History Main / TVNeverLies

Compare ThisIsReality. See also StockAesops, TruthInTelevision. Not a rejected title for ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies''[[note]]although it would have worked for ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''...[[/note]]. If this happens in RealLife it can be because RealityIsUnrealistic. See also TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs, when this attitude becomes outright dangerous in real life.

* In [[Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality Methods of Rationality]] Harry sits down to read ''The Quibbler'' on grounds that, being the only alternative to the establishment/government-backed ''Daily Prophet'', it has the better chance of containing some actual news.

* Chapter 6 of [[Fanfic/TheDarkerKnight The Darker Knight]] has the line:

* The inverse to this is explored by DaveBarry in a column, who says that Russians (today it would probably be North Koreans or Chinese) always know what's going on by reading their newspapers and assuming that the ''exact opposite'' is true. They thus have an advantage over Americans, who can't tell which parts of the newspapers are true and which are complete lies.\\

* Of course Mr. Krabs has to learn things the hard way on ''SpongeBobSquarePants''. After printing several scandalous issues of the Krusty Krab's own ''Krusty Khronicle'', which features nothing but wild rumors, he incurs the wrath of everyone in town but refuses to stop the presses. Then SpongeBob prints another issue focusing solely on Mr. Krabs himself.

* The ''GarfieldAndFriends'' episode "It Must Be True!" has a TV show which shows [[LittleKnownFacts absurd facts]] (such as "There's no such thing as Wyoming" and "Raisins are shrunk bowling balls") because of this trope. But when {{Garfield}} says "Dogs have no brains", an all-dog audience beats him up.

* In ''Anime/HisCooolSehaGirls'', [[SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] is, according to an EyeCatch in the first episode, "inclined to believe everything on the internet".

* A ''{{Rugrats}}'' comic story has Angelica fool the babies into believing that the grownups are bringing home actual elephants from a white elephant sale, but Tommy believes his toy mouse will scare them off. When Angelica points out the problem with his theory:

People worry about the power of the media. Heck, even ''the media'' worry about the power of the media (it makes for good {{ratings}}), especially if it's a [[NewMediaAreEvil new medium]] that's [[TheNewRockAndRoll popular among the younger set]]. So when MoralGuardians and [[ExecutiveMeddling executives]] started to worry that impressionable young viewers might take what they saw on TV at face value and never question the veracity of what they're seeing, many kids' shows started to use this as a [[StockAesops Stock Aesop]].

* ''PowerpuffGirls'' had the ''Wondorous World of Wonderful Whimsical Willy'', basically an Aesop episode to teach children not to believe everything they see on TV. Near the end however, they seem to realize that they are encouraging kids against watching THEIR show, and the episode ends with the girls asking the viewers to trust television in a zombie-like manner.

* ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'': It's discovered that Dillon has been under the impression that lots of straight men secretly have sex with gay men because the first time a supposedly straight man did this with him, the man cited Oprah as a source, and "Oprah never lies!"\

* If you've ever heard of the genetic mutation "Alexandria's Genesis" the take a wild guess at what media form the totally made up mutation first appeared in. The creator of the Mary Sues that the mutation was meant to justify the appearance of has made multiple statements about it being made up, but not everyone has gotten the memo.

* ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'': It's discovered that Dillon has been under the impression that lots of straight men secretly have sex with gay men because the first time a supposedly straight man did this with him, the man cited Oprah as a source, and "Oprah never lies!"\[[/folder]]

* Robert Zemeckis once jokingly told interviewers that the hoverboards in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part II'' were real prototypes created by Mattel but kept off the market because of pressure from parental watchdog groups who felt they were unsafe. Zemeckis then took it to TrollingCreator levels by shooting phony "behind the scenes" footage of the hoverboards using the special effects in the film proper. Naturally, a bunch of people fell for it, and Mattel was inundated with letters and phone calls begging them to sell the hoverboards. Sometimes they'd tell the truth; other times they would tell the would-be hoverboarders to "wait until 2015". That date drawing near, Funny Or Die produced a fake commercial for them in 2014 featuring Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.

* When reading an online discussion of the legality/morality of torture, you might find someone making a reference to the five classes of torture: blunt,sharp,hot,cold and loud. This came from an episode of ''{{Angel}}'' and was made up on the spot by the writers; it has no basis whatsoever in reality.

* And proving that the stupidity of some humans knows no bounds, when ''Series/GilligansIsland'' first aired, the TV stations were flooded with angry letters demanding to know why the camera crew wasn't helping the castaways get off the island. Of course, nowadays they would probably assume [[{{Survivor}} it was a reality show]].

* The infamous ''Radio/WarOfTheWorlds'' radio broadcast, which adapted [[Literature/WarOfTheWorlds H.G. Wells seminal science-fiction novel]] in the form of fictional news reports. Some people took it for non-fiction and panicked.

* The setup for ''GalaxyQuest'' is a species of aliens who believe that all TV shows are "historical documents". For them, it is inconceivable that TV (or anything, for that matter) lies.

[[folder: Anime and Mange]]

* And proving that the stupidity of some humans knows no bounds, when ''Series/GilligansIsland'' first aired, the TV stations were flooded with angry letters demanding to know why the camera crew wasn't helping the castaways get off the island. Of course, nowadays they would probably assume it was a reality show.

-->--''GarfieldAndFriends'', "It Must Be True!"

* The infamous ''Radio/WarOfTheWorlds'' radio broadcast, which adapted [[Literature/WarOfTheWorlds H.G. Wells seminal science-fiction novel]] in the form of fictional news reports. People took it for non-fiction and panicked.

* Used in a commercial for State Farm insurance in regards to the Internet, with a woman who believes that everything she reads on the Internet is true. The commercial ends with her meeting her boyfriend, whom she met on the Internet, and whom she believes to be a French model. Cue some middle-aged guy with a goatee and glasses walking up to her and saying "Uh, bonjour?"

* Robert Zemeckis once jokingly told interviewers that the hoverboards in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part II'' were real prototypes created by Mattel but kept off the market because of pressure from parental watchdog groups who felt they were unsafe. Naturally, a bunch of people fell for it, and Mattel was inundated with letters and phone calls begging them to sell the hoverboards. Sometimes they'd tell the truth; other times they would tell the would-be hoverboarders to "wait until 2015". That date drawing near, Funny Or Die produced a fake commercial for them in 2014 featuring Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.