{"id":5438,"date":"2017-08-23T11:39:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T17:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=5438"},"modified":"2017-08-24T13:14:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T19:14:59","slug":"reporters-actually-forced-integrity-heres-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2017\/08\/reporters-actually-forced-integrity-heres-works.html","title":{"rendered":"Reporters Are Actually Forced to Have Integrity – Here’s How It Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"fakenews.001\"<\/a>I\u2019m so tired of hearing the fake news<\/em> meme, especially because true reporters are actually forced to have integrity. Here\u2019s what I mean.<\/p>\n

The phrase fake news<\/em> entered the American lexicon during the 2016 presidential campaign. Headlines like\u00a0\u201cFBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide\u201d were completely\u00a0fabricated. This particular article, written by a man named Jestin Coler, was shared on Facebook over a half-million times. That kind of traffic generates income for fake news writers like Coler. (read an interview with him\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Coler\u00a0makes up fake news stories that naive people repost on social media\u00a0so he can make money off of the web traffic \u2013 $10-30 thousand a month. He\u00a0once fabricated a story that he saw someone buying pot with food stamps in Colorado. A state representative actually introduced legislation to make buying pot with food stamps illegal, all based on an article that was completely fabricated.<\/p>\n

Coler runs an outfit called disinfomedia, employing over twenty writers who fabricate news for his many fake news sites. Stories that get the most traffic usually play into existing conspiracy theories. Gullible people will click on false\u00a0headlines that they want\u00a0to be true.\u00a0Here are\u00a0of the most popular fake news headlines:<\/p>\n