"Hillary Clinton is operating a child sex ring outside of a pizza shop".
The term sounds on the surface to be absolutely ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, not to some. This was a legitimate news story for numerous news sources during the 2016 presidential election.
A Washington Post article entitled Pizzagate: From Rumor, to Hashtag, to Gunfire in DC described the incident as being "[t]he story of Pizzagate is about what is fake and what is real. It's a tale of a scandal that never was, and of a fear that has spread through channels that did not even exist until recently" (Fisher, Cox & Herman, 2016). The "fake news" of Pizzagate and the recognition of a situation that is, in fact, one that never occurred (which, in terms of President Trump, could also be recognized in Kellyanne Conway's usage of the term "bowling green massacre") could be seen in the political sphere as a diversion, or even some sort of ad hominem attack to somehow harm Hillary Clinton and her presidential candidacy. Nevertheless, the essence of the political attack is rooted in a heavy usage of symbolism, which is exemplified even within the wording itself.
From this rhetorical perspective, one can understand that this attack on Hillary Clinton in accusing her of somehow indulging in pedophilia and child sex slavery is not only a political slur on her, but one that based entirely on an irrational sequence of thinking. Indeed, there is no evidence for this claim against Clinton, nor is there any sort of motivation for anyone to even think that she would commit such a crime--yet, there are people who would believe such an absurd claim, simply because they support a candidate like Trump over Clinton.
My rhetorical claim of the usage of symbols as well as an essence of an ad hominem argument in the Pizzagate scandal is justified by the Post's article as well, The Washington Post claims that Pizzagate represents a "belief that code words and satantic symbols point to a sordid underground along an ordinary retail strip in the nation's capital" (Fisher, Cox, & Herman, 2016). Pizzagate is the epitome of symbolism being put to powerful-but-negative-use in attacking a political opponent. The phenomenon originated on Twitter through a simple hashtag, and was somehow able to make it into the news as being questionably legitimate--at least to some.
What this essence of fake news could prove to rhetoricians is that news can ultimately be produced by anyone in today's day-and-age. In an era where the United States possesses a president who accuses some of the biggest news outlets of being "fake news", we are reaching a day and age where what is and isn't fake news is becoming more biased and the line of what is truth is becoming more and more blurred every day. For this reason, journalism is losing its meaning. This, of course, is not a positive situation.
Of course, the answer to this problem is not on the basis of censorship. Instead, we as an American public should be able to identify the usage of certain forms of language within what may be deemed as "journalism" or "news". For example, the usage of personal, ad hominem attacks within what would be deemed as "news" (such as what can be seen in articles about Pizzagate) should not be considered journalism or news of any form.
