We got here because far too many people would rather get a fast food version of the news than to be well informed. President Snowflake attacks a lot of the mainstream media with the 'fake news' BS because a lot of his supporters buy into it... They don't care about him not disclosing his taxes, his lack of action on Russian interference into the last election, his campaign's possible collusion with Russia, stocking his cabinet with unqualified rich guys & family members, denigrating the FBI and Justice Department, etc - all his supporters care about is fast he's just like them.

And he isn't like his supporters - not by any stretch of any definition. But try showing them evidence of this and they will mimick their leader with the 'fake news' accusations.

Americans have allowed the people who are elected to office to underfund education, teachers, libraries and nutrition yet overspend on the military (the exception is the people who serve and have served - very are treated poorly... The overspending is on the weapons). It is not a surprise that we are in the situation that we are in.

Voting and holding those elected accountable works yet unless you invest in finding out what your elected officials are doing vs listening to them spinning lies you get the type of country & government we have today.

I am hopeful for the future yet understand the daunting task ahead to turning this Titanic away from complete disaster...

I wish the mainstream media would do a better job of reporting the news. Far too much time is being spend on the con artist in WA DC. The media has sold out to ratings, it is that simple. BBC news/NPB does not draw viewers like CNN, MSNBc, etc. Then there is foxSTUPID (just my term for this network), a non-news source or truly 'fake' news.

Too many are gullible and believe what ever they see on TV ... including the BS on Fox

Ive never heard of "fake news" till that Donald tRump came on the scene. Just another one of his ways to divide the country, make people believe that news that puts him in a bad light, or exposes another one of his million lies, is "fake News" What about "alternative facts" ??? that's another one that they made up.

Twshield, in my opinion there is no real news anymore. We are being spoon feed B.S. most of the time. Look how much coverage the resistance to the pipeline got. In addition, the protesters were portrayed as criminal dissidents. There is no bias reporting any more. Every station has an agenda according to what their corporate bosses want. The media just like the politicians are bought by our corporate overlords.I don't trust the media at all. I do trust the independent media a little bit more, Six companies own 90% of all media in the world.

[businessinsider.com]

I think "fake news" is a label which Trump and his cronies put on news where the facts are embarrassing and for which they have no justifications readily available.

Jounalism in general in the U.S. has degraded over the last 35 years to where most media standards of quality is just barely above that of tabloid levels. When the old traditional journalism is practiced and facts are checked and verified, Trump and his cronies will label it as "fake news", so the general public is only slightly better informed than someone who gets all theri facts from tabloids.

The media hs been dumbed down, and and turn that has duimbed down the general public.

You have to be educated somewhat to recognize "logical fallacies" in order to spot just how bad it has gotten.

Seems like a descent into fascism to me. Attack credible science and the institutions that are in place to expose corruption and lies, while telling your like-minded supporters that they are being lied to by those they're supposed to trust. Kind of textbook really. I'm just disappointed that there are so many people that are gullible enough to fall for it.

The attack on the media, legal branch, legislative branch, and other areas of inconvenient government is a classic gaslighting technique. It has been employed by every petty wannabe despot since time immemorial.

There is some validity to the attack on the media, but only because another Repugnican ex actor killed the Fairness Doctrine. Since that time the media has been free to apply spin to meet management's political bent. However, 'Fake' news carries the connotation of 'made up' news and as far as I know, no member of the mainstream media would even dream of doing that.

So, what changed? There has been a slow change since the time of Reagan toward what we see now, including the incursion of heavy handed religion into the system. The potential last straw is the advent of this administration.

We started on that path when Roger Ayles invented Fox "News" and its format. Ayles admitted that the was a great admirer of Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's film propagandist. As an admirer of the Nazi propaganda operation and of the tactic of "the big lie" (if you repeat an outrageous lie often enough and if some big names start to repeat it, people will begin to believe it). Ayles simply created a propaganda machine and called it news. He also created the totally false oxymoron "advocacy journalism." Journalism is reporting actual news and events. Advocacy is taking sides and expressing your personal slant. Advocacy journalism is nothing but propaganda pretending to be news.

It's a reality tv star named tRUMP who became commander in chief. He may have been the one or one of his political operatives to invent the term. When I hear him say those words I cringe and know its the truth.

There is fake news in the US. It comes from FOX News.

We got to this point by electing lying, corrupt people into positions of control.