Disinformation and Discernment – OEB to Tackle ‘Fake News’

These days, it seems as though ‘fake news’ is everywhere. It is nothing new, though. In fact, it has been with us for a very long time – at least since the invention of printing and probably for much longer.

 

By Harold Elletson

 

One of history’s greatest peddlars of fake news also happened to be one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Ben Franklin. In 1782, he printed a fake supplement to an edition of the Boston Independent Chronicle and sent it to various colleagues, who he was confident would ensure its circulation among a British readership.

 

The main article in the supplement told of a letter from the chiefs of the Senneka Indians to the British Governor of Canada, for onward transmission to King George III. The article claimed that Britain’s native American allies were indulging in the wholesale scalping of colonists and the American troops defending them. It even purported to reproduce the text of the letter, which it claimed was attached to a large packet of scalps, intended as a gift for the King.

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