19 Dec 2017

The rise of hoaxes

From Afternoons, 3:09 pm on 19 December 2017
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Photo: supplied

For centuries, the con artists and the conned have lived side by side.

But pulling the wool over our eyes is taking on a sinister tone says Kevin Young, the New Yorker poetry editor. It's not just circus sideshows anymore, it's fake news.

Young ponders why we get taken in so easily, and the danger that presents in his book, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News.

Kevin Young

Kevin Young Photo: Penguin/Random House