News that Disagrees with Your Ideas is Fake News

According to a new study, all people believe that news that does not agree with what they already believe is fake news. Author and researcher Erik Palmer interviewed 1,426 people with varying political beliefs. “What surprised me is that there was not one open-minded person,” said Palmer. “Conservatives dismissed every single piece of information that shed a negative light on President Trump, for example; liberals considered Fox News to be worthless.” The term “fake news” is a misnomer, according to Palmer. “There is a difference between biased and fake,” he says. “While media outlets that choose to cover one story rather than another may indicate bias, it does not mean the story is made up.” The study discovered that distrust in media is high, but only distrust of the other side’s media. Uncritical acceptance of news that confirms previously held beliefs is at an all-time high, as is uncritical rejection of news that disagrees with those beliefs. “The nation was founded on the belief that a free and unfettered press is essential to freedom,” Palmer said. “Demeaning the press destroys an essential part of democracy.”