FAKING NEWS Fraudulent News and the Fight for Truth 1 FAKING NEWS Fraudulent News and the Fight for Truth October 12, 2017 © 2017 PEN America. All rights reserved. PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Founded in 1922, PEN America is the largest of more than 100 centers of PEN International. Our strength is in our membership—a nationwide community of more than 5,000 novelists, journalists, poets, essayists, playwrights, editors, publishers, translators, agents, and other writing professionals. For more information, visit pen.org. Cover photograph: Dru Menaker CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY ESSAY FRAUDULENT NEWS AND THE THREAT TO FREE EXPRESSION 4 DEFINING FRAUDULENT NEWS 19 RELEVANT DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 20 NEWS CONSUMERS’ BILL OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 22 PREFACE 24 FACEBOOK 25 GOOGLE 36 TWITTER 45 PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS 49 FACT-CHECKING 60 NEWS LITERACY 66 RECOMMENDATIONS 72 METHODOLOGY AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 74 ENDNOTES 75 Introductory Essay FRAUDULENT NEWS AND THE THREAT TO FREE EXPRESSION By Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America he rise of fraudulent news and the erosion of Russia, Myanmar, Egypt, and elsewhere—have landed at public trust in mainstream journalism, due in our own doorsteps. Insults directed against journalists part to a deliberate campaign of denigration, for doing their jobs, willful intimidation of members of pose a looming crisis for American democ- vulnerable groups, attacks on reporters, and crackdowns racy and civic life. A series of factors—soaring on protesters have been generated and legitimized by the levels of mistrust of journalism and the me- highest levels of the U.S. government in unprecedented Tdia, an explosion of new online news outlets, rapid changes ways. Yet, amid all the serious concerns that have animated in patterns of information consumption, sharp ideological PEN America and our 5,000-strong membership of writing divides that dictate which media outlets are trusted by professionals, the damage already sustained and the future whom, daily attacks on the risk to the very idea of truth in American public discourse "Over the past year at press by the president of stand out as among the most grave. PEN America, we have been the United States and his Dating back to 1948, the PEN Charter, which governs alarmed and galvanized by the allies, and stumbles by the the international network of PEN–affiliated organizations realization that many of the media itself in an era of operating in more than 100 countries, commits PEN mem- threats to expression that we cutthroat competition and bers to “pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free have historically fought against instantaneous transmission press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and alongside sister PEN Centers and of information—combine to distortion of facts for political and personal ends.”1 What allied organizations—in China, call into question existing the PEN Charter called “mendacious publication” was Russia, Myanmar, Egypt, methods for disseminating a forerunner to what was initially known as “fake news” and elsewhere—have landed at and validating the news for (before the White House and others co-opted the term to our own doorsteps." and by an information-hun- refer to virtually any critical news coverage) and what PEN gry but skeptical public. At America, in this report, will refer to as false or fraudulent a time of domestic political upheaval, sharp policy divi- news (see the Definition section). The framers of the char- sions, and intensifying international conflicts, the spread ter were prescient in recognizing that an open marketplace of disinformation and the related—yet distinct—problem of ideas can be distorted not only through government of distrust of the media pose a fundamental threat to the censorship, intimidation, or reprisals for speech but also quality of our public discourse and to our political system, by market failures wrought by the unscrupulous actors sound policy outcomes, and national cohesion. and, as we now see, fostered by technology. The framers PEN America, an organization dedicated to the celebra- of the PEN Charter, written in the aftermath of a Second tion and protection of freedom of expression, construes World War fueled by fascism, also realized that the first its mission broadly to encompass the defense not just of tool of the autocrat is an assault on truth and fact. individual rights to free speech but also of open discourse With mendacious publication spreading rapidly in our as the lifeblood of free and vibrant societies. Over the own country, this aspect of our mission has assumed past year at PEN America, we have been alarmed and new urgency as we consider how to protect the bedrock galvanized by the realization that many of the threats to of open discourse—trust, citizens’ ability to distinguish expression that we have historically fought against along- fact from falsehood, the opportunity to test competing side sister PEN Centers and allied organizations—in China, claims through forthright debate—without which freedom 4 PEN AMERICA of expression loses its value. In a climate where individ- It is our hope in this report to spotlight the dimensions uals expect that the information they receive is as likely of the problem, call out its serious implications, and stim- to be false as true; where they fear that they won’t be ulate greater urgency across multiple sectors of society believed even when they are telling the truth; and where that have a role to play in addressing it. We do not claim they anticipate being dismissed by anyone not already to have covered all the relevant issues, nor certainly to predisposed to credit their views, free expression cedes have all the answers. We are also aware that as we un- its value. After all, free speech is in a sense the right to dertake this work, colleagues in numerous organizations persuade, to galvanize, to engage in joint quests for truth are simultaneously carrying out their own investigations alongside others, to reach new understandings, and to and analyses. We are grateful for the chance to engage in shape communities and societies. dialogue with them as we continue to develop and refine Free expression, both in the First Amendment to the our own contributions. The reshaping of the landscape U.S. Constitution and as enshrined in international law, for news and information is happening quickly and in un- encompasses not just the right to speak but also the right expected ways. Experimentation, innovation, awareness to gather and impart information.2 If public discourse be- raising, and trial and error will all be necessary before we comes so flooded with disinformation that listeners can can be confident that the challenges we face are in hand. no longer distinguish signal from noise and simply tune out, the ability to receive and impart information is com- SIGNS OF A CRISIS promised. In a vacuum of truth, speech loses its potency; Markers of a crisis in the American climate for news and it becomes just words. Accordingly, even if most forms of information are abundant. Key indicators of impending fraudulent news constitute protected speech that cannot— crisis include: and should not—be outlawed or punished, the collective impact of such speech nonetheless poses serious risks to Eroding Public Trust in the Media the open and vibrant discourse necessary for freedom of In a September 2016 report, Gallup, which has been polling expression to survive and thrive. (It is important to note Americans about their confidence in mass media annually that this report does not call for legal action to restrict since the late ’90s, announced that Americans’ trust in the fraudulent news; we do not support giving the government media had “dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling broader power to regulate media content as a solution.) history.” Only 32 percent of respondents claimed to have a The problem of proliferating fraudulent news is now “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the media, a figure compounded by social and political divisions that under- down 8 percentage points from 2015—and down more than cut the traditional ways that truth ordinarily triumphs. 20 percentage points since 1997.3 Investigations, exposés, studies, expert accounts, eyewit- The United States isn’t the only nation facing a skeptical ness interviews, and other tools for the elucidation and citizenry. In at least 17 countries worldwide, trust in the verification of contested information fall short when a media has plunged to an all-time low.4 News consumers significant population segment is convinced that it cannot from Ireland to France to South Korea see the news media believe anything that comes from a wide array of sources as politicized, dependent on social media and clickbait to it perceives as politically or ideologically hostile. Absent dictate news agendas, and editorially compromised due to viable methods to bridge divisions about what is true and economic pressures.5 In the United States, according to an false, already broad gulfs in perception and dogma widen April 27 poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington further. Post, over half of Americans believe that news organizations There is no silver bullet for the problems of fraudulent “regularly” fabricate stories.6 Americans now trust the mili- news and eroding public trust in news and media. Certain tary, the scientific community, the Supreme Court, organized dimensions of the problem long predate the current po- religion, and banks and financial institutions more than they litical and technological era—including, for example, the trust the mainstream news.