--- title: Propaganda and fake news — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Propaganda and fake news», a lesson of the politics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Propaganda is a message made to push lots of people to think or act one way: it shows only the facts that help and leaves out the rest. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Politics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/) / Propaganda and fake news # Propaganda and fake news Lesson 31 of the politics course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/0/) — Propaganda is a message made to push lots of people to think or act one way: it shows only the facts that help and leaves out the rest. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/1/) — Think of a cereal advert that shows the toy in the box and never the sugar; the old war poster "Your country needs YOU" did the same, with a pointing finger and no word about how dangerous war is. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/2/) — Fake news is something else: a made-up story dressed up to look like real news, with a copied logo and lots of likes, though likes only show that people clicked. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/3/) — Not everything wrong is a lie: a mistake fixed with a correction is honest, satire is a joke on purpose, and news you simply dislike is not "fake". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/4/) — The first check is quick: who wrote it, when, and does anyone else report it? - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/5/) — Propaganda is a message made to push people towards one view, often by a government or a group, and it picks only the facts that help. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/6/) — In the First World War, posters such as "Your country needs YOU" were used to get men to join the army. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/7/) — When a government controls the TV, it can show only good news about the leader; public broadcasters such as the BBC, ABC or CBC are paid for by the public and meant to report freely. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/8/) — Fake news is a made-up story made to look like real news; logos are easy to copy, and likes show clicks, not truth. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/9/) — A mistake is getting it wrong by accident, a lie is saying what you know is false, and good outlets fix mistakes in the open with a correction. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/10/) — Misinformation is false information shared by mistake; disinformation is false information spread on purpose. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/11/) — Satire is a joke that copies the style of news, like the made-up headlines on The Onion or The Beaverton. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/12/) — Propaganda often uses fear, anger, music and colours instead of reasons, and may call a whole group "enemies". - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/13/) — The same event can be framed with loaded words, "brave citizens" or "an angry mob", so look for the plain facts both sides agree on. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/14/) — In the Second World War, posters saying "Careless talk costs lives" told people not to chat about soldiers or ships; people disagree whether safety messages like this count as propaganda. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/15/) — Calling a true story "fake news" because you dislike it does not make it made up, and it makes trust harder for everyone. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/16/) — A quote next to a famous face with no date and no link may be made up; a real quote can be found in a report, a video or a speech. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/31-propaganda-and-fake-news/17/) — Warning clues are no author, no date, a shouty headline, an odd web address and no other outlets; one clue is not proof, but several together are a warning. - ← previous: [Refugees, aid and sanctions: how the world helps and pushes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/30-refugees-aid-and-sanctions-how-the-world-helps-and-pushes/) - next →: [Bots, troll farms and deepfakes in elections](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/32-bots-troll-farms-and-deepfakes/) - ↑ back to [Politics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/politics/)