America's fake news problem predates Facebook

[Commentary] The legacies of a right-wing broadcasting bubble have profoundly shaped our current political moment, and Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm is only one small piece of the puzzle. Even before Facebook became a primary source for political news, liberals and conservatives were getting their news from vastly different sources. as opponents of President-elect Donald Trump’s candidacy and eventual presidency rally to avoid “normalizing” his ideas and approach, the mainstreaming of conservative fake news is a clear case of the dangers of such normalization. As we increasingly accept inaccurate peddlers of politicized misinformation as “news,” we allow our citizenry to be horrifically misinformed as part of this new normal.

[Jason Mittell is a professor of film and media culture and American studies at Middlebury College. Chuck Tryon is an associate professor of English at Fayetteville State University.]