Pizzagate: People looked at documents and saw what they wanted to see - evidence that their non-preferred candidate was up to no good. They published a story without any serious thought about whether the allegations were real because they knew their audience would love it. Article spreads like wildfire on social media which boosts revenue.
VIWP: People looked at a document and saw what they wanted to see - evidence that Trump was a lunatic, or evil, or stupid, or anything else negative. Australians love to feel like they are smarter than Americans, so anything that shows how poor their choice of President is is going to be popular. Bonus points if that stupid President will have a direct negative affect on Australians. Article spreads like wildfire on social media which boosts revenue.
In both cases, 5 minutes of thought and basic research would reveal the story to be bogus. But when the publisher has a financial incentive to publish the story, why would they bother with 5 minutes of effort that might stop them? Abandoning even the most minimal effort to ensure truth in reporting in favour of publishing whatever is popular means it is no longer news. It is entertainment pretending to be news. Hence the Fake News label is accurate.
Admittedly, pizzagate is an order of magnitude worse than this VIWP nonsense. But then News Ltd and SBS are supposedly an order of magnitude more trustworthy than infowars.
