47.
01
RIGHT: People pro-
test in Kansas City,
USA, to demand an
investigation into
President Trump’s
constitutional
conflicts and ethics
violations, 2017
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Fake news: the
global silencer
47(01): 88/91 | DOI: 10.1177/0306422018769578
“Fake news” has taken off around the world, with political leaders
using the catchphrase to plant mistrust in the media, stop stories being
published, and even imprison journalists, reports Caroline Lees
P RESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE of the
Philippines accuses journalists of report-
ing “bullshit”; Tanzanian president, John
Magufuli, has imposed a new law polic-
ing social media for “false and misleading
information”; President Andrzej Duda of
Poland says “false reports” by journalists
are undermining democracy and the rule of
law. All three are planning to take measures
to censor independent media for what they
describe as press “inaccuracies”.
“Fake news”, the favourite way for US
President Donald Trump to insult critical
journalism, has become an international po-
litical catchphrase. Over the past year more
than 20 political leaders worldwide, from
authoritarian regimes to European democra-
cies, have used the term to accuse reporters
of spreading lies as a way to discredit jour-
nalism they do not like. These accusations
are being used to justify the closure of criti-
cal news outlets, to imprison reporters, to
censor content and to block public access to
the internet and social media sites.
Jean-Paul Marthoz, author, academic
and veteran journalist, believes the attacks
are strategic and deliberate, intended to
weaken opposition voices and, in particu-
lar, legacy media.
“The labelling of prestigious media as
‘fake news’ outlets by those who are the
major emitters of fake news is part of a de-
termined attack against the system of checks
and balances which define and protect liberal
democracy,” he said.
The fake news message reflects current
populist anti-elite and anti-establishment
sentiment, according to Marthoz, who said:
“Many rulers believe the approach taken
by Trump surfs on the relatively wide-
spread unpopularity of the media among
the public they target with their populist or
nationalist messages.
Over the past year, political leaders in
Burma, Cambodia, China, Egypt, France,
Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Kuwait,
Libya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland,
Russia, Singapore, Somalia, Syria, Tanzania,
Thailand, Turkey, the USA and Venezuela
have publicly accused journalists of report-
ing, or being, fake news.
Approaches differ between countries, but
there is evidence such attacks on media cred-
ibility are becoming more widespread. The
latest annual prison census released by the
CREDIT: Brian Cahn/Rex
Committee to Protect Journalists reveals a
sharp increase in the number of journalists
imprisoned on false news charges.
At least 21 are in jail worldwide, in at
least six countries. Last year there were ➔
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 47.01
➔ just nine journalists jailed on such charg-
es, in two countries. The trend of using fake
news as an accusation has taken off globally.
In the Philippines, Duterte has been wag-
ing a very public war on particular media
outlets, often labelling them “bullshit” and
“fake news”. The latest target is Rappler.com,
the country’s only digital-born news site. In
January this year, the government announced
it would revoke Rappler’s operating licence.
The day after the announcement, Duterte
described Rappler as a “fake news outlet”
that published stories “rife with innuendos
and pregnant with falsity.”
He added: “Since you are a fake news out-
let, then I am not surprised that your articles
are also fake.”
Rappler’s founder and editor, Maria Ressa,
is fighting back. She accuses Duterte’s govern-
ment of systematically spreading fake news
itself, to “silence and intimidate” opposition.
Courtney Radsch, CPJ’s advocacy direc-
tor, monitors such attacks on the press. She
predicts the term “fake news” will continue
to be used against the media in authoritarian
regimes, and expects more states to adopt
statutes against it.
“I would anticipate that countries that
lack democratic safeguards and robust press
would be happy to use this as an excuse to
restrict journalism,” she said.
In Tanzania, four independent newspa-
pers and two radio stations have been shut
down or suspended over the past 12 months
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because of what President Magufuli has
deemed to be “inaccurate” reporting. Most
recently, Daima – a newspaper that had
previously criticised the government – was
closed for 90 days last October after being
accused of spreading “false information”.
The president’s moves against the press
follow the introduction of a controversial
cybercrime law in 2015, which prohibits the
publication of “false and misleading infor-
mation”. It has already led to the arrest of
eight opposition party workers for sharing
“inaccurate” election results over the mes-
saging service WhatsApp.
Similar measures, ostensibly implemented
to stop the spread of fake news, are being
taken elsewhere in Africa. During the recent
elections in Somaliland, all social media
platforms were shut down on the grounds
they could spread “inciteful and tribalistic
information, in the form of hate speech and
fake news”.
Melody Patry, advocacy director for Ac-
cess Now, a non-governmental organisation
campaigning against internet shutdowns,
said a number of African countries have used
a “kill switch” to block either the internet
or individual social media platforms dur-
ing elections and protests. These countries
include Cameroon, Ethiopia and the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo.
“Using a kill switch to cut off communica-
tions is a blunt-force instrument resulting in
suppressing free speech and denying access
to information,” Patry said.
The instrument used against the media
in some European countries is more subtle.
Hungary’s government recently announced
CREDIT: J Gerard Seguia/ZUMA Wire/Alamy
that, while it supported press freedom, it
would not tolerate any outlets considered
to be “spreading fake news, misleading the
public and limiting the people’s access to
real information”. Since coming to power
in 2010, the country’s prime minister, Vik-
tor Orban, has been criticised for repressing
press freedom. Respected independent media
outlets have become openly pro-government
24/03/2018 11:42:20

after being acquired by Orban’s political
allies. One, Hungary’s leading opposition
newspaper, Népszabadság, was closed down
in 2016.
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party
(PiS) is also increasing control over the coun-
try’s media and regularly uses the platform
provided by pro-government media to at-
tack the credibility of independent outlets.
Recently, during a live news programme on
public channel TVP Info, a government min-
ister criticised a respected online news site,
Gazeta.pl, calling it “deceitful, shameful and
the worst thing on the internet”.
The site is owned by Poland’s first private
independent newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza,
which has been accused by PiS of being an
“enemy of the state”.
Attempts to prohibit “disinformation”
and “fake news” in liberal democracies have
also come under scrutiny. French President
Emmanuel Macron plans to allow authori-
ties to block content or close down sites
deemed to be spreading “fake news” during
election periods.
“When media organs spread slanderous
falsehoods, they are no longer journalists,”
he said.
But others questioned whether govern-
ments should have the right to decide
whether a piece of news is fake. In February
this year, Macron himself was criticised for
allegedly influencing a decision to sack the
head of Radio France. He had previously
been accused by Macron of spreading “false
rumours” about their relationship.
Efforts to undermine trust in independ-
ent media is having an impact on audiences,
according to Liz Corbin, editor of Reality
Check, the BBC’s fact-checking team.
She said: “Seeds of doubt are being sown
and that is incredibly dangerous for the fu-
ture of the free press.”
Trust in the media has significantly de-
clined over the past decade, according to the
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
A 2017 RISJ report – Bias, Bullshit and
00_index_47-1.indb 91
IN FOCUS
Lies, Audience Perspectives on Low Trust
LEFT: Maria Ressa,
in the Media – cites a US Gallup poll show- CEO of online news
ing media trust dropping from half (53%) outlet Rappler, is
in 1997 to less than a third (32%) in 2016. interviewed at a
protest against the
There has as yet been little evidence to show outlet’s licence
how far “fake news” claims have directly being revoked by
contributed to the decline, but the RISJ study Duterte’s admin-
istration, Manila,
identifies the way politicians and bloggers Philippines, January
use social media to publicly question the 2018
motivations of journalists and news organi-
sations as one factor affecting trust.
Another recent poll, asking Americans
if they understood the meaning of “fake
news”, revealed some public awareness of
how the term has become politicised. Nearly
half (47%) of respondents said it referred
to “sloppy or biased reporting”, while 39%
described it as an “insult being over-used to
discredit news stories people do not like”.
Seeds of doubt are being sown and
that is incredibly dangerous for the
future of the free press
Marthoz predicts authoritarian govern-
ments will continue to deliberately under-
mine trust in the media. He believes public
awareness of the issue is one of the few ways
to resist what has become a global threat to
media freedom. Legislating against the flow
of disinformation is impossible, he said, and
it is also undesirable if it means abusive con-
trol and government censorship.
But public awareness is unlikely to make
much difference in authoritarian regimes
around the world, where reporters have
been arrested, news outlets have been closed
down and journalists censor their own work
for fear they will be accused of lying.
Caroline Lees is a former Sunday Times
correspondent in Afghanistan, and now works
for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journal-
ism at Oxford University
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