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Journalists need to take some sort of Hippocratic oath pledging to tell no lies, otherwise we could end up with a war even more calamitous for humanity than Iraq.

As cited by American journalist Sharyl Attkisson in her excellent book 'The Smear', John H. Johnson, author of 'Everydata: The Misinformation Hidden in the Little Data you consume every day', divides fake news into five categories.

1. News that's entirely false.
2. News that's slanted and biased
3. Pure propaganda
4. Stories that misinterpret or misuse data
5. Imprecise or sloppy reporting.

It's interesting, as Attkisson says, that the "public ignition" of the 'Fake News movement' can be traced to September 13 2016 – the last eight weeks of the Clinton vs. Trump presidential campaign, with the announcement that a group named 'First Draft' were forming a partner network to tackle "malicious hoaxes and fake news reports."

Then, within days everyone is talking about 'fake news'. Which is strange, because if we go by Johnson's definition, fake news has been around for an awful long time.

By any objective standards, the most serious example of 'fake news' in recent years, in regards to its consequences, was the Iraqi WMDs hoax.

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Neil Clark is a journalist, writer, broadcaster and blogger. He has written for many newspapers and magazines in the UK and other countries including The Guardian, Morning Star, Daily and Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Spectator, The Week, and The American Conservative. He is a regular pundit on RT and has also appeared on BBC TV and radio, Sky News, Press TV and the Voice of Russia. He is the co-founder of the Campaign For Public Ownership @PublicOwnership. His award winning blog can be found at www.neilclark66.blogspot.com. He tweets on politics and world affairs @NeilClark66

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