Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, concerns about fake news
have fostered calls for government regulation and industry
intervention to mitigate the influence of false content. These
proposals are hindered by a lack of consensus concerning the
definition of fake news or its origins. Media scholar Nolan Higdon
contends that expanded access to critical media literacy education,
grounded in a comprehensive history of fake news, is a more promising
solution to these issues. The Anatomy of Fake News offers the
first historical examination of fake news that takes as its goal the
effective teaching of critical news literacy in the United States.
Higdon employs a critical-historical media ecosystems approach to
identify the producers, themes, purposes, and influences of fake
news. The findings are then incorporated into an invaluable fake news
detection kit. This much-needed resource provides a rich history and
a promising set of pedagogical strategies for mitigating the
pernicious influence of fake news.