Fake News: A New Global Phenomena Or Ancient History?
Fake news: a term that was made popular by Donald Trump. It was the Collin’s Dictionary’s word of the year in 2017. There are now increasingly more articles that can be found online teaching you how to spot it, and Trump continues to hold his stubby finger down on the caps lock button to tweet it whenever a news source rises to challenge him. But is the concept of ‘fake news’ something new that has developed due to the rise in the use of social media? Or has it been around much longer?
Yes, Another Thing Invented By The Romans
According to the BBC, one of the first uses of ‘fake news’ was actually recorded 2,000 years ago. The Roman Republic was in a civil war between Octavian (the adopted son of Julius Caesar) and Mark Anthony, one of Caesars commands.
In order to get the public to back him, Octavian spread fake news that Anthony was having an affair with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, and didn’t respect traditional values. He also accused Anthony of being a drunk.
He got his message out to the public through poetry and short slogans printed onto coins (the Roman equivalent to a tweet, we can only assume). He ended up winning the civil war, becoming the first emperor of Rome.
Unicorns on the Moon?
According to The New York Sun in 1835, we had already discovered extraterrestrial life — on the moon. They published a series of articles called ‘Great Astronomical Discoveries’ about life on the moon. It described how a scientist had built the worlds largest telescope. He’d made shocking discoveries of how the moon was covered in deep red flowers, and was home to miniature bison — who were hunted by flying man-bats. It also was home to unicorns.
Of course, the article was satire, but being the renaissance period, where ancient old scientific philosophies were being disproved, and when vast amounts of scientific discoveries were being made, many people believed it. After their sales rose, they quietly announced the findings to be fake. (Much like the Republicans did after spreading panic about Hillary Clinton’s emails).
Aliens Attack America
According to the Columbia Broadcasting network in 1938, on Sunday the 30th of October, there was an alien attack on America. In reality, they aired an adaption of H.G.Wells ‘The War of the Worlds’, in which the first two thirds of the story were aired in a series of breaking news alerts. It was so realistic that it caused widespread panic that the story was, in fact, real.
The broadcast started with an announcement that a scientist had discovered a gas explosion on mars — then, that a meteor had crashed into New Jersey and subsequently killed 15,000 people. Another broadcast contradicted the last, saying it was in fact a metal canister containing aliens from mars with guns.
Police stations in America received thousands of calls at the time from people worried that the announcement was real. The Daily News reported the day after the broadcast that: “thousands of listeners rushed from their homes in New York and New Jersey, many with towels across their faces to protect themselves from the ‘gas’ which the invader was supposed to be spewing forth.”
So No, Trump Did Not Invent It
So, fake news has been around a lot longer than its name, but it certainly is easier to spot today. With the rise of social media we have constant access to a flow of information, which isn’t always fact checked. But, while our ancestors may have panicked and believed things that seem absurd today, its actually social media and the internet that aide us in determining the fake from the truth. While it fires the problem, it also gives us access to sources to fact-check these articles that we read.
So no, Donald Trump did not invent fake news, and it is by no means a new trend, but he certainly made us more aware of it.
Sources:
10 Examples of Fake News From History, The Social Historian. https://www.thesocialhistorian.com/fake-news/
A Brief History of Fake News, BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zwcgn9q
Before Trump: The Real History of Fake News. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/22/factitious-taradiddle-dictionary-real-history-fake-news
‘Alien Invasion’ Radio Broadcast Terrified Listeners 80 Years ago. Would E.T. Contact Cause Panic Today? — Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/63958-war-of-the-worlds-aliens.html
