The dissemination of fake news and the necessary search for effective measures to combat them is the topic of national discussion in the United States after the elections in 2016. The phenomenon of fake news is clearly seen in the example of American journalism. It is believed that today the United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, an example of the successful functioning of a democratic society. However, the system is not perfect, today in the country there is an abundance of misinformation in the information field. It is important to consider and understand the phenomenon of fake US journalism in the context of political culture using the example of The Washington Post and The New York Times quality publications. The news content claimed for the Fake News Awards 2018 as an example of “fraud” served as a starting point for studying the coverage of events in the declared editions. However, the cases considered in the paper, with rare exceptions, are false, which proves the “definite”