Susan,

Thanks for the article.

Fake news is an old problem:
----"A lie will go round the world while the truth is still putting its
boots on." (C.S. Spurgeon, 1859; sometimes attributed to Mark Twain)
----"Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it." (Jonathan Swift, 1710)

But is fake news persuasive? Academic research suggests that fake news is persuasive mainly when the source is credible. Here's a sample conclusion from research on the topic of message framing and source credibility:

"We find that a more credible media source strengthens the framing effect while a less credible source has no influence on the framing effect, indicating that the source credibility serves as a moderator."

https://ecpr.eu/filestore/paperproposal/220cf148-7493-41b2-8802-a062b7d…

This research is mainly about the "framing" of a message, rather than an outright lie. But the research I've read makes me believe that source credibility is a critical restraint on fake news.

Yes, it's true that some people are gullible or partisan. As Todd Rungren said, "You believe what you want to believe." (Refugee) But the evidence suggests that the persuasiveness of fake news is limited by the credibility of the source.

Perhaps I should update my article on how to read financia news.
; )

Rob