Fake!

It is with a fair degree of certainty that I can say that I have told stories in this spot, or retold them, that may have not been completely true. In a fact-y kind of way. The ability to verify each and every item and opinion is so challenging on my twenty-four hour news cycle. Things change so fast these days, it is hard to keep up with what is real and what is click bait.
I try to avoid stories about pythons swallowing other large predators. They never end well, and they tend to be generated for their sheer "I've got to see that" sensationalism.Then there are those which rely on the "no he/she didn't" cue, which requires a bit of cross-checking to verify sources and quotes. Which I don't always do. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." That's a quote from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I looked it up. 
If I was able to do that much research, why wouldn't I get everything right all the time? Partly because I feel the need to keep up with all those other bloggers and tweeters and instagrammers around me. Creating the top to bottom truthiest piece of information for my readers might require that I spent more than my generally allotted time in front of a screen. I have computer solitaire to keep up with, and replying to all those Trump Tweets don't happen on autopilot. 
My point is, I have a life to live, and I can't get bogged down in what is real and what is fake. However, there are those who do. They are called "journalists." They went to school, most of them did, to learn how to do their job. I know because I looked that up, too. I learned that to be a journalist you should be ready to: Study libel laws, keep up with current events. learn to be an ace researcher, learn how to find and interview sources.
I'm no journalist. I never claimed to be. And if I did, I was just trying to fill space or meet a deadline. Being a journalist requires a different set of muscles that overlap some of the abilities I bring to the keyboard, but I wouldn't know a libel law unless it came in the not-so-fine print of a summons delivered to me by an officer of the court. If that's how they do it. My research skills are on exhibit here, primarily for the purposes of finding examples of the point I am trying to make, not the "truth." Whatever that is. 
So, are you reading fake news here? Yes, I suppose you are. But I don't claim to be a journalist, either. And neither does Alex Jones. I know because I looked it up.