BY CASEY ROEPKE ’21

The phenomenon of fake news, spotlighted recently in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, is not a new occurrence. Russia’s alleged interference during the campaign, via Facebook and other social media sites, was not the first time news was fabricated to alter the results of an election. In an episode of “Backstory,” a weekly history podcast, historian Mark Summers discussed the practices of “Gilded Age-era elections” and argued that past politicians consistently published lies about their opponents in newspapers in order to sway public opinion. However, before examining the effects of fake news in the U.S. and around the world, it is important to precisely define “fake news.”