Fog of War: the role of fake news in initiating and prolonging conflict

Fake news in mainstream war reporting launders atrocity narratives from anonymous officials and ideologically invested sources into accepted public facts, thereby contributing to the initiation and prolongation of armed conflict in democratic societies. Drawing on propaganda theory and the Propaganda Model, this study conceptualizes such reporting as a modern vehicle for war propaganda principles that demonize enemies through atrocity claims and norm violations. It employs a qualitative discourse analysis of 37 mainstream articles covering three high-profile debunked cases—Russian bounties for Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, Gaddafi’s alleged Viagra-fueled mass rapes in Libya, and Hamas beheading babies in Israel/Palestine—to examine sourcing practices, emotional language, hedging, presuppositions, and amplification patterns. Findings reveal heavy reliance on unscrutinized anonymous officials, visceral atrocity framing with under-hedged verbs converting allegations into facts, and bandwagon journalism that boosts initial claims while muting later debunkings. These patterns systematically manufacture consent for conflict escalation by exploiting crisis journalism pressures, advancing our understanding of how mainstream media structurally enable propaganda in democratic societies.