Technological evolution over the last 200+ years has dramatically changed both the speed and volume of information that is available at our fingertips. What has not changed however, is the way journalists and political rivals “spin” their stories to achieve their ends. Two catchy new terms in the popular lexicon, “Fake News” and “Alternative Facts”, are now being deployed by both journalists and politicians alike. Accusations of being a purveyor of false information are being fired in all directions. While both these terms are new, the concepts they represent are not, and have dogged us since colonial times.
For those who believe the embellishment of facts and/or fake news is worse today than it’s ever been, a look back at what occurred in 1798 is instructive. Exaggeration, innuendo, and misleading statements in the press directed at President John Adams and his “Federalist” ideals were especially intense at the start of his administration. One such example comes from James Callender, a pamphleteer and journalist at the time describing Adams …“This federal gem (Adams) …is not only a repulsive pendant, a gross hypocrite, and an unprincipled oppressor, but…in private life, one of the most egregious fools upon the continent.” As a result, congress passed, and Adams signed into law, the Sedition Act of 1798. This law criminalized the writing or publishing of views that ridiculed the administration. 25 journalists were arrested during the short time this law was in effect, including the aforementioned Callender. The law expired with the end of Adams term as President in 1801 and was not renewed. Press relations with the new administration are bad today, but not that bad.
As an information conduit, the Internet has given people much easier access to information about their government, enabling them to be more informed. However, vast amounts of information at everyone’s fingertips does not necessarily lead to vast “enlightenment”. For many people, a quick triage of their favorite information sources, repeated occasionally throughout the day may be all they have time for. Because people work hard and have very busy lives, the headlines and perhaps the first few sentences of a story are all that’s consumed. Media outlets have always relied on titillating headlines to draw in consumers and that fact has not changed in 200+ years. What is different now is that for a significant portion of the population, the attention-grabbing headline, fake or real, may constitute virtually their only information source. Our observations are that this effect appears to cut across political, educational, and demographic lines. Additionally, some of the common stress relievers of today have a side effect of tending to reinforce the most provocative news headlines. Facebook posts, Tweets and re-tweets, and political satire on SNL, The Daily Show, The Tonight Show, etc. are all examples.
The information overload we experience today is a direct result of technological evolution. Congress, recognizing the lack of focus and insight that typically accompanies information overload, has crafted it into a political weapon. Controversial new bills are written with an absurd number of pages-sometimes in the thousands. This practically ensures that deliberation on that bill, which has time limitations, can only occur at a superficial level before votes are taken. Proponents can cite “facts” in such a bill that might take days for the opposition to confirm actually exist. Alternative facts and fake descriptions can live vibrant lives in the short periods of associated debate on these bills, which is often all that is needed to affect the outcome. There is no better case-in-point than the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. At 1,990 pages, no human being could completely absorb that document in the brief time it was available to be read before a vote was taken. Congresswoman Pelosi famously admitted as much when she said “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it…“. How many of us have even read a 1,000 page book in our lives, let alone a document twice that size? Compare that to the brevity and understandability of the US Constitution, the single most important document in our history. It can be read from start to finish in less than 15 minutes. Even the Bible at 1,281 pages (Old Testament + New Testament) is shorter than the original ACA.
Fake News and Alternative Facts can only persuade and deceive if there is a large enough and incompletely informed population that can be affected. Unfortunately, information overload combined with long work days and little time to actually think critically, make us more susceptible to it now than ever before. Don’t expect politicians or news outlets to change, as their behavior in this regard has been fairly consistent for a long time. The rest of us need to go a little beyond the headlines, and sample multiple information sources, to get closer to truth.