Abstract

As the growth and spread of inaccurate information has emerged within Western societies in recent years, showing no abatement, the validity and effectiveness of our democratic institutions and processes, and civil society generally, have increasingly been called into question. Accordingly, it has become more essential than ever to properly identify the pernicious aspects of this information spread. As a starting point for developing a shared approach to addressing the issue, this present study seeks to establish the nature of academic publishing’s treatment of “fake news.” An interdisciplinary review of the relevant peer-reviewed literature, specifically as it relates to the definition, consequences, and spread of fake news, was undertaken. Through critical evaluation and synthesis of the literature within a content analysis methodology, this study identifies a lack of consensus on a definition of fake news, notes the deep and harmful impacts to many crucial aspects of social and democratic health as highlighted in the literature, and surfaces the research’s unanimous conclusion that a virile media ecosystem enables its spread.