text: The 'fake news' phenomena is not new. It has only become topical since the election of Trump. Media manipulation of the news has been going on for a very long time. The Liberal/left/progressive element benefited from it considerably. Now that is has been employed against them, they are filled with their characteristic self-righteous indignation. The fact is that media credibility has been severely damaged by playing to partisan consumers and the restoration of any semblance of public confidence is not going to be achieved by government subsidies. One has only to look at the fact there is far less public faith in politicians than the relatively low ratings for journalists.