The term 'fake news', enthusiastically used by American President Donald Trump whenever he gets a chance has been named the 2017 word of the year by Collins Dictionary. According to Collins Dictionary, the usage of this word witnessed a rise by more than 365 percent in the past 12 months, and all the credit goes to Trump.
Trump's response to unflattering media coverage
Trump initially started using this term during his presidential campaign in 2016. Whenever media criticized Trump, he used to call those reports 'fake news', and soon the word emerged popular among people all around the world.
Apart from Trump, some other prominent personalities who used 'fake news' in their speeches were British Prime Minister Theresa May and Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. The term even went popular when news published by non-reputed media houses started appearing on social networking sites like Facebook.
'Fake news' faced tough competition from other terms including 'genderfluid', fidget spinner', and 'gig economy' before emerging as the word of the year.
Definition of fake news
Collins dictionary defined fake news, as the ''false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.''
Helen Newstead, Collin's head of language content said that the word 'fake news' was inescapable this year, as it contributed a lot to the undermining of the society's trust in news reporting.
"Much of this year's list is definitely politically charged, but with a new president in the US and a snap election in the UK it is perhaps no surprise that politics continues to electrify the language," said Newstead.
'Brexit' was named the word of the year in 2016, as the referendum involving Britain and the European Union created waves across the world. Last year, the usage of the word 'Brexit' was increased by more than 3400 percent.
