people at Fox do all the thinking and then they can tell me what I should believe is true. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/25 "2020-05-19T03:19:16Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > We have never seen a major tv network call another one fake news. Ever. And we are not the americans of 1840. We have been lulled into sleep by the fairness doctrine which we thought was forever and came from God. But really it was just a window. If you want a turning point, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was it. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/26 "2020-05-19T15:59:54Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Never meant never. I guess I don’t understand your point then. By “major network” do you mean CBS, NBC, and ABC? If so, why is it important that they haven’t called each other “fake news”? What is the problem you are worried about, and why do you think it is new? If you ban the term “fake news”, won’t Fox News or Trump or Brietbart or whomever just come up with another term? It’s not like their supporters will suddenly think “Oh, I guess CNN was telling the truth all along because now nobody is calling them fake”. If you are concerned about media bubbles, the replacement of news with propaganda, and the fact that we can’t debate the correct course of public policy without having some set of common facts, then I’m all in agreement. Regulating speech isn’t likely to get us there, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/27 "2020-05-19T16:54:54Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > I guess I don’t understand your point then. By “major network” do you mean CBS, NBC, and ABC? If so, why is it important that they haven’t called each other “fake news”? > > What is the problem you are worried about, and why do you think it is new? If you ban the term “fake news”, won’t Fox News or Trump or Brietbart or whomever just come up with another term? It’s not like their supporters will suddenly think “Oh, I guess CNN was telling the truth all along because now nobody is calling them fake”. > > If you are concerned about media bubbles, the replacement of news with propaganda, and the fact that we can’t debate the correct course of public policy without having some set of common facts, then I’m all in agreement. Regulating speech isn’t likely to get us there, in my opinion. The point is that there was not enough aggregate power in the media to create the level of influence that “major tv networks” exert, before there were such things. So this kind of public pathology matters, now more than in Andrew Jacksons time. And there are a number of reasons for that having to do with the industrial revolution, a couple of world wars and modernity for instance. What about the term “news”? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/28 "2020-05-19T18:57:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Are you claiming that there is no high-ranking figure in the American government who attempts to control what the media says about him on a regular basis? I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. I made no claims whatsoever about the current occupant of the White House, whose inanities have nothing at all to do with the wisdom of regulating speech. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/29 "2020-05-19T19:10:40Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > The point is that there was not enough aggregate power in the media to create the level of influence that “major tv networks” exert, before there were such things. So this kind of public pathology matters, now more than in Andrew Jacksons time. And there are a number of reasons for that having to do with the industrial revolution, a couple of world wars and modernity for instance. Hm, that’s an interesting idea. I’m not sure I’m completely convinced that the ability of TV news to influence the electorate is any more powerful than the major newspapers at the time of the founding of the country. I’d need some evidence of that claim. I actually think the far more nefarious force isn’t the TV news networks but the tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube that curate what we see and consume to align with what we have seen and consumed in the past. This creates systems where if I tend to mainly watch/read/consume The Guardian and John Oliver (for example) I have to make a genuine effort to find opinions, facts, and stories representing a different viewpoint than what might be called the “middle-left consensus”. > [@](#): > > What about the term “news”? Seems to me that if you regulate a word they will just come up with another word. Fox News can’t call itself news? They’ll just call themselves Olds and their fans will say it’s the real news. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/30 "2020-05-19T20:40:32Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Hm, that’s an interesting idea. I’m not sure I’m completely convinced that the ability of TV news to influence the electorate is any more powerful than the major newspapers at the time of the founding of the country. I’d need some evidence of that claim. > > I actually think the far more nefarious force isn’t the TV news networks but the tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube that curate what we see and consume to align with what we have seen and consumed in the past. This creates systems where if I tend to mainly watch/read/consume The Guardian and John Oliver (for example) I have to make a genuine effort to find opinions, facts, and stories representing a different viewpoint than what might be called the “middle-left consensus”. > Seems to me that if you regulate a word they will just come up with another word. Fox News can’t call itself news? They’ll just call themselves Olds and their fans will say it’s the real news. I agree about facebook. I’ve seen it turn people. How can a normal american who voted for clinton and obama all of the sudden become so in love with their own fumes that they say the same things as William Barr and dt, about Mueller and russia and impeachment? They are not offended by the presence of dt in the white house!!! That is a big shift. Because there are bigger fish to fry I suppose. Like hating HRC, and watching the world burn. It has to be noted. People who I used to have a beer with and share normal stuff, are not exercised about gettting dt out of office. But you have to admit the synergy between these things is the deadly aspect. Bubbles are reinforced. Facebook becomes deadly in the synergy with Fox news, a true fact free bubble, and a major news network that is on all cable platforms and is seen in gyms, hotels and other public places. I can’t see how newspapers in 1840 have relevance us now except for those “It was always this way” kinds of claims. It wasn’t always this way for me. I have a great respect for the stuff that has happened since 1840 and don’t think it’s the same now. I don’t think we are the same as we were 5 months ago to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/31 "2020-05-25T21:51:14Z")
