The concept of "fake news" has been around for centuries, long before it was popularized by Donald Trump. In the Middle Ages, the Church was a major institution that spread misinformation to further its own interests. One notable example is the "Donation of Constantine," a forged document that supposedly granted the Church lands in Italy. This lie was repeated for centuries, despite being debunked by scholars.
Travelers and writers also spread false information, often for entertainment or financial gain. John Mandeville, a 14th-century traveler, wrote about fantastical creatures and places, which were widely believed by the public.
The invention of the printing press allowed for the mass production of newspapers, which further enabled the spread of false information. In the 19th century, the era of tabloids began, with newspapers competing for readership by publishing sensational and often false stories.
April Fool's Day has also been a source of misinformation, with newspapers and media outlets playing pranks on their readers. However, some pranks have had serious consequences, such as a false story about the demolition of the Great Wall of China, which sparked outrage in China.
The internet has also enabled the spread of false information, with the first major lie circulating online in 1994, claiming that the Catholic Church had been bought by Microsoft.
Throughout history, the spread of false information has been a persistent problem, highlighting the importance of verifying information and being critical of sources.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The term "fake news" was popularized by Donald Trump, but it is not a new phenomenon.
2. The Church was a major institution for producing and disseminating information in the Middle Ages.
3. Most people who could read and create documents in the Middle Ages were associated with the Church.
4. The Donation of Constantine was a document allegedly issued by Constantine the Great in the 4th century AD.
5. The document granted the Church lands in Italy, but it was likely forged in the 8th century.
6. The document was first mentioned in 756, when the king of the Franks, Pepin, used it to justify his gift of land to the Pope.
7. The document was likely written at the court of Pepin or the Pope.
8. The document contains anachronisms and mentions things that did not exist at the time it was supposedly written.
9. The forger did not even bother to get to know Constantine's biography well.
10. The treaty on the forgery of the Donation of Constantine appeared in 1440.
11. The Church referred to the document for hundreds of years, reaping enormous political benefits.
12. Travelers in the Middle Ages often proposed stories that were not entirely true.
13. John Mandeville was a traveler who wrote a quasi-diary of his journey to Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and other distant countries.
14. Mandeville claimed to have seen people with the heads of dogs and a tribe that fed only on the smell of apples.
15. Johann Carolus was a printer and publisher who created the first newspaper in Strasbourg.
16. In the 19th century, the era of tabloids began, with cheap newspapers publishing sensational information.
17. Richard Adams Locke wrote an article for a New York newspaper about the existence of "red-haired, bat-people" on the Moon.
18. Locke's article was a hoax, but many people believed it.
19. April Fool's Day has a long tradition of jokes and pranks.
20. In 1957, the BBC broadcast a documentary about a spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland, which was a joke.
21. The joke was so well-played that many people believed it.
22. In 1878, an American newspaper published a joke about Thomas Edison's invention of a machine that could turn the earth into grain.
23. In 1991, an American newspaper reported that the Russian authorities were planning to auction Lenin's embalmed corpse.
24. The information was false and was denied by the Russians.
25. In 1994, a document began circulating on the Internet claiming that the Catholic Church had been bought by Microsoft.
26. The document was a hoax, and Microsoft had to issue a statement denying it.
27. Tom Phillips wrote a book called "Truth. A short history of..." which summarizes the history of providing false information.
28. Phillips also works on a daily basis in a service that checks information provided in the media.