Fake News

It’s hard to tell if news is true, or whether it is simply fake,

Especially at the moment when the story first begins to break;

Some things may sound quite plausible if background facts aren’t known,

And others from small acorn facts to mighty oaks have grown;

Papers often state as fact what might more nearly be

Described as propaganda, from which stories should be free.

And many just accept as true whatever they are told,

With journalists a different breed from days when they were bold

And chased stories for themselves, and checked at every stage

That everything was really true, before put on the page.

Today that simply isn’t done by every source of news,

With much reported simply being a firm’s or person’s views.

So one needs to be careful and think each story through,

Before deciding if it’s fake, or if it’s really true.