To come at this from another angle, why is it that Fox News is so careful to paint itself as an entertainment organization rather than a news organization, at least officially? Is it to avoid lawsuits from people who rely on Fox News’s pronouncements to their detriment? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/32 "2020-05-26T04:42:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. I made no claims whatsoever about the current occupant of the White House, whose inanities have nothing at all to do with the wisdom of regulating speech. I, of course, did not come to that conclusion. I was pointing out the flaw in your argument. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/33 "2020-05-26T12:49:25Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > To come at this from another angle, why is it that Fox News is so careful to paint itself as an entertainment organization rather than a news organization, at least officially? Is it to avoid lawsuits from people who rely on Fox News’s pronouncements to their detriment? But _is_ Fox News officially “careful to paint itself as an entertainment organization rather than a news organization” in some way that CNN or MSNBC aren’t? In what way does Fox News do that? I agree that Fox News is propagandistic and full of lies, but I really am not aware of any indication that they are somehow officially self-aware about their own awfulness. Really, some of these arguments are in danger of becoming some kind of “FOX:NEWS capitalizes its name and punctuates it funny, plus that flag has a gold fringe on it, therefore Fox News is exempt from the Secret UN Illuminati World Law on What News Is”. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/34 "2020-05-26T13:20:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yes, anyone who uses the term “fake news” to refer to legitimate news channels should be impeached. What constitutes a legitimate news channel? I think if you put restrictions on what can and can’t be reported, and how vetted it would need to be to be classified as “legitimate”, there wouldn’t be many MSM “news channels” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/35 "2020-05-26T13:52:56Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > But _is_ Fox News officially “careful to paint itself as an entertainment organization rather than a news organization” in some way that CNN or MSNBC aren’t? In what way does Fox News do that? Also let’s not confuse “Fox News” with “Fox _Network_”, which is part of the same conglomerate and carries material from Fox News Media, but is also clearly entertainment-oriented as the home of Simpsons, Masked Singer, Gotham, etc. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/36 "2020-05-26T14:06:17Z")
Right. And of course that’s not in the least bit unusual; [CNN is a corporate sister to HBO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarnerMedia) (and both are ultimately owned by The Phone Company); [CNBC is part of the same media conglomerate as the SyFy channel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal) (and both are owned by The Cable Company), and so forth. (Whether all this media conglomerating is good for democracy is certainly debatable, but would also be a different thread, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/37 "2020-05-26T15:48:13Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > To come at this from another angle, why is it that Fox News is so careful to paint itself as an entertainment organization rather than a news organization, at least officially? Is it to avoid lawsuits from people who rely on Fox News’s pronouncements to their detriment? I think you’ve mistaken Fox News with Rush Limbaugh, who does point out that he’s an entertainer. He does that to illustrate that we can’t trust the “drive-by media” who try to hide their bias behind the label of “news.” Nevertheless, I’d prefer we fight over what is or isn’t “fake news” on message boards than to put the power to decide in the hands of a government body with the power to silence what it doesn’t agree with. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/38 "2020-05-26T17:08:34Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > But _is_ Really, some of these arguments are in danger of becoming some kind of “FOX:NEWS capitalizes its name and punctuates it funny, plus that flag has a gold fringe on it, therefore Fox News is exempt from the Secret UN Illuminati World Law on What News Is”. I don’t get what this means. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/39 "2020-05-26T17:13:50Z")
Hannity dances on the line all the time. He’s in the twilight where he claims credibility on real world events, but emphasizes he is only an opinion host when he needs to, entirely situational. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930/40 "2020-05-26T18:34:24Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I don’t get what this means. What I mean is, in this thread there seem to be a couple of ideas, which sort of verge on a Conspiracy Theory: 1. That there are some kind of Official Federal Regulations about what “news” is, _but that_ 2. The “Fox News Channel”, in spite of its name and its entire “brand” as a _news_ channel, is somehow secretly evading the Official Federal Regulations by cleverly specifying (somehow) that they are _really_ “entertainment”–even though their name is Fox _News_ and their entire corporate identity, as a channel, is as a “News Network”. As far as I can tell, none of this is true. There are no Official Regulations in the United States about what “news” is (or isn’t), it would be unconstitutional to attempt to enact any such regulations, and furthermore, it would be a really bad idea in any event. I mean, think about who’s in charge of the U.S. federal government right now, and imagine, if there were such Official Regulations, which news channel would be able to smugly display its Official Presidential Seal of Approval as a _Real_ News Channel, and which news channels and other media organizations would have to run some kind of disclaimer: In accordance with the Communications Act of 1937, we are officially classified as “Fiction/Entertainment”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-term-fake-news-be-regulated-in-its-public-use/853930.md?page=3)