USA Today goes full social media fake news stupid

Based on an unverified report citing unnamed sources, USA Today publishes a story based on tweets that was already largely debunked by Snopes.com (FACT CHECK: Does President Trump’s White House Dress Code Mandate Dresses for Female Staffers?)
In other words USA Today took poorly sourced, probably wrong material, based on unvetted Tweets and turned it in to a “news story” to sell eyeballs to advertisers. At the time I checked, the USA Today story had been shared 3,000+ times on social media.
Create provocative headlines based on rumors and fiction to grab the target’s emotions, encourage sharing on social media, and use that as a way to sell eyeballs to advertising – that is the fake news publishing model.
Is there really much difference between professional media and fake news? The lines between them have become so blurred.
Update – Meanwhile, Trump says any poll that goes against him is “fake news”. Therefore, we should add to our definition of “fake news” any article that is negative about Trump? I don’t think so 🙂
This web site prefers to use “fictional news” in place of “fake news” except when the “fake news” reference is to other online items that use the “fake news” term, or in reference to the original concept of “fake news” stories created specifically for viral distribution on social media. That said, unfortunately, as in this item, above, professional media also uses the techniques of “fakes news” for the purpose of gathering likes and shares.