Posttruth, truthiness, and alternative facts: Information behavior and critical information consumption for a new age

Fabricated news is expressly disseminated for the sake of earning money from clicks and views, and it is also used to mislead and derail. With lightening speed, fake news goes viral without being vetted or confirmed. If such information is ever retracted or disproved, the damage has been done and the evidence remains digitally archived. This scenario played out repeatedly, and in epic proportions, in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Now, postelection, increasing attention is being paid to fake news. But fake news is not new, nor are its relatives: hoaxes, satire, algorithmic biases, and propaganda. It just has an alarming new patina. This essay will address the renewed phenomenon of fake news and its related concepts and will discuss how knowledge of information behavior and critical information evaluation skills can aid in combating the effects of fake news and promote more savvy information consumption.