The means by which
people can be deceived by false information.
At its most basic this could be as simple as an individual lying about their age on a
facebook page. More commonly the term is connected with Mass media & the deceptions they engage in. For instance in 2014 the media promoted a 'shocking' video of a Syrian
boy braving sniper fire to rescue a little girl from
ISIS sniper fire. It was then later revealed that the whole video was a staged sequence shot in Malta by Norwegian director
Lars Klevberg.
'Eyewitness' testimony can also be faked; for instance in 2013 the Kenyan star quoted an '
anonymous Doctor' who stated that he saw terrorists performing bizarre tortures upon the hostages of the Westgate shopping Mall attack. Nowadays the claim that there even were hostages has been dropped.
Media fakery has been going on for a long time perhaps most amusingly with the 'Cottingley Fairies'. A series of (obviously) fraudulent photographs that were pushed by the media (& various celebrities of the day) in 1917. The photos created a controversy that lasted until the mid 1970'
s!
Media skeptics regularly point out the use of
green-screening, CGI, actors, fake 'experts' etc as well as the absurdity of some of the claims made by the media (
ISIS using bombs filled with live scorpions for example).
