“Fake news” named word of 2016 by Macquarie Dictionary

The Australian Macquarie Dictionary has selected “fake news” as the word of 2016.
“The concept of fake news is one of the big issues of 2016, not only in Australia but around the world,” the committee said in support of its decision. “It captures an interesting evolution in the creation of deceptive content as a way of herding people in a specific direction. There has come a point with fake news where people are beginning to believe what they want to believe, whether or not the news story is actually true.”
The Guardian points out that Macquarie Dictionary’s decision echoes the recent choices of other prominent dictionaries. Last November, Oxford Dictionaries chose “post-truth” as its word of the year. Merriam-Webster, for its part, has opted for “surreal”