10/29/2017
FAKE NEWS IS:
"Rather than thinking about what exactly is fake news, (because it’s more of a hash tag than anything else, it’s not a term of art), I think it’s more important to think about the kind of information that is intentionally distributed and intentionally created in order to undermine the public’s right to know and to undermine the public’s ability to discern fact from reality and fact from fiction."
David Kaye, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
"From time to time, getting a fact wrong in a news story is not fake news. Expressing a view or an opinion that is not shared by the reader or listener is also not fake news. I would say that fake news should be narrowly defined to mean things that are just made up."
Rob Balin, Senior Vice Chair, IBA Media Law Committee.
"The intentional, strategic, deliberate use of not just necessarily misleading but straight up false information to influence dynamics or straight out change outcomes – that is what I define as fake news. The intentionality, directness, deliberateness and “strategic-ness” of the use of that false information is what, in my opinion, draws the line between the fake news that we witness today and the type of misleading reports that throughout history have influenced conflict dynamics in the past."
Federica D’Alessandra, Vice Chair, IBA Human Rights Law Committee & Co-Chair, IBA War Crimes Committee.
"Fake news is, in my view, deliberately manufactured, invented deceptions. Our president began, I think, abusing or misusing the term and applying it to legitimate news organisations such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN. And through that use, the term fake news has taken on perhaps a different meaning. It now seems to mean anything you don’t like is fake news. So I don’t know the answer to what is [fake news]."
Mark Stephens, Past Chair, IBA Media Law Committee.
"Rather than thinking about what exactly is fake news, (because it’s more of a hash tag than anything else, it’s not a term of art), I think it’s more important to think about the kind of information that is intentionally distributed and intentionally created in order to undermine the public’s right to know and to undermine the public’s ability to discern fact from reality and fact from fiction."
Jay Seaton, Former media lawyer and publisher who considered a law suit against a Colorado senator.
"The Guardian’s readers’ editor has defined fake news as “fictions deliberately fabricated and presented as non-fiction in order to make readers treat them as facts or doubt verifiable facts”."
Gillian Philips, Director of Editorial Legal Services, The Guardian.