Fake News Talk at Billings Library

It’s the bane of legitimate journalists– and a profit center for unprincipled peddlers of rumor, innuendo and blatant fabrication– and  A panel of local experts discussed the lies and distortions, hoaxes and big business that increasingly crowds the political landscape and muddies the media waters of fact-based journalism.
MSU Billings Communications professor Susan Balter-Reitz, Editor Pat Bellinghausen of the Gazette and Ed Kemmick of Last Best News agreed that some people only seek news that reinforces their views, while MSU Billings instructor Melissa Boehm said fake news– disseminated on social media to boost clicks and profits — is popular and precarious, partly because of the speed with which it can be spread.