Untangling fake news from climate science

THE Singapore government's recent decision to form a Select Committee to examine the problem of online falsehoods was an acknowledgement that when "fake news" spreads at Internet-speed via the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, the threat to public order cannot be viewed with complacency. Governments in the US, the UK, France, Germany and elsewhere are convulsed with protracted hearings about the role of Russian-supported news sites in the social media designed to sow political dissension and mistrust of public institutions in their countries.

Fake news, however, is not a new phenomenon. Media reporting of the climate change issue - among the most important international policy concerns for most governments in the …