Mainstream Media Misinformation
While websites creating fake news for profit are a new development, they are not the only groups that were accused of fraudulent reporting this year.
POLITICO, a “global news and information company at the intersection of politics and policy,” fired liberal reporter, Julia Ioffe, over a fake news post on Twitter about Donald Trump. The tweet was not only representative of fake news but also of careless and poor judgment.
Ioffe, 34, made painful suggestions that President-elect Trump was engaging in sexual relations with his daughter, Ivanka. The suggestion was made in response to a recently published article, stating that Ivanka Trump would be occupying an office in the White House normally reserved for the first lady.
As fake news often does, the tweet quickly began trending on social media. It received over 1,037 likes and was shared over 442 times on Twitter alone. Despite likely having been published to generate traffic, a tweet such as the one above could have serious repercussions for those involved. Although the original tweet was deleted, there are dozens of screenshots and text-based copies still in existence.
