Dear Fake News,
You’ve had a big year. A huge year, even. And it’s culminated in this: your crowning as The Collins Word of the Year 2017.
You beat out some tough competitors, like Fidget Spinner, Insta (as a prefix) and Unicorn. There were shortlisted words that were political in nature as well, so congratulations on surpassing Echo Chamber and Antifa in your cultural significance!
As defined by Collins, you are “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.”
Your popularity skyrocketed this year. Since 2016, your usage went up 365 percent. That’s essentially a percentage point a day.
Whether or not you meant for things to work out this way, the hearty endorsements you received from President Trump boosted your visibility big-time in the past 12 months.
On Twitter alone, our President has name-dropped you 167 times since winning the election.
No institution of media or journalism has been safe from his eagle-eyed scrutiny. CNN, NBC News, ABC, CBS, the New York Times and the Washington Post: Fake News!
“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” Trump tweeted just last month. He followed up by saying:
