DISCOURSE: KNOWLEDGE, NEWS, AND FAKE INTERTWINED

Discourse has been a focal point for linguists over an extended period. The multidisciplinary character of the term ‘discourse’ has resulted in diverse approaches aiming to define and explore this phenomenon. The study of various facets of discourse significantly enhances its comprehension. For our understanding, discourse encompasses the following pertinent characteristics: it is a communicative process, a dialogue, an interaction between communicators; it is a structure, a system, a distinct way of representing and perceiving the world, a special language and world, an expression and manifestation of national identity. Discourse implies knowledge, as it includes various types of it. Knowledge and news are closely linked. They are processed in discourse and with the help of it. Any explicit or implicit knowledge and news influence discourse production and comprehension. True and fake information can alter existing types of knowledge and create new ones, influence mental processes, and shape new mental models. The aim of the article is to describe discourse in its close connection with its main constituents – knowledge, news and fake. ‘Fake’ becomes a linguistic and discursive matter. It is associated with the concepts of ‘lie’, ‘deception’, and ‘manipulation’. Corpus data about ‘fake’ and ‘fake news’ give a bigger picture of the overall context of their representation, changes and dynamics in the usage.  The widespread influence of fake is provided with the help of mass media. Strategic control of knowledge in the interaction process is achieved through the use of knowledge itself, accordingly, it becomes possible to control knowledge by means of deception and fake. Fake news is a genre of news information and news discourse, it is an integrative type of media text.  The main goal of fake news is to deceive and manipulate consciousness of a wide audience. Manipulation entails language to subtly influence recipients, encouraging them covertly to undertake particular actions. Fake news can be studied within news discourse, media discourse, television discourse, manipulative discourse, political discourse, discourse of fake, and other types. Thus, knowledge, news and fake presented in discourse and with the help of it allow to create ‘new knowledge’, shape the audience’s understanding of discourse, make and generate mental models, control and restrict access to certain information, manipulate consciousness of the audience, transform traditional mental attitudes associated with the pursuit of truth.