There is no generally accepted definition for the term ’fake news’, but experts and researchers agree that it is news that is fabricated deliberately to deceive people. However, not everyone who spreads false information does so on purpose, but rather because s/he did not recognise it as false or misleading.
The European Union suggests using the term 'disinformation' instead of 'fake news’. One of the main reasons for this is that the phenomenon is more complicated than just the dissemination of untrue statements. The other reason is that politicians started to use the term 'fake news' to stigmatise those media outlets that are critical against them. According to the High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation of the EU, disinformation is every information that is false, inaccurate or misleading, and that is fabricated and published to cause public harm or to gain profit.
Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication and media at Merrimack College, Massachusetts, has put together a list containing „false, misleading, clickbait-y, and/or satirical ’news’ sources” to show that fake news are only one part of the desinformation problem. According to her, „click-bait and ’truthiness’ are just as bad”. She has developed a grading system to be able to identify more quickly the following news types: fake news (in the strict sense), satires (the use of humour, irony, exaggeration and false information), extreme biased news (may rely on propaganda or decontextualised information), conspiracies (promoters of conspiracy theories), rumour mills (gossips and innuendos), state news (repressive governmental news), junk science (untested or unproven theories presented as scientific facts), hate news (promotes any kind of discrimination), click baits (usually credible content used in an exaggerated or misleading way), proceed with caution contents (sources whose contents require further verification), political news (provide generally verifiable information in support of a specific political side).
