The expression, which in recent months headlined several news stories, has edged out other popular neologisms such as “fidget spinner” with both liberals and conservatives using the term.
“The word is not exactly new, but its use has exploded over the past year,” language researcher Ole Våge, a senior advisor to the council, told national broadcaster NRK. “‘Fake news’ was the most used new word amongst this year’s candidates [in the Norwegian general election]. The phrase reflects the fight for truthful news in public debate in a completely new way, both in Norway and elsewhere in the world,” Våge explained.
Norwegian language researcher Bente Karlsnes agreed that “fake news” had gained a lot of attention during the 2016 US presidential election, but noted that the international use of the phrase has expanded ever since.
The use of the phrase “fake news” has increased by 365 percent since 2016, peaking at 4 450 articles in comparison to last year’s 661 hits.
The editorial board of the independent fact-checking portal Faktisk.no however complained that the phrase had been “misused” by the US President.
“Indeed, the expression has become well-known over a short period of time, but at the same time it has been twisted and destroyed by the American President. Donald Trump uses it to describe real news he does not like,” Faktisk.no chief Kristoffer Egeberg claimed.
On Saturday Trump slammed CNN for a glaring mistake in a recent report on Russian “meddling”, after the cable TV network was “caught red handed” in disseminating fake news. Trump even suggested that CNN had intentionally put out an incorrect story.
Also on Saturday, the president criticised ABC News and reporter Brian Ross for another recent, incorrect and inflammatory story about Russian “meddling”.
Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed, just like lonely Brian Ross at ABC News (who should be immediately fired for his “mistake”). Watch to see if @CNN fires those responsible, or was it just gross incompetence?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017
Trump noted on Wednesday that most mainstream media stories about him were negative. “Wow, more than 90 percent of Fake News Media coverage of me is negative, with numerous forced retractions of untrue stories. Hence my use of Social Media, the only way to get the truth out.” the president wrote. He added that the mainstream had become a “joke”.
A study conducted by the Media Research Center (MRC) released on Tuesday, found statements made on ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts regarding the president were overwhelmingly negative compared to positive statements.
The recipient of the Norwegian award is chosen by the Language Council of Norway in collaboration with Norwegian School of Economics professor Gisle Andersen. It may either be given to a completely new, or a simply a recently coined or revised word used during the year. Data gathered from major national and regional newspapers contribute towards selecting the winning phrase.
This year, other notable phrases were “svenske tillstander” [Swedish conditions] a reference to Sweden’s integration challenges, “plasthval” [plastic whale] used in reference to a whale found dead with its belly full of plastic debris, and “imamsleiking” [imam-licking] a phrase coined by Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug implying that some politicians were flirting with Muslims voters.