Everything you wanted to know about ‘fake news’ but were afraid to ask

Some of The Nation’s less switched-on readers may not know what fake news is.  As a public service, therefore, I feel compelled to provide an explanation and an example, thus contributing my mite to the enlightenment of a world languishing in ever-deepening darkness. 
The concept of fake news promises to be one of the loftiest intellectual triumphs of the Trump administration.  It refers to news items that are false, fallacious, fraudulent, fictitious, phony, bogus, counterfeit, spurious, untrue, and not to be given credence.
Let me provide an example. Who tapped Mr Trump’s phone?  The current president accuses Mr Obama. This is unlikely.  Mr Obama had many pressing and important duties to attend to, and it is highly unlikely he would possess the necessary technical skills to tap a telephone.
No, the logical villain is a man whose very name is a dead giveaway: CNN reporter and anchorman Jake Tapper.  Tapping telephones (and possibly beer kegs) is what people named Tapper do.  Jake, by the way, as well as being a fine newsman and a perceptive commentator, is also a talented cartoonist. You can savour his work on the “State of the Cartoonion” section of his Sunday-night programme “State of the Union” on CNN.  (Speaking of cartoons, where are those comic strips that have recently gone missing from The Nation? Aren’t those contract negotiations finished yet?)
The assertion that Jake Tapper tapped Donald Trump’s phone is a perfect example of ‘Fake News’, and I’m sure there will be many more to come.
Ye Olde Pedant