Chapter One: Introduction: Digital Cultures and Fake News

In its current, contemporary form, fake news emerged as a concept, a topic and a social issue in the mid-2010s. There has, of course, been a long-standing concept of false communication, lies, propaganda and media bias, extending back centuries and related often to the key emergent media and communication forms of the day. However, the circulation today of fake news as online material – either as deliberate disinformation or accidentally believed and shared as misinformation – is widely recognised as having a serious and problematic impact on how we perceive politics and politicians. It is also understood as affecting the capacity to distribute accurate health information (particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic), the capability of ‘real’ journalists to perform the task of objective reporting and re-circulating newsworthy content, and the ability of public figures, celebrities and everyday individuals to maintain reputation and control public narratives about their lives, work and activities. Questions about the current and future meaning of truth, post-truth, facts, journalistic practices and news routines are increasingly debated not only by professionals, scholars and practitioners, but by politicians, artists, everyday readers and viewers of news, and others.