Their actions come after Trump called journalists 'the enemy of the people' and hit out at 'lamestream media'. Protesters themselves believed they had been victims of fake news with rioters on Wednesday hurling insults at journalists and destroying television cameras. The danger of misinformation and fake news was laid bare as the chaotic scenes unravelled in Washington as Trump's devotees burst into Congress chanting his baseless claims of voter fraud.

He has repeatedly pushed baseless claims the election had been 'rigged' and encouraged his followers to 'stop the steal', which they tried and failed to do as they stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday. In fact, his use of the term helped propel it to become Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2017 as fans of the president echoed his own scepticism of the media.Īs his one-term tenure comes to a close, Mr Trump, who has perpetuated falsehoods consistently while in office, is himself being accused of proliferating fake news. Misinformation and fake news have been part of society of thousands of years but perhaps has never been more prevalent since the election of the current US president.ĭonald Trump used the phrase 'fake news' to attack the likes of US network CNN and the New York Times when they posed questions to him that he didn't like.

Is the dredge report fake news