An example of real news is a newly married couple announcing their wedding in a family affair. An example of fake news is a newspaper reporting that the newly-wed couple has been married. The most outrageous example is when a South Carolina school teacher announced on live television that he had married another man. Fortunately, this kind of news will go viral very quickly. Consider this type of news before you pass on an item.
Fake or in-depth reports are often misinterpreted as news stories. They have some of the same features as a real news story, but may lack some of the more important elements. For instance, someone doing a fake interview with a celebrity would ask him about his personal life and then mention how much he loved the actor. A reporter who did in-depth reporting on the incident would note that details of the marriage were not revealed until after the interview.
Fake or inaccurate information often comes from several different news sources. Sources may be inaccurate due to a lack of sourcing, they could be inaccurate due to the lack of actual reporting on the event, or they could be blatantly inaccurate. In some cases, sources could be lying about sourcing. Some news sources do not want to publish this kind of news, simply because they themselves could become involved in the fabrication of information. Therefore, they report the false information for one reason or another.
Sometimes a particular news story will gain international significance and go viral. This will usually be a result of some kind of event that takes place that has an effect on the rest of the world. For instance, a terrorist attack in London will have a large impact on the United States. Thus, United States news agencies will pay more attention to this event than a similar event in a different country. In this way, the human interest element of news is less important. When human interest is more important, you will likely get more accurate reporting.
Every country needs several different news agencies, and these news agencies compete with each other for their news service. Therefore, the competition for news services is fierce. Because of this, many newspapers and wire services are forced to hire new news agencies every few years. A new agency will usually come in with a whole new team of reporters, editors, and writers.
As you can see, the relationship between a news agency and its reporters and correspondents is very complex. It can even go beyond simple competition. A news story can have numerous human interest factors such as the desire of the press to keep people informed. However, a news story that is designed to use only one or two of those factors may fail to meet the required criteria.