Fake News and Networked Journalism in Hard Times: “Honest, Objective and Immoral News” of Zaytung on Social Media

Kejanlioglu, B., O. Taş, A. Çam, A. S. Yılmaz (2013). Fake News and Networked Journalism in Hard Times: “Honest, Objective and Immoral News” of Zaytung on Social Media. COST Action IS0906 Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies, Tampere, Finland 17-19 April 2013.

Abstract: Fake news is an act of inversion in which the constituents of news discourse are challenged in a way that reveals the absurdity of the objective and accurate reporting at a time when Turkey is undergoing a total eclipse of reason that is characterised by the undemocratic implementations of AKP government and diminishing public trust to news media. The argument suggested by Baym and Jones (2012: 12) to highlight the potentialities of news parody in a global setting is also relevant to the state of affairs in Turkey: “It encapsulates a search for truth and meaning in a time when populations have grown increasingly suspicious that traditional discourses no longer suffice.” Zaytung (Turkish pronunciation of zeitung/newspaper in German), a daily updated website, and the circulation of its fake news on social media are held as a case here. Inspired by the famous American fake news site, The Onion, Zaytung was founded in late 2009, having six editors, 1500 registered authors among whom 50-60 write in regular basis and had approximately 50.000 daily users in early 2011. It is a remarkable instance of fake news production mixing satire, parody and irony. Maybe even more, it can be considered a carnivalesque resistance to hegemonic power dominates domains of both politics and the media. Zaytung produces dozens of fake news and breaking news headlines closely related to news agenda as well as magazine covers, streaming news, photo news, horoscopes, pool results which are all fake. By following Sienkiewicz’s argument (2012: 106-107) on political satire, we suggest that Zaytung aims simultaneously at politicians and the people who report on them by making fun of both the form and content of the news. Thus it creates a virtual space in which “hegemonic powers can be questioned and modes of apparent common sense can be challenged” (Sienkiewicz, 2012: 107). This attempt can be considered as a reaction to shifting parameters of trust toward representational institutions. It performs “a semiotic labor in deconstructing news and wider discourses of authority” (Baym and Jons, 2012: 2). In Russell’s words, Fake news and other forms of political remix both within and outside mainstream outlets represent key components to networked journalism. Not only do they influence news discourse, they signal a larger phenomenon: the evolution of journalistic forms and the emergence of a space for dissent being carved out in the middle of spectacle (Russell, 2011:126). In current political and cultural climate of Turkey, this blend of humorous discourse and its widespread dissemination by the networked public have a capacity to expose the nonsense of routinized truth claims of hegemonic power by strategically ironize their own way of communicating. The engagement of multiple publics with welcoming and crafting new forms of journalism such as fake news against the business of journalism can lead to an opportunity for a more direct and pluralistic form of democratic expression. This presentation will analyse instances of Zaytung news that are shared and being commented on by news publics on social network platforms to highlight such an opportunity though it is still in the making and may not alter the power structure. References Baym, Geoffrey and Jeffrey P. Jones (2012). “News Parody in Global Perspective: Politics, Power, and Resistance.” Popular Communication 10(1-2): 2-13. Russell, Adrienne. (2011). Networked: A Contemporary History of News in Transition. Cambridge: Polity Press. Sienkiewicz, Matt (2012). “Out of Control: Palestinian News Satire and Government Power in the Age of Social Media.” Popular Communication 10(1-2): 106-118. Web Address of The Zaytung: http://www.zaytung.com/ Web Address of The Onion: http://www.theonion.com “Zaytung.com’un reytingleri nasıl patlama yaptı?”, http://www.medyafaresi.com/haber/54824/medya-zaytungcomun-reytingleri-nasil-patlama-yapti.html, (Downloaded on 15th Nov. 2012).