How the fakers are cashing in on the news
Fake news has been around for years but the problem is heightened today by young peoples’ preference for instant internet “news” whilst showing a careless disregard for whether something is true or not.
Many are clearly not bothered where their news comes from – just look at the amount of spurious rubbish that is re-tweeted or shared on social media sites.
In the good old days of, say, the 1970s or 80s we trusted our newspapers and our newsreaders.
(The exception was the now defunct Sunday Sport. I don’t think many of us really believed that a London bus had been found on the moon. But that’s because the Sport never set out to be a record of event and fact and the majority of its readers knew that – they just wanted a bit of light-hearted silliness and escapism from the drudgery of doom and gloom – as news often is.)
Now we have amazing, super-fast digital technology plus scores of internet companies (and once great newspapers) wanting hits and click-throughs to generate revenue. In essence, news just does not sell anymore.
Economist Tim Harford has tried to explain the fascination with fake news. “Several studies,” he wrote, “have shown that repeating a false claim, even in the context of debunking that claim, can make it stick.
“The myth-busting seems to work but then our memories fade and we remember only the myth. The myth, after all, was the thing that kept being repeated. In trying to dispel the falsehood, the endless rebuttals simply make the enchantment stronger.”
Now step forward Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, who wants “evidence-based journalism”. He is setting up Wikitribune, described as “a news platform that brings journalists and a community of volunteers together.
He said: “We want to make sure that you read fact-based articles that have a real impact in both local and global events. And that stories can be easily verified and improved.”
Sounds pretty revolutionary but to those of us properly trained as journalists in the olden days it’s old hat. We have been there, done that and got several tee-shirts.
Not only were we taught to check a fact or statement but to check it out with multiple sources whenever possible before going into print.
Nowadays anyone can say anything online and have that statement repeated over and over around the world – within seconds.
Let us all wish Mr Wales well. His latest venture is well-meaning but I’m afraid it is too late. The news and fact horses have bolted and the stable door is just getting bigger all the time.
Trust me, I’m a journalist.

SWMBO and I are back from a glorious trip down the Rhine. On a river cruise, I hasten to add, not in a canoe.
This will come as shock to my reader as I did not tell you before we left.
I also did not post photos on social media of us sipping pints of Crème de Menthe at Norwich Airport as we waited for our flight.
This lack of advance information is not personal. It’s just that I can’t be sure you have a relative or associate who likes to know when homes will be empty.
One small aspect of the trip I’d like to share with you was the “Welcome to” text I received from my mobile service provider as we went from country to country.
We started out in Switzerland and my provider advised me of the cost of data, calls and texts to and from that country – see below, left.
This was repeated as we wound our way through France, Germany and The Netherlands. See below, right (costs were the same in all three countries).
Quite remarkable the difference in cost - £5 a MB of data in Switzerland, 4.3p in the EU. Calls £1.65 a minute in Switzerland, 4.3p in the EU.
And people may wonder why I voted to remain.