Reasonable Doubt

Why Fears of Fake News Are Overhyped

A top political scientist reveals new research showing a sharp drop-off in fake news since 2016

Brendan Nyhan
GEN
Published in
8 min readFeb 4, 2019

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Illustration: Yoshi Sodeoka

AAfter the shock of the 2016 presidential election, many Americans found psychological refuge in a simple explanation for why Donald Trump won: “fake news.” False or misleading information…

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Brendan Nyhan
GEN
Writer for

Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan