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Back to To the Point

To the Point

The way forward in a post-truth world

Fake news isn't new. It's about as old as news itself. What is new is the speed and potency of fake news in the age of social media, and the way in which it figured in this year's election.

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By Warren Olney • Dec 22, 2016 • 1 min read

Fake news isn't new. It's about as old as news itself. What is new is the speed and potency of fake news in the age of social media, and the way in which it figured in this year's election. From stories about Hillary Clinton selling weapons to ISIS to claims by the President-elect that he won the popular vote… sensational and poisonous stories have spread rapid fire on Facebook and Twitter, helped along by ad sales and algorithms that propel fake news to the top of pack, occasionally with violent results. How damaging is fake news to democracy, and what role do mainstream media outlets as well as technology companies play in defusing it?

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Warren Olney

    former KCRW broadcaster

  • KCRW placeholder

    Paul von Zielbauer

    Producer, 'To the Point'

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    Gideon Brower

    Independent Producer

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    Evan George

    Director of Content, News

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    James Fallows

    Atlantic

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    Rebecca Blumenstein

    Wall Street Journal

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    Nicole Hemmer

    author of “Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s”

    NewsNationalPolitics
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