Dangerous Narratives: How Fake News and Narrative Journalism Shed Light on Journalism’s Epistemological Foundations and Self-understanding in the Twenty-first Century

Journalism is struggling to maintain its commercial viability as well as its authority as a trustworthy institution that offers a reliable representation of what is going on in the world. The objectivity ideal, prevalent during a large part of the twentieth century, is no longer considered the obvious professional practice. Alternatives are being formulated, by startups and new entrants to the field, in which the subjective nature of reporting as a form of storytelling is acknowledged and sometimes even embraced as the solution for the ‘crisis’ journalism is currently in. At the same time, journalism is struggling with the growing threat of fake news, and the current debates about ‘post-truth’ are seen as exemplifying the state of our information society. This chapter will discuss the current concern and discussion about fake news and post-truth, and connect it to the growing prominence of narrative forms of journalism and the embrace of the subjectivity of the reporter. The fundamental question that underlies these issues is if and how journalism can remain society’s ‘primary sense-making practice’ in the twenty-first century?