News you Don’t Believe: Audience Perspectives on Fake News

Our findings suggest that, from an audience perspective, fake news is only in part about fabricated news reports narrowly defi ned, and much more about a wider discontent with the information landscape— including news media and politicians as well as platform companies. Tackling false news narrowly speaking is important, but it will not address the broader issue that people feel much of the information they come across, especially online, consists of poor journalism, political propaganda, and misleading forms of advertising and sponsored content.

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