The Truth According to Who
- Francis Val
- Nov 11
- 6 min read
Fake News is a term coined by then presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 during his campaign.(Lee) In the years following, more and more fake news has been perpetrated predominantly on the internet. Its reach has been far and wide, like if you were poisoned by a venomous snake. Its effects are ever present slowly spreading, changing one’s outlook to a lie.
This does not mean the impact is not deep. Evidence to these very facts will be presented to show that fake news has a very negative impact on those it affects. In today's world the speed of information has gotten to the point that people will know about an event good or bad within minutes of it happening. Then, with today’s level of access to platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube it is easy for the truth to be missed and overpowered by disinformation from people looking for clicks or to just cause chaos. I fully agree that fake news is a dangerous problem as people are quick to believe the first thing they see/hear online without looking at the finer details.
Very recently, we saw fake news taken to court for its effects when famous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars(“Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a War on for Your Mind!”) was sued for defamation by the families of the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy. For those unaware, a defamation suit is when a party sues another claiming that a libel or slanderous action has caused the other party great harm. So a way to get retribution is that plaintiffs file for defamation and if successful in proving harm in court, the party that caused the harm is then ordered to pay damages in the form of monetary compensation. The amount is decided by either a settlement agreement between the parties or it is left to the presiding judge to make that call. (Cornell Law School) Now for a quick summary of what went down, here is a quote that sums it up perfectly: “On Dec. 14, 2012, just hours after a gunman murdered 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Infowars host Alex Jones told listeners and watchers that the massacre was ‘staged’ by opponents of Second Amendment rights”(Law&Crime Network). Alex Jones, an Austin Texas native, had made his living giving fake news and conspiracy theories a platform to be heard on the mainstream level. He had gained a cult following, like a movie, with me included.
le many listeners knew that most of what he said wasn’t true, people were still drawn to his bombastic nature during his shows. He was on the Joe Rogan podcast show many times, and was a personal friend of Joe Rogan. He was able to grow his business from the basement level to being on par with some of the mainstream news networks at that time. His position in many circles has shifted in recent years with many of the stories he distributes becoming more and more outlandish, and with this change has come consequences. Jones's belief in the case of Sandy Hook has caused distress for the victims of the massacre. For example, “One father said conspiracy theorists urinated on his 7-year-old son’s grave and threatened to dig up the coffin.”(Collins et al.) The claim has also fueled the 2nd Amendment debates across the county and added fuel to the fire. Thanks to Jones, Sandy Hook became a way for people who oppose the 2nd Amendment to use it like a martyr for their cause.
As a refresher, the 2nd amendment is one of the oldest amendments in the constitution from the founding of America. The amendment states “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”(Congress) Over the years following, there has been rising discourse over the amendment as there have been multiple incidents involving perpetrators using their right to have access to guns to use them to commit unspeakable tragedies. On the other side of the coin, guns have allowed people who could've protected themselves to do so. For example, the West Freeway Church of Christ shooting. A gunman attempted to kill the entire congress, succeeded in killing the two priests presiding over the mass but was stopped by volunteer security guard, Jack Wilson with his sidearm.(Schwartz) This entire exchange took place in one minute. Thanks Wilson's ability to have his weapon many lives were saved that day. Now the debate is fierce to this date and will probably continue to rage, as any attempt to change the 2nd amendment is seen as an overreaching government taking freedom away from its people.
Now back to the matter of Sandy Hook, to repair some of the damage, families began filing defamation suits in 2018 against Jones over a two month period.(Wagner) After some delay in the proceedings caused by Jones in hopes of stopping the trial from taking place. Regardless, the trial occurred in 2021,. Jones was as aggressive and as uncooperative as possible. In the courtroom, as the trial was televised nationwide. Over the course of Jones' trial, he tried to turn the debate into a 1st Amendment issue, making the argument that he had the justification to make those statements under the right of free speech. This didn’t change his situation, but did have some weight to it, but not by much. The principal makes sense to an extent, however his argument follows the extremes- well over the acceptable “free speech” defense. Not only is not speaking the truth, but he distributed this lie to the large audience that he gathered over the years. The main point is: he made those remarks on his “news show” and people trusted his word. Those same people believe those statements because of his notoriety. I feel there is a line that he crossed and if he said in private or at least on a debate stage the ramifications would not have been so severe and lasting.
Between 2021-2022, Jones was found guilty for defamation among other damages, and the courts in Texas, and Connecticut ordered him to pay damages totaling $1.5 billion dollars.(Wagner)The guilty verdicts came as no surprise, Jones continued to refuse to cooperate, and would not give others any information. Although in the Texas case, he was forced while on the stand to admit that the Sandy Hook massacre was not a hoax, and did in fact happen. Despite this guilty verdict and all the hard work from the families to get justice, Jones has been able to circumvent the justice system and avoid any payments to the victims. He has used bankruptcy filings as a shield to stave off having to pay the damages. This is a perfect example of the impact of fake news. Jones was able to spread his harmful rhetoric to millions, and on top of that, still has yet to be properly reprimanded for his actions. His website is still very active and at the time of this publishing that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.
Law&Crime Network. “Alex Jones and Fans Go on Conspiratorial Rant about Sandy Hook School Shooting, Gun Control.” YouTube, 28 July 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinFZKy_tmA. Accessed 2025.
Congress. “U.S. Constitution - Second Amendment | Resources | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress.” Constitution.congress.gov, Library of Congress, 2024, constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-2/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025.
Collins, Dave, et al. “What We Know about the Fight between Conspiracist Alex Jones and Sandy Hook Families over His Assets.” AP News, 15 June 2024, apnews.com/article/alex-jones-infowars-bankruptcy-sandy-hook-0c3576e3c4bd853ac2cc5342118fca8c. Accessed 11 Oct. 2025.
“Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a War on for Your Mind!” INFOWARS, 2018, www.infowars.com/. Accessed 2025.
Lee, Terry. “The Global Rise of “Fake News” and the Threat to Democratic Elections in the USA.” Public Administration and Policy, vol. 22, no. 1, 1 July 2019, pp. 15–24, www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/PAP-04-2019-0008/full/html, https://doi.org/10.1108/pap-04-2019-0008. Accessed 2025.
Wagner, Bayliss. “Timeline: Legal Fallout from Alex Jones’ False Claims That Sandy Hook Massacre Was a Hoax.” Austin American-Statesman, www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2024/06/06/timeline-lawsuits-alex-jones-sandy-hook-shooting-infowars-false-claims/73985486007/.
Schwartz, Matthew S. “Grand Jury Declines to Indict Church Security Guard Who Killed Gunman in Texas.” NPR, 29 Sept. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/09/29/918185532/grand-jury-declines-to-indict-church-security-guard-who-killed-gunman-in-texas. Accessed 2025.
Cornell Law School. “Defamation.” Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, June 2023, www.law.cornell.edu/wex/defamation.