• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 12, 2018

Maybe fake “news” is more like reality TV.

True news content has nothing to do with the word “fake.”  TV shows -- broadcast and cable networks -- featuring characters “cast” to be roommates, island-mates, cooking-mates, music-mates -- has nothing to do with reality, it’s about creating fake real-life situations.

Media consumers love both -- to a fault. The question is: Can they tell the difference?

A study conducted by MIT says false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true stories. Also. it takes true stories about six times as long to reach 1,500 people as it takes for false stories to reach the same number of people. Falsehoods are also retweeted more widely than true statements.

Let’s face it: People love the more dramatic stuff. Real news? Maybe that can be boring at times. Maybe even for advertisers. One of the key engagement tools when it comes to media content is whether people share that content. Fake news is shared a lot.

Now, what isn’t said is whether media consumers are making smart decisions here. They know certain types of news are probably fake — and share it anyway. Maybe it’s news that's “too good to be true.”

Bottom line: People will continue to gawk and value fake news. Should marketers care?

Media entrepreneur Steve Brill now wants to help out with a new service, NewsGuard, which essentially helps to empower readers.

Brill wants independent journalists to tag stories so consumers can make their own judgement calls: “Green” meaning this is a well-sourced real journalist story, “yellow” meaning to assign caution, and “red” warning readers to beware of fake news or stop.

Perhaps these color markings would work for advertisers too. And perhaps they will reflect different prices for each of these stories.

I’m sure TV network/media sellers will love this. Watch for speed traps and ticketing media police.