Fake news is like scams. Suppose i get a call, from the IRS. They say I owe some back taxes. They will take me away in handcuffs, if I don’t pay via debit card.
Well, I never heard of this. And the IRS normally sends several letters - by mail first.
Now I can’t find this IRS procedure, on either social media or a Google search. So it’s fake news. And costly too - if I send the phony IRS agent some money.
Now I read a supermarket tabloid story. It says Trump took a ride - in a UFO. Well, I don’t buy into it. But if ALL supermarket tabloids, were running variations of the same story. Guess what? I might say, it’s in the realm of possibility.
Same goes for a story, in the New York times, CNN, etc. If one station or newspaper runs it - it’s probably fake news. But if everybody runs it (including the international news sources - like the BBC). Guess what? It’s within the realm of possibility.
What I look at - is this. The number of news sources (both nationally and internationally), are reporting variations of the same story. Meaning they are approaching, a bell shaped curve. Which means that both liberal and conservative news bodies, should be fact checking it.
It’s now a part of my framework. Or my existential, phenomenological perspective.
If later some fact or aspect, renders the story incoherent - guess what? I alter my framework or my existential, phenomenological perspective - ever so slightly